For many years, most missionaries have received financial assistance through sending organizations, churches, friends and other believers. Another mode for acquiring financial resources while on mission is tentmaking, a nomenclature from the apostle Paul’s story.
“There [Paul] met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla… and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them,” Acts 18:2-3.
In addition to being a student of the Law and Prophets, Paul had a career in making tents. In Corinth, he worked alongside Priscilla and Aquila for a period of time while spending every Sabbath day declaring the gospel to Jews and Gentiles.
In contemporary missions, tentmaking is continuing one’s career in the host country instead of relying completely on financial support from sending partners. One type of tentmaking is Business as Mission (BAM), or starting and running a business in the community in which a person is actively sharing the gospel. This model is particularly strategic in areas where community development complements the message of the gospel well. Other examples of tentmaking could include medical missions, teaching in a school while sharing the gospel, or running a computer training school at night and sharing Bible stories during the day. Holding any job that pays the bills while also sharing the gospel would be considered tentmaking.
In creative-access countries, tentmaking is one of the few ways to minister in a community. If a country will not allow missionaries, but they do allow business owners, the Business as Missions model may be a way to share the gospel in that context.
Even if missionaries may be legally allowed to enter a country without a worker’s visa, a secular job can have many benefits. Traditionally-funded missionaries sometimes struggle to develop an identity in the host community without a clearly defined role associated with a job. Some people can even become suspicious of the missionary because they see them spending money and living in a nice house without evidence of employment. Tentmakers automatically have an identity because they have a similar job and lifestyle as those whom they work alongside.
Globalization and advances in technology and connectivity have opened more opportunities for tentmaking. In places with sufficient digital infrastructure, a long-distance job like freelance graphic design or contract engineering can be accepted by the host community as legitimate employment as long as the missionary’s location and lifestyle choices are also plausible.
There are times when tentmaking is not primarily motivated by financial necessity. If God calls a person to tentmaking, perhaps it is because God has a specific purpose for the person’s work. In Thessalonica, Paul experienced another season of manual labor because he wanted to exemplify a strong work ethic to the new believers and wanted not to be a burden to them. His example also served as a defense against those who began leading the church astray through false teaching and financial exploitation in his absence.
Alternatively, God may want the missionary to practice tentmaking to utilize their skills or business as part of restoring a community by providing jobs, helpful services, or an alternative example. He may want the missionary to build relationships with their boss or fellow workers, or He may want to use the believer as an example of giving sacrificially despite low wages. Perhaps we will not understand the multidimensional impact God intends to make through a missionary’s presence until Jesus’ return.
In light of this, should all missionaries stop receiving financial support and become tentmakers? As Paul would say, “by no means!”
Tentmaking has downsides just like any other missional strategy. Traditional financial support of God’s mission in the world is a true and blessed calling for the body of Christ. We do not want to rob the global church of the opportunity to engage in God’s mission through financial resources. Another downside to tentmaking is the consumption of time and energy. Working a full-time job leaves the missionary with less personal capacity for sharing the gospel than raising full financial support does. We see this in the continuation of Paul’s story in Corinth after working alongside Priscilla and Aquila:
“But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” Acts 18:5
Tentmaking lasted for certain seasons for Paul. At other times, God led him to rely on financial support from other churches and friends while devoting himself fully to preaching the gospel.
We live in an exciting time filled with many different opportunities to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation,” (Mark 16:15).
How might God be asking you to utilize your career as you participate in fulfilling the Great Commission? Lets hear from you.
