DEVELOPING TIMES: Business as Mission (BAM) in the Unreached World

Welcome

Mission Statement
Rural Empowerment Initiatives (REI) mission is to collaborate in the reduction of poverty through investment in rural areas and training of local people.

Vision Statement
REI's vision is to treat every created being with dignity, respect and love. We strive to work with those most in need by empowering people to recognize their God given talents, enabling them to make the world a better place and providing them hope for the future.

Our Principles
REI believes that all people are created equal.
REI will develop small to medium businesses (SMEs) as one approach to reach those most in need by creating jobs that build the economy in rural areas.
REI's partner businesses will be led, managed and majority owned by local people.
REI will always seek a triple bottom line of economic, spiritual and social transformation.
REI seeks to build sustainable community-oriented business models.
REI's focus of support is to the economically disadvantaged.
REI will seek attractive market and growth opportunities.
REI will incubate pilot projects with capable management.
REI believes in collaboration. We seek partners whose strengths complement our own in an effort to build well-rounded projects of lasting economic value for the communities in which we work.
REI is inspired by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and is therefore rooted in the Christian faith.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Business as Mission (BAM) in the Unreached World

Today there are BAM networks and consultations in Central
Asia, Turkey, several countries in the Middle East, Southern Af-
rica, East Africa, China, Latin America, United Kingdom, USA,
etc. Also several major mission agencies and churches around the
world have incorporated BAM into their mission and strategy.
The Lausanne movement recognizes BAM and so does the World Evangelical Alliance.

Three things correlate and stand out:
1. Most unreached peoples are found in the Muslim, Hindu
and Buddhist world. Most of them live in the so called 10/40-
Window.
2. Here you will also find a large percentage of the world’s
poorest of poor.
3. These areas – where you’ll find most unreached peoples and
many poor – also often have unemployment rates ranging from
30, 50 to 70 percent.
The mission is to take the whole Gospel to all peoples
and nations, preaching and demonstrating God’s Kingdom.
How then can the Kingdom of God be manifested among the
unreached, among the poor, among the jobless—in the 10/40
Window and beyond?
Traditional mission responses will not suffice. We need to be
church and do missions in a renewed way; recognizing the gifts
and callings of entrepreneurs and business peoand deploy them to do Business as Mission.