Paul was a church-planter, missionary, apostle . . . and tent-maker. Tent-making was for him the way he made provision for his financial needs so that he would be free to do the Lord’s work without worrying about money. I believe God is releasing a new wave of tent-makers in the body of Christ!
But what is tent-making anyway? Typically when someone tells me they are a tent-maker, they mean that they work a 9-5 and do ministry on the side. That’s not what Paul did. Paul’s tent-making enterprise was a business, not a job. Paul was an entrepreneur who built a mobile business that was lucrative enough to provide not only for himself, but for all of his traveling companions as well. How would you like to be that kind of tent-maker?
When we think of tents, we think of camping. Do you really think people were buying tents from Paul to go on camping trips? I think Paul was more of a general contractor than a camping expert. He had a business model that was so flexible that he could take it with him wherever he went.
Though he had every right to expect support from the churches that he planted, he never depended upon the churches for his financial support. He allowed the Philippian church to support him, and eventually he encouraged the Corinthian church to do the same. But this was not because he was in dire need of money; he could have continued to thrive as a tent-maker. When Paul allowed churches to support him, it was for their benefit, not for his.
What if all of us who serve the Lord thought this way?
Let me just come out and say what I have in my heart to say here:
THE NON-PROFIT MENTALITY HAS TO GO! It’s killing us!
What do I mean by the non-profit mentality?
What do we normally do when we are getting ready to go on a missions trip? We send out a support letter in order to solicit funds from our friends and family members. While this is not a bad thing, this is also not the best thing. And it is not sustainable either.
Think about it: your support letter is all about you . . . what you feel God calling you to do in the place that he has called you to do it, and the results that you hope to achieve as you embark upon your journey. Your hope in sending the letter is that the vision for you might stir someone’s heart to give.
This is not a bad thing. If and when people do support you, they can feel good about the fact that they are furthering the work of the Lord and empowering his calling upon your life.
But what is better is providing people with something that betters their lives, strengthens their hearts, empowers their calling . . . in exchange for their money.
We who serve the ministry must learn to be more generous than we are needy. Instead of thinking about what we need to get from people in order to do the work of the Lord, we need to think about what we can give to people in exchange for their financial investment.
This is the heart of entrepreneurial thinking. Entrepreneurialism is not about making money, it is about providing value for people, about solving people’s problems and empowering them to grow, and about giving them an opportunity to enter into a relationship of exchange with you.
Bloggerpreneurialism is really the application of this way of thinking. I really believe that every pastor, every missionary, every church worker . . . needs to create a blog, build a mailing list, and learn how to feed people with consistent content that betters their lives.
When someone supports you because they are moved by what you want to do, they feel good. But if someone supports you because they have been consistently fed by you, that’s even better.
Stop waiting for a hand-out. What’s in your hands? Start making tents with it, and provide people with something that betters their lives.
