Apostle Dr Kanayo Success Uchime, Nigeria’s foremost missionary and President, Kingdom Missions Outreach (KMO), in this piece for Sunday Independent, tries to show gospel ministers and missionaries how they can survive in these hard times where poverty and hunger are the order of the day, without turning to beggars. A MUST Read:
The concept of tent-making in ministry, especially in missions circles, has been discovered to be a veritable tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit in propagating missions around the world.
Surely, it is an exciting area of missions, because, it opens up opportunities to reach seemingly inaccessible people or mission fields with the gospel in a new and powerful ways. We note that ‘inaccessible people’ in this sense can refer to those who live in ‘closed-door’ nations of the world. They are so referred because they are not open to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tent-making, in general, refers to the activities of any Christian worker who, while dedicating him or herself to the ministry of the gospel, receives little or no pay for church work, but performs other ‘tent-making’ jobs to provide support.
The present day tent-making has taken on a much broader definition than just referring to the skill of making ‘tents’. A tent-maker is a dedicated, spiritually mature Christian man or woman who views work in light of the Great Commission, and as an opportunity to serve in the Kingdom of God.
Specifically, tent-making can also refer to a method of international Christian evangelism in which missionaries support themselves by working full-time in the marketplace, with their skills and education. This they do, instead of receiving financial support from a church or a mission agency.
Tent-making, then, can be very powerful in penetrating some nations or mission fields that recently have proven to be difficult, such as Europe, some nations in Asia and others. It is the wisdom of God at this very time; and Christian workers need to embrace it in order to make evangelism more meaningful.
It is worthy to note that the term ‘tent-making’ comes from the fact that the Apostle Paul supported himself by making tents while living and preaching in Corinth (Acts 18:3).
Furthermore, tent-making sometimes provides Christians the chance to serve in countries closed to missions work.
We discover that some countries or governments hostile to Christianity often accept well-qualified teachers, doctors, computer technicians, engineers and others into their countries to work, even if these men and women are Christians. These professionals are thus able to serve the country and support themselves while performing missions work.
Therefore, work is a vital aspect of Christian witness. This is so because it provides substantial means of developing relationships, credibility, and contexts for ministry. A missionary tent-maker for instance, can be employed within a company, he or she can also teach in an educational institution. Again, he or she can work inside government, own (or just run) a business.
While serving as foreign missionaries in faraway Philippines in Southeast Asia, I and my wife worked as teachers. Then, I was teaching in a state-owned university, the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU), in Dumaguete City, while also co-teaching with my wife in a Theological college there, Presbyterian Theological College (PTC), also based in the same city. This spanned for a very long time; at least, as long as we served as missionaries in that nation. This activity afforded us the ample opportunity of interacting and engaging very well with the Filipino people in more intimate ways. We were able to communicate the truth of the gospel in a more dynamic ways, while gaining financial freedom.
The big question then is: Why is tent-making needed in today’s missions work or ministry? The answers are not far-fetched.
First, it provides entry into most countries of the world, especially those that are considered with restricted access.
Secondly, it provides opportunities to build natural relationships with those in the same line of work abroad, and in both open and restricted access countries.
Thirdly, it conserves scarce mission funds for missionaries who must have full support from their organisations at this time of rising costs of things globally, and the uncertain Dollar exchange rates.
Fourthly, tent-making substantially reduces the time needed for preparation. Intending missionaries or Christian workers can proceed abroad for work almost instantly.
Finally, it multiplies missions’ personnel. It is one of the best hopes for an adequate (enhanced) missions force; laborers can be readily and easily available for the work.
We should be careful to observe that the difference between a believer who simply lives and works overseas and a tent maker is the intent and desire to spread the gospel and make disciples. We will discover that most of those engaged in the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-12) in any local church are not vocational ministers.
Tent makers are not expected to be ministry professionals, although it is expected that they be well equipped and experienced, evidencing their calling as tent-making missionaries in their home churches.