Access Partners: The Need

Ongoing Missions Responsibilities

From the time of Paul to today, cross-cultural missions has required much effort and time.  There are no short-cuts.  All cross-cultural missionaries have the following baseline responsibilities:

• Language: Speaking in the native language of a people group so the Gospel is clearly understood.
• Culture: Respecting others' customs and values so discipleship is effectively addressed.
• Church Planting: Encouraging local believers to meet together in a community to display God?s glory.

New Challenges with Business

As missionaries have turned to business to enter these difficult places, their responsibilities and challenges have significantly increased.  If you have ever started a business, you are familiar with the challenges involved.  Entrepreneurs require broad knowledge across various fields: management, HR, law, accounting, IT, project management, design, etc.  In developed countries, you can easily find help with various aspects of your business.  What do you do if you're in Sierra Leone with a slowly developing economy, intermittent electricity, insufficient local expertise, limited outsourcing options, and constrained working capital?

Some might say, "Don't bother starting a business there.  Go to the big cities in more developed countries."  That approach, however, leaves countless people out of the reach of the Gospel.  Praise God, there are missionaries willing to go to these difficult places and do whatever it takes to make Jesus known.   These dedicated servants are willing to face significant challenges for the sake of Christ, which include:

• A shortage of expertise: It's already a challenging task to build a sufficient team for missions.  Adding the further requirement for in-depth knowledge in business makes team building even more difficult. 
• A shortage of resources: Time is a major factor.  Traditional responsibilities of language learning and church planting are practically a full-time job.  Add the workload of starting a business and the missionary often feels overwhelmed.
• Lack of knowledge sharing: Many missionaries are hard at work setting up their own businesses so have little time to share lessons and experiences with others.  Work is often replicated, which leads to inefficiencies and wasted resources.
• Contextualization: Business expertise from developed markets (e.g., the US) will often not directly carry over to the foreign context.  Assistance from industry experts must be contextualized to local needs and conditions.