Faith in the Marketplace

Measuring the Impact of Church Based Entrepreneurial Approaches to Holistic Mission

Samuel Lee

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781725285170
  9781725285187
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725285194
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Contemporary missions often include evangelistic and socio-economic dimensions. For effective missions, some way of assessing what is being achieved is needed beyond just the common metrics touching on the spiritual and/or economic which neglects social transformation that ideally should also be occurring. This book seeks to identify key factors for holistic evaluation based on salient characteristics that emerged as three Entrepreneurial Church Planting sites were studied in San Francisco (Redeemer Community Church), Selma, Alabama (Blue Jean Church), and Lynch, Kentucky (Meridzo Ministries). What emerges from these case studies is the importance of relationality, general emphasis on growth and development, and a well-established focus on holistic transformation. The mechanisms for the operation of holistic transformation are spelled out to reflect the operation of the three actors of the Trinity in missions. The practical component of the book is the conceptual framework that reveals the operation of holistic transformation and ways to measure the dynamic relationships that occur.

1

Introduction and the Overview
of the Research

Hudson Taylor, the well-known missionary of the nineteenth century, understood missions as being primarily rooted in saving souls; yet, experiences with the hungry, the weary, and the sick eventually expanded his missional scope to include physical care.1 Missions have developed in ways that Taylor never anticipated, and many practitioners are now in agreement that holistic ministry is required to share the Gospel by “word and deed.”2 However, it is not enough to agree on the merits of holistic ministry. The next step is to describe the content of holistic ministry. Several writers such as Ron Sider3 have endeavored to map out the activities of holistic ministry.

The identification of programs and policies to undergird holistic ministry is no guarantee that it happens or that the programs mission groups have developed achieve holistic ministry. What is lacking is some way to assess what is actually achieved or how does one determine when a given mission’s approach has produced a good return.4 Without such a tool and its use, ministries are simply replicated and/or perpetuated without a demonstration of effectiveness. The mission harvest is too valuable to simply assume effectiveness is attained.

Very few practitioners have provided markers for gauging holistic ministry success, and consequently ministries have tended to bifurcate goals based on an evangelistic-economic continuum.5 While some organizations measure success based on evangelistic outcomes such as conversion rates,6 others go in different directions with a focus on financial stewardship.7 What is needed is a measuring system, perhaps a scale, that includes both ends of the continuum in order to offer an approach more in sync with the theological vision of holistic missions.

One expression of holistic missions is Entrepreneurial Church Planting (ECP), which focuses on social development.8 Within this term (ECP) is the concern to reach people incarnationally9 with energy to create what is needed to advance the kingdom, i.e., being entrepreneurial. Max Weber in his Spirit of Capitalism identifies a collection of characteristics associated with a successful capitalist10 or entrepreneur who “gets nothing out of his wealth [his accomplishments] for himself, except the irrational sense of having done his job well”11 and “the chances of overcoming traditionalism,”12 i.e., a willingness to try new approaches. These significant tendencies have been appropriated as the meaning for entrepreneurial in ECP efforts.

This Christian mission approach utilizes a combination of economic strategies along with church planting to engage the marketplace or the number of potential customers of a product or service defined by some boundary, e.g., geography or neighborhood. This study will examine the unique data trends that emerge in three case studies of US ECPs. Each case study of an ECP provides a unique opportunity to investigate the possibilities of holistic transformation. In order to assess the stewarding capabilities of ECPs, this research addresses: How do we determine when a given mission’s approach has produced a good return and how do we measure the effectiveness of that approach? To that end, this study reviews what each selected ECP has done and how that ministry might be instructive in thinking about outcomes relative to the quality of relationships engendered. Based on an analysis of current praxis of ECPs, this study compares them with one another in order to discover existing metrics and suggests new metrics with the goal of developing effective metrics for vital and holistic religious expression.

Background of the Problem

Globally, the ECP movement is an emerging phenomenon with examples appearing in Asia, Africa, Latin American, North America, and Europe.13 One of the main appeals of ECP is that it incorporates a broad approach to include people and activities still outside of the formal church as well as those who are unreached. By combining both entrepreneurship or finding nonchurch places where people gather and church planting, ECP has sought to reach both the unchurched and the dechurched by creating a “third space.”14 A “third space” refers to neutral spaces that are more inviting to strangers than traditional ecclesiological models. Such a space might be a café or a general store used for bringing the gospel to people.

ECP models want to provide culturally sensitive economic and social environments to nurture nascent Christians and to reach people who mistrust traditional evangelical approaches. Several churches have attempted to reshape ecclesiology through socio-economic engagement15 by integrating business and church planting. Some examples are bi-vocational ministers, Business as Mission practitioners,16 Fresh Expressions of Church (FXC) entrepreneurs,17 and mission organizations that have sought outreach opportunities with spiritual, economic, and social dimensions.

An additional appeal of ECP in foreign contexts is the creation of communities for seekers and/or converts who otherwise may not be accepted by the neighborhood. In situations where conversion causes ostracism, the community fostered through an EPC can provide both an economic and a social home. Furthermore, foreign government...

Table of contents

• 00.FrontMatter
• 01.Chapters
• 02.BackMatter
• 03.Bibliography