A Reflection on Business as Mission: Focusing on Food & Beverage Enterprises in Türkiye

Ji-eun Lee

Member of the Asia Minor Studies Association

Introduction

The Lausanne Forum held in Thailand in 2004 served as a catalyst for the global spread of the Business as Mission (BAM) movement (Kim, June 27, 2024). Since then, BAM has been continuously discussed as a viable strategy in frontier mission fields. However, clear standards or models have yet to be presented. Frontier regions typically refer to areas such as the Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist worlds that do not permit religious visas. In such cases, when student, tourist, or NGO visas are not feasible, missionary workers often pursue business visas instead. Business not only provides missionaries with visas and legitimate identities but also creates employment opportunities and workplace discipleship platforms for local believers. Despite numerous efforts across various regions, as Han (May 11, 2023) pointed out, there remains a lack of critical analysis and reflection on failures within BAM initiatives. Nonetheless, many workers continue to independently explore and prepare for BAM due to ongoing practical needs. To support such workers, this article analyzes the core elements of BAM through the case study of Turkey.

Turkey operates under a capitalist economy and possesses a sufficiently large market, offering considerable opportunities for foreigners to conduct business. With the global expansion of K-dramas and K-food, local interest in Korean cuisine has rapidly increased, leading to the proliferation of Korean restaurants, particularly dessert cafes and snack-style eateries. Although recently established, examining three such enterprises (cafes or Korean restaurants) launched within this context will yield significant insights into the essence of BAM. Each case presents various aspects, but this paper will primarily focus on business performance and ministerial effectiveness.

Case A: Workplace Discipleship Based on Team Ministry

This case involves several missionaries collaboratively operating a dessert cafe. They employed local Christians as staff, mentoring them while modeling ethical work practices, earning favorable feedback. The cafe also serves as a comfortable meeting place, enhancing its usability. With local Christian employment and the collaboration of multiple workers, diverse ministry activities were effectively activated, resulting in positive evaluations from a ministerial standpoint. The business also enjoys a good reputation in the local community and maintains a stable income. However, only the local employees receive salaries, while most of the ministry workers serve without compensation, meaning the venture has not yet reached its break-even point. Given its clear ministerial strengths, structural improvement toward profitability is necessary.

Case B: Profit Generation Through Bold Initial Investment

To fund an educational project, a mission organization made a policy-driven investment to open a dessert cafe. The team consists of two ministry units and employs local Christian staff. Leveraging this investment, the cafe was launched with a relatively upscale design. Initially, however, profits fell short of expectations. After financial analysis, the introduction of snack menu items led to a revenue increase, gradually stabilizing the business. However, due to its emphasis on profitability, its ministerial impact remains limited.

Case C: Small-Scale Business with Modest Capital

A missionary family initiated a small snack restaurant in a suburban area with minimal capital. Unlike Cases A and B, they did not receive personnel recommendations from local churches but instead recruited and hired non-Christian locals through advertisements. The family had prayed and prepared extensively for BAM and invested time in analyzing previous cases. Based on their findings, they excluded desserts and beverages to focus on the profitability of Korean food, and structured the business for simple decision-making. They targeted local residents rather than a general customer base, allowing them to quickly establish a foothold in the community. By communicating effectively with both staff and customers, they are building trust and demonstrating high ministerial potential. Their low operational costs suggest that reaching the break-even point is within close reach.

Considerations on the Essential Elements of Business and Ministry

These cases raise the fundamental question of whether business or ministry should take precedence in BAM. If there is no ministry impact, one may ask why missionaries should run businesses at all. Conversely, if the business is unsustainable, how can ministry be maintained? The dichotomy between ministry-first or business-first is not a simple choice but a structural issue, as illustrated by the case studies.

For a business to succeed, the income must clearly exceed the initial investment and operational costs. When multiple ministry workers operate a single business, the cost burden is high, making it difficult to generate profit unless significant income is achieved. If team-based ministry translates to multiple workers commuting to and working at the same business site, achieving profitability in typical food and beverage businesses becomes challenging. Nonetheless, many missionaries envision working together as a team in the same location, as the absence of ministry coworkers often leads to concerns about workload and diminished time for ministry. However, this approach, while potentially successful from a ministerial perspective, often struggles to achieve business viability. To succeed in both aspects, team ministry should avoid high-cost structures and explore alternative models that allow for collaborative work without financial strain. Additionally, the long-term inability of a business to generate profit may negatively affect local partners.

For successful ministry, while team synergy and business stability are important, the most critical element is the presence of a prepared ministry worker who can exert a biblical and positive influence on local stakeholders. Language proficiency is vital. While language shortcomings may be tolerated in casual interactions, the same leniency rarely applies in professional environments, where it is easier to lose control of communication. Ministry workers must not only possess basic communication skills but also model biblical values through their conduct. Since the workplace is where vocational ethics and life attitudes are revealed in real time, the integrity of the worker becomes visible once the business begins. Local staff inevitably observe whether the worker's teachings align with their behavior.

During field visits to BAM sites, what stood out most was the quality of the ministry worker’s relationships: relationships among ministry workers, between workers and local staff, and between workers and customers. These relational dynamics were confirmed to be key success factors for BAM. Korean ministry workers often display different attitudes depending on whether they are dealing with customers, local staff, or coworkers. While relationships with fellow workers can offer emotional and spiritual support, they may also become burdensome. When working in the same business, conflicts can arise due to unclear responsibilities or disagreements. Reflecting on how Jesus did not overly depend on anyone, it becomes clear that a consistent attitude of service in all relationships is necessary.

Many missionaries feel burdened by the business knowledge, execution ability, and by the challenge of raising initial capital. However, these cases demonstrate that spiritual preparation and training as ministry workers are equally important. Workers must biblically articulate the life values they wish to convey to locals and be trained to communicate these through both language and lifestyle. Overdependence on team synergy can lead to financial strain and ministry limitations.

Conclusion

These case studies demonstrate that successful BAM requires both sound business decisions and sufficient ministerial preparation. As a business, it must pursue profitability clearly. Instead of reducing individual workloads by distributing work among coworkers, it is more effective to secure financial sustainability and implement a professional management system, thereby freeing time for ministry. Moreover, all aspects of business operation should be approached as ministry opportunities, demanding maturity and training in how workers relate to others. Through both fluent language and spiritual sensitivity, coworkers and employees must continually experience the respect and love of the ministry worker. When this happens, biblical values will be visibly manifested in the lives of local Muslim communities.

Is the dual expectation of excelling in both business and ministry an excessive burden? Does it present a daunting wall for those preparing for BAM? Reflecting on the early missionaries who came to Joseon over a hundred years ago, when it was economically poorer than many African nations, may offer a solution. They embraced a grand vision for spiritually barren and economically impoverished Joseon, not to achieve immediate results, but to trust in what God would do through their lives. Likewise, today’s ministry workers pursuing BAM must remember that while business relies on realistic calculations, the ultimate goal is not profit but using it as a means to continuously reveal biblical truths to those living in fear of the uncertain future and enslavement to materialism. Offering one's life for this purpose must be a voluntary act of devotion.

References

Kim, A. (June 27, 2024). "Business as Mission ignited by Lausanne... 'Bring BAM to the 10/40 Window.'" Kukmin Ilbo. https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0020250484

Han, H. (May 11, 2023). "Why does our Business as Mission fail?... Reasons revealed."  iGoodNews. https://www.igoodnews.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=72981