Partnerships In Business Missions

The following article appeared in Truth Magazine
Written by Dr. Tom ThorburnFor several years Dave Velting, a former Grace Ministries International (GMI) missionary and currently a GMI board member, plus Mike Caraway, a GMI missionary in Tanzania, have been concerned with the development of sustainable financial support of national churches from national resources. To that end they have wondered about the following:
Would mentoring or training businessmen and women be a legitimate focus for missionaries in other countries?

• Would Christ-centered business training and mentoring by US based businesspeople assist national small businesspeople and improve their businesses?
• Could making national businessmen and women more successful, through teaching them Christ-centered business practices, also be an effective way of bringing them to a knowledge and acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
• Would the improved financial outcomes of local businesspeople translate into financially stronger mission churches and schools that have been established by US-based mission organizations and which predominately serve the poor?
• Would improved business success translate into more financial support by mission churches of local causes such as orphanages and the poor?

“. . .business as a mission would be a viable approach for bringing people in developing countries to Christ, and would not only raise their standard of living but make it possible for Christian nationals to better support their churches.”

The validity of these questions is based on the reality that for decades Americans have given generously to establish churches and Bible institutions in Africa, and to a lesser degree to mitigate poverty. The latter has not solved the issue, but instead has created a culture of dependency. By teaching local entrepreneurs how to develop their own communities by running healthy Christ-centered businesses, business as a mission would be a viable approach for bringing people in developing countries to Christ, and would not only raise their standard of living but make it possible for Christian nationals to better support their churches.

On a recent trip to Tanzania, several US Christian businesspeople met with small business owners in the cities of Sumbawanga and Mbeya in Southwestern Tanzania. This first trip was generally for discussing their interests in establishing relationships between themselves and the Tanzania businesspeople, participating in business training, and partnering with several organizations that provide various types of technical, capital and training assistance.

The trip was hosted by Mike and Lynn Caraway, missionaries in Tanzania serving under the direction of GMI. The group traveling with Mike and Lynn consisted of Dave Velting, a retired construction businessman and GMI Board member; Ken Wieringa, a businessman in the commercial sound business; Matthew DeYoung, a businessman in the commercial paint supply business; Nana Yaa Dodi, staff member of Partners Worldwide (PW); and Tom Thorburn, retired rural development specialist and ECHO Board member (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization), also a former grant maker for two foundations. The group was encouraged to pursue general plans being developed domestically by the partnering organizations (GMI and PW) and more recently ECHO and Grace Community Development and Education (GCDE), a nonprofit founded in Tanzania by Mike Caraway and several local Christian businessmen in Sumbawanga.
The stated purposes for the trip:

• Gain knowledge and information about the local small business owners and their needs.
• Learn about the country of Tanzania and its culture.
• Meet with the GCDE Board of Directors and better understand their mission, vision and program priorities, specifically their interests in working with small business owners.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of the PW North America Affiliate (NAA), PW (corporate), GMI and GCDE.
• Discuss the different curricula available for use by GCDE in training small business owners in the cities of Sumbawanga and Mbeya, Tanzania.

Discussions between GCDE and the Tanzanian Christian businesspeople, who have organized themselves into four different subgroups, were crucial in learning more about Tanzanian culture, the challenges of doing business there, limitations in starting and running businesses, and relationship building. The US group, NAA, learned a great deal from the Tanzanian businesspeople in each of the areas previously mentioned. In agreeing to engage in partnership there are several development principles that the NAA is keeping in mind as they proceed with a commitment for the next five years. The development principles are:

• Support programs that strengthen businesspeople and GCDE’s leaders through training programs designed to create more effective Christian leaders in their businesses, communities and churches.
• Provide technical support, mentoring and training to Christian businesspeople so they can expand their businesses and be more profitable.
• The mentoring led by US businesspeople from the US will be based upon a good understanding of the Tanzanian culture, business climate and challenges and opportunities that exist in the country.

This was a rich learning experience for everyone involved. There is a great deal of interest among the small business owners to be involved in a training program that would help them improve their businesses. They were interested in having a mentoring relationship with businesspeople from the US. Each businessperson that was met with individually and as a  group indicated that one of their greatest needs was access to small loans. One of the four groups has been meeting for three years and has a small loan program already in place, built from their monthly dues.

In conclusion, the NAA is excited about working with the Tanzanian businesspeople initially in training programs and mentoring. Their desire is to continue developing partnerships with the several organizations previously mentioned. Eventually, there will be opportunities to establish a micro-loan program if there isn’t another organization available to meet the needs. They plan to move forward slowly and deliberately with the plans established during their initial trip and to return to Tanzania sometime in 2010 to continue building relationships and view the training taking place with the
Tanzanian businesspeople.

While working with the Kellogg Foundation, Dr. Tom
Thorburn made several trips to Southern Africa
coordinating grant projects given by the foundation.
He and his wife Jeanne are members of Rush Creek
Bible Church in Byron Center, MI