Creative-Access Platforms 32 Creative-Access Platforms

Introduction What is your reaction to the introductory story? If you were going to be a “platform” missionary, would you already have a portable job skill, or would you have to create one? What ethical issues does this scenario raise? Are there places in Canada where this might be a good approach?

Platforms: issues Where? 70 nations are hostile to missionaries What? “platforms” encompass a person’s skills, services, and occupations that provide a legitimate entry into one of these “closed” countries. An old concept: Priscilla and Aquila as well as Paul worked to fund their ministry. Thousands of others through the years

Platforms: Definition PLATFORMS are a legitimate means for expatriate kingdom workers to gain entrance into countries open to, or hostile to, the gospel, as they serve their constituents in various integrative ways that wed work and worship, the secular and the sacred.

Platforms: Application Usually applies to entry into hostile counties Also legitimate for entering any country to allow people to serve in various roles that join work and ministry, secular and sacred. So – Canada is not a “hostile” nation, but it is an expensive nation in which to live. Does that make “platforms” a good option for Canada?

Foundational issues

Legal and Ethical issues Consider Acts 4:19-20. Does the actions of the couple in the scenario fall under this principle? How do you weigh the cost to nationals who have related to them if the couple are discovered and thrown out? Whom are they endangering and how do you minimize these risks?

Work and worship issues Is our work “sacred”? Is the couple’s platform a distraction, or should they do it with excellence? Consider the perspective’s of Eugene Peterson and the Moravians presented in this section. What arguments would you use to affirm or counter their perspective?

Profit issues Three goals for ministry in developing countries A church planting movement takes off Social evil is addressed and communities and nations transformed Businesses develop and thrive, so the people can feed and care for their families and bless their communities and nation. Proper discipleship includes selflessness in all three arenas

Educational Preparation Issues Four camps of marketplace kingdom workers related to educational preparation Theological preparation Marketplace professional training Theological training AND professional business training Theological, Business, and Missiology training The fourth approach is needed to make the adjustments in crossing cultures for platform ministry

Pioneer Players John Leonard Dober – 1732 – West Indies Moravian Became an indentured slave to reach slaves Hundreds of volunteers joined him, many dying soon after they arrived Thousands of slaves reached with the gospel

Pioneer Players J. Christy Wilson – 1951 – Afghanistan HS principal in Kabul Planted a church and started a school for the blind Expelled in 1975 – promoted missions at Gordon-Conwell Seminary

Pioneer Players Ruth E. Siemens - 1954 – teacher in Latin America Serious illness crushed her hopes of career missions. Studied teaching. Then… Taught school in various South American countries for 21 years as she did missions 1975 founded Global Opportunities www.globalopps.org to help others find “tentmaking” opportunities for missions Died in 2005 at the age of eighty

Foundational Publications and Gatherings Political, economic, social, and theological trends all impact the nature and extent of platform missions Today the underlying factor is globalization of commerce Check out: www.missionresources.com/tentmakers.html Book: God’s New Envoys: A Bold Strategy for Penetrating “Closed Countries” by Tatsunao Yamamori 1989 Lausanne Congress II, Tentmaking track; “Tentmaker Declarative Appeal” in the printed proceedings In 2000, 79 books published about faith and work. Pages 526-530 list many other articles and gatherings on platform ministry

Types, Goals and Concerns of Platforms Platform missions require strategic thought and careful preparation The chart on page 531 lists some of the platform distinctives that must be thoughtfully build in. If you were going to do platform ministry, what would you do and how would your choice map onto that chart? A career minister can only become helpful at the point where they understand that business, too, is a sacred calling