Business as Mission: Alleviating Poverty by Reconciling Relationships

Abstract

This thesis explores the idea that every human suffers from poverty in their four relationships with self, God, others, and creation. Christians believe that the only way to reconcile these relationships is to accept the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ, who restores all things. The Bible calls for Christians to share this good news of salvation with everyone. A growing worldwide movement to answer this calling is Business as Mission (BAM). This way of doing business describes companies that share the Kingdom of God, focus on holistic transformation of communities through economic, social, and environmental means, concern themselves with the poorest and least evangelized people around them, and commit to profitability and sustainability. By operating in this way, businesses hope to alleviate the poverty of these four relationships. This thesis describes how BAM accomplishes this, gives examples of BAM practices in Murfreesboro, TN, and provides an example BAM company.