Tentmaking is a growing reality in Western society that necessitates more reflection and relevant response from pastoral and mission leaders. The need to consider bivocational or multivocational ministries is catalyzed by established congregations wrestling with decline in attendance, by new immigrant communities looking for sustainable ways to minister, and by misunderstanding or lack of information on the nature of this ministry approach. This need is also triggered by the urgency to address biblical, theological, and pragmatic issues of tentmaking that can forge a way forward for the Canadian church in the midst of an uncertain future. This volume seeks to forge a way forward as a result of the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project (CMMP), a qualitative and community-based research project among tentmaking pastoral leaders across Canada. This research partnered with the Wellness Project @ Wycliffe, which uses online questionnaires to assess wellness in congregational ministry. The CMMP research report and the wellness findings form the basis of the multifaceted reflections in the book by Canadian scholars, researchers, and multivocational practitioners. This book offers an accurate pulse of the challenges, opportunities, and future of tentmaking in relation to Christianity and the church in these uncertain times.

One million American Christians live and work abroad. They are not missionaries. These people are students, administrators, engineers, teachers, and doctors in other countries. They could be called ÒtentmakersÓ. Just as the Apostle Paul used his vocation, tentmaking, to finance his witness to the churches, so today's tentmakers support themselves with their own hands and minds, shining the light of Christ around them. ÒWe err,Ó suggests author J.Christy Wilson, Jr., Òwhen we assign personal evangelism at home to the lay Christian but missions work abroad only to the specialist.Ó Tentmaking is available to everyone. Today's Tentmakers is a handbook which is of value not only to the prospective tentmaker, but also to the Christian planning to travel overseas. You'll discover here information about foreign travel and employment, support organizations, language training, moving, cultural adjustment, and politics. Whether you are a student or teacher, housewife or doctor, Today's Tentmakers is an opportunity of adventure and service in God's work.

One million American Christians live and work abroad. They are not missionaries. These people are students, administrators, engineers, teachers, and doctors in other countries. They could be called "tentmakers". Just as the Apostle Paul used his vocation, tentmaking, to finance his witness to the churches, so today's tentmakers support themselves with their own hands and minds, shining the light of Christ around them. "We err," suggests author J.Christy Wilson, Jr., "when we assign personal evangelism at home to the lay Christian but missions work abroad only to the specialist." Tentmaking is available to everyone. Today's Tentmakers is a handbook which is of value not only to the prospective tentmaker, but also to the Christian planning to travel overseas. You'll discover here information about foreign travel and employment, support organizations, language training, moving, cultural adjustment, and politics. Whether you are a student or teacher, housewife or doctor, Today's Tentmakers is an opportunity of adventure and service in God's work.

C. Neal Johnson offers the first comprehensive guide to business as mission (BAM) for practitioners. He provides conceptual foundationas for understanding BAM's unique place in global mission and prerequisites for engaging in it. Then he offers practical resources for how to do BAM, including strategic planning and step-by-step operational implementation.

Would it surprise you to know that New Testament scholars, missiologists, and church-planting authorities cannot agree on how to define tentmaking, whether or not the church should be practicing it today, or even why Paul did it in the first place? It’s true. In Tentmaking, the widespread confusion and overall disagreement within the church regarding Paul’s self-support are exposed. Commonly held assumptions are removed from their entrenched positions and myths are debunked. In their place, Tentmaking offers an unadorned yet powerfully convincing presentation of Paul’s own self-disclosed reasons for intentionally selecting to support himself in some ministry contexts, but not others. This well-researched book provides answers to crucial questions that currently surround tentmaking, as well as a practical guide intended to lead to the recovery of biblical tentmaking within the church. Readers who pick up this book should be prepared to embark on an engrossing journey that will reward them with clarity on the often-misunderstood topic of Paul’s tentmaking.

Back by popular demand, this work was originally three volumes in length but is now reprinted as a single volume. This manual integrates essential and relevant articles from Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Reader, and the Perspectives Study Guide, leading the student into deeper, broader mission understanding and vision by covering the Biblical/historical foundations, the strategic dimensions, and cross-cultural considerations.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. Faith and action: that inseparable link is a golden thread running through Acts. In 2,000 years, one thing hasn't changed: God's heart for lost people. As long as he acts on their behalf, he will call us to play an integral part in his deeds. Acts lifts us up out of the armchair and spurs us to kingdom action, trusting that God will be with us. Ajith Fernando shares perspectives on the book of Acts that reveal its enduring relevance for our twenty first-century lives. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's context, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

""In 1976, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted its Bold New Thrusts in Foreign Missions with the overarching goal of sharing the gospel with every person in the world by the year 2000. The formation of Cooperative Services International (CSI) in 1985 and the assigning of the first non-residential missionary (NRM) in 1987 demonstrated the Foreign Mission Board's (now International Mission Board) commitment to take the gospel message to countries that restricted traditional missionary presence and to people groups identified as having little or no access to the gospel. Carlton traces the historical development along with an analysis of the key components of the paradigm and its significant impact on Southern Baptists' missiology. Dr. Carlton has produced an outstanding, one-of-a-kind work addressing the influence of the non-residential missionary/strategy coordinator's role in Southern Baptist missions. This well written, scholarly text examines the twentieth century global missiological currents that influenced the leadership of the International Mission Board, resulting in a new paradigm to assist in taking the gospel to the nations. Dr. Carlton writes as both a missiologist and a missionary. This work reveals the keen eye of a scholar, but also the heart of a practitioner who desires to see the multiplication of disciples, leaders, and churches across the globe. This text is a must-read for anyone longing to know more about the recent history of the International Mission Board and the theology and missiology behind the SC role and church planting movements."" J. D. Payne, National Missionary, North American Mission Board and Assistant Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. ""I have enjoyed friendship and partnership in the gospel with Bruce Carlton in different capacities. When I served as the Strategy Coordinator for a South Asian city Bruce was my supervisor. He helped me understand what I was trying to do and how I should be doing it. Since my return to pastoral ministry in America, Bruce has been a missiological dialogue partner. In both capacities Bruce has been a ""flame stoker""--fanning the flames of commitment to ""make disciples of all nations."" I'm glad that Bruce has taken on the task of explaining and evaluating the development of the Nonresidential Missionary (NRM) and Strategy Coordinator (SC) paradigms. He writes from three important perspectives. Bruce writes as an insider. In Cambodia Bruce was a practitioner of what has developed into the SC approach. His work was at the wellspring of hundreds of reproducing churches. After leaving Cambodia, Bruce taught and mentored many men and women in methodologies for planting reproducing churches. Bruce has lived through the development of these paradigms as an effective practitioner. Bruce writes as an insightful researcher. He asks important questions about the NRM, SC, and Church Planting Movement paradigms and searches for honest answers. Finally, Bruce writes as a respecter of the relational character of missions. On the front lines of gospel advance the Spirit mediates the word through people. Grand strategies and paradigms also develop within relational contexts. From these three perspectives Bruce helps us understand why the paradigms have developed as they have and equips us to ask key questions as we look forward."" E. Coye Still, III, PhD R. Bruce Carlton served in Asia from 1986 to 2007 as a church planter, Strategy Coordinator and trainer in areas and among peoples with little or no access to the gospel. He is the author of Acts 29: Practical Training for Facilitating Church-Planting Movements Among the Neglected Harvest Fields, a manual for training Strategy Coordinators that has been translated into seventeen different languages. Presently, Carlton serves as the Associate Professor of Missions at Boyce College, a school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.