Dayton Roberts 1981 a Missionary Strategy of "Tentmaking"

8/11/2019 Dayton Roberts 1981 a Missionary Strategy of "Tentmaking"

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Background

Briefing

Paper

Number 14

Latin America

Mission

5465

N.W.

36 33166)

P.O. Box 52-7900

Miami,

FL

33152-7900

(305)884-8400

September

1,

1981

This paper has been

prepared

by

the Administration

primarily

for in ternal use. I t may not be quoted or reproduced without

~ e r m i s s i o n

I t

is dated, and subject to revision a t any

time.

A

MISSIONARY

STRATEGY

OF ''TENTMAKING

One of the catch phrases in mission circles

today

is "tentmaking." Taken

from the experience of

the Apostle

Paul,

who

at times supported himself in his

missionary labors by

exercising

his

trade of leather

craft ing, or making

tents

(with Aquila

and

Prisc i l la ,

the

label

of tentmaking

has

often

been

loosely

applied to

several

really diverse categories of Christian service. With

equal

carelessness,

i t

has been proposed as a

cure-al l

for the

constantly recurring

shortages of

missionary

support.

Tentmaking is

indeed a

valid

option

for helping in

the

mission of the

Church, and as

such

should

be

explored, but panacea

i t

is not

Wade

Coggins r ight ly observes that careful definit ions

can help point

us

towards

effective

ut i l iza t ion of the tentmaking option.

In

a somewhat refined

form, we

ci te here

his

defini t ions.

(See

his

paper

of

March

13, 1980,

for the

Evangelical Foreign Missions

Association.)

1.

Career

missionary.

This

i s

a

Christian who

i s :

1.1 Called of God to missionary service to, or on

behalf

of, people in

a foreign

culture,

1.2

For

whom

th is

is a

primary

and

l ifelong

commitment,

1.3 Who

is

supported for th is purpose by gif t s f ~ o m the

Lord's people,

and

1.4 \vho labors under the supervision of a

mission and/or

other church

related enti ty .

2. Tentmzker. This term refers to a Christian

who

i s :

2.1

Equally called,

committed and

directed, but

2.2

Who spends part of his time earning

remuneration, ei ther

2.21

to replace

or

supplement

the supporting gif t s from the Lord's

people, or


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-2- A Missionary Strategy

of

"Tentmaking"

2.22 to gain access or

credibi l i ty for

the communication of

his

message.

As we

understand the

term,

a

tentmaker

must be

under

the

supervisi

on of

the

church, mission or

para-eccles ia l

asency,

or

else

i f

he

is se l f -

directed)

he must be Working in harmony with them, and following common

strategies and objectives. In other words, he is a part-time career

missionary,

but with

a

different source or sources of

support.

3. A Christ ian witness.

Every

Christ ian, on the other hand, i s cal led to

witness

to his fai th

in Jesus

Christ and, ~ ~ t i n

the

l imits of his

circumstances, . in that sense to

be

a

mi.'3sionary.

His witness

may

i..te "international" and/or "overseas," thus

enhancing

i t s

value

to

the worldwide cause of the

Gospel.

I t should not be assumed,

however,

that

simply by

crossing

an ocean a Christ ian can

thereby

become

an effect ive

witness )

.

We should note,

of

course,

that

these three

classif ications

are not r igid

and

may

overlap. For eKample St. Paul himself shifted

from

the s ta tus of a

career

missionary

to that of a tentmaker and back

again.

I t is

&lso

t rue

that

the l ine of dist inct ion between

the categories is often blurred.

Take the

case

of

an MK*

who

returns to earn his/her l iving in the land of his/her bi r th

and there to .;ritness for Christ . Is

he/she

an "ir,::.c.rnational Christian witness"

or

a "tentmaker"? He/ she might be ei ther one--or both I t ~ o u l d seem that

the

determining

facto.: here

would

be the

degree to

which

the person

consciously

seeks to work

in

harmony with a specific strategy or under the direct ion (formal

or informal) of a church

or

missionary ager.cy. If he/she i s trying

to

do th is ,

he/she would

be

classif ied more as a

tentmaker

than

simply

as

an

overseas

witness.

Tentwaking

is

easier in

some professions than in

others.

Teachers for

example, can often

avai l

themselves of the time and opportunity

to

p r f o ~ m much

service

for

the Church.

Medical doctors

have

also

been effect ive

in opening

doors to evangelism.

Y..any

teclmical

occupations

do

not

allow

:: i

u ; for a consistent missionary

labor, however, and ot hers require too much tra veling, with insuff icient

opportunit ies for

service

except

for a quick

wo

r d of tes t i DDny. Anyone i


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A Missionary Stratery

of "Tentmaking"

-3-

witness

to Christ in Saudi

Arabia, or

Libya?

In

many

s i tuat ions

tentmaking

may

be

at

least a part of the

answer.

Since God

uses

a l l three of

the above

types of service

to

produce

growth in

His Church, i t is appropriate and essential that the

Latin

America Mission seek

to ut i l ize both career and tentmaking missionaries,

incorporat ing

them into

i t s

programs

of evangelism and

outreach.

At the same

time, i t

should

also seek

to find ways of mobilizing the

witness

of

a l l

available Christians in t :e extension

of God's kingdom

and for His

glory.

Some L A M stu 1 ies ident i t ies are only

s l ight ly

disguised )

Case l Mr and Mrs. A were undersupported when their service leave

ended.

So Mrs. A agreed to accept a job which had been offered

to her

a t the

Overseas

University.

The

assurance of

th is salary put

the

A

family

over the minimum

support level , and

they could

return to the

f ield.

Mrs. A uses

her

job

as

a

ministry. She i s a tentmaker.

Case

2.

Mr.

B

is

on

the

Coral

Gables

staf f .

There

is

no way

his

missionary

a l l o w ~

;ould

suffice to support

his

family in the Miami

area.

So Mrs. B

takes an outside job. This,

too,

is tentmaking.

Case

1_ Dr. C feels called to minister in medicine

in

Ni c

aragua.

The

only way he

can

do th is , ap p

arent ly,

i s

to take

a

job in

a

government

hospital

on the Atlantic

coast. He

i s able to give considerable time to

Christian

service, and he receives some

support

from

the U.S.

He

becomes a tentmaker.

Case i Mr D holds a job with

an

overseas company

He

is

called

upon

to do a lo t of traveling and overtime work,

but

he ass is ts in the local church

as

much as he

can, and t r ies to

maintain a fa i th f ul

witness

on

the

job.

His

is an overseas Christian

witness,

but he

would probably

not

be

called

a

tentmaker.

Case

5. On the other

hand,

Mr E owns his own business and

manages to

find considerable

time for

the Lord's

work. He is on

several

local

boards,

is act ive

in

the ministry

of

his church

and is trying to make

both his

own

witness

and

the collective

act ivi ty

of his

business

contribute

to the

growth

of

the

Church overseas.

He

would be :called a tentmaker.

Case

6.

Miss

F is an M who has

chosen

to l ive

and work

over : eas (in

the

land

of

her

bir th)

and

to

collaborate

with the

~ l s s o n

in every

way she

can.

She feels better about being independent of U.S. support, and

her

very independence

has given her a wider entree into

the society in which

she

works

and ministers .

She

is

a tentmaker.

Mission policies of the L A M which ref lec t the preceding convictions,

and allow

for cases l ike those ci ted, include those that (1) permit remunerative

act ivi t ies on the part of i t s

missionary

aff i l i a tes ,

(2) allow for

f lexibi l i ty

in

support

levels

and

for contractual

aff i l ia t ion, and

(3) govern

the responsi

bi l i t i es of spouses.

(See

Principles and

Government,

5.5, 5.6, 6.2;

Manual

of

Personnel and Administrative Regulations, 2.4, 3.7, 3.72; and the

u o p o ~ t

Plan

(Appendix

B

of P AR],

3.1, 3.3.)


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Missionary Strategy of Tentmaking

The

Latin

America Mission s currently developing a framework for more

effect ive

involvement

of

volunteers , short- termers and lay col laborators n

overseas witness to Jesus Chris t .

There

s

room

for

everybody

n the great

Hission of the Church.

w

Dayton

Roberts

Vice

President

Documents

Dayton Roberts 1981 a Missionary Strategy of "Tentmaking"