Tentmaking and North American Church Planting
No discussion of the role of business in mission is complete without addressing the paradigm of tentmaking. Though this apostolic model of missions has been discussed time and again over the last few decades, few of those discussions have seriously attempted to consider the application of this paradigm to North America. The purpose of this paper is to argue for the inclusion of North America within discussions concerning tentmaking, briefly examine some of the critical literature addressing tentmaking, discuss the North American need for this ministry, examine the biblical evidence supporting this missionary paradigm, and conclude with a few examples of contemporary North American tentmakers.
Tentmaking Definitions
The word “tentmaking” stirs up a variety of images within the minds of people. For some, the tentmaker is a missionary that travels land and sea to conduct mission work while supporting himself or herself by a skill or trade. Another person sees the tentmaker as a missionary doing covert activities in creative access nations, and thus compromising Christian integrity. For others, a tentmaker is someone who ventures into a distant land to minister to others but is forced to earn their living through a secular occupation because they could not become a “real” missionary with a mission agency. Some may even understand the tentmaker to be someone who works for The Camping Superstore!
