Thoughts on Tentmaking
November 18, 2009 – 12:04 pmIn my travels to different colleges for SGI promotion, one topic that has emerged often in conversation is tentmaking in regards to missions.
From accounting to pre-med, from electronics to education to fine arts, students from various majors are talking about how they can minister the gospel in Creative Access Nations (CAN) through the instrument of their skill sets.
Dave Hosaflook, missionary in Albania and a favorite on the MM Blog, posted on a recent tentmaking round table that he attended. View his post “On Tentmaking” for a quick fly-over view of the subject and a look at questions that pastors and church members should be asking.
His conclusion is helpful:
In my opinion, tentmaking is an indispensable strategy in some situations and should be utilized and considered. But its value should be scrutinized.
As all good business plans, “business as mission” should be evaluated by some objective equation of the value it adds to a church planting effort compared to its costs in time, money, overhead, and workers.
If it is necessary for access to a certain field (and it often is) or unquestionably advantageous (and it often is), then go for it!
But in many situations, the traditional Pauline model, with all its difficulties, is the leanest and most efficient missiological strategy after all.
Read his entire post.
Other Hosaflook references on MM Blog.
2 Responses to “Thoughts on Tentmaking”
Thanks for referencing this article.
By Thomas Overmiller on Nov 20, 2009
Thanks for referencing this post. It is very insightful. It seems to me that tent-making is a helpful strategy in certain situations, as Dave points out. Yet it does not seem to be Paul’s primary strategy. He applies it only when necessary.
By Thomas Overmiller on Nov 20, 2009