The business as mission movement is growing. However, business people and business skills remain a significant untapped resource in the global church. In the next generation we have an exciting opportunity to unleash the God-given power of business to address spiritual, social and economic poverty like never before. If we are going to multiply the impact, we need to multiply our mobilisation efforts and make our communication even more compelling.

Marketing, Messaging and Engagement in Business as Mission

How are we do to that effectively? What are the barriers and challenges that we will face? What are the opportunities before us? Our aim with this report is to equip those involved in advocacy and mobilisation in the business as mission (BAM) movement with lessons learned from experience. We identify major themes that represent both challenges and opportunities for BAM advocacy and mobilisation today, including:

• God is at work
• Business people are a primary audience
• The church has a vital role
• The sacred-secular divide remains a serious hindrance
• Good stories and models are important
• Greater resourcing and innovation is needed
• Partnerships should be pursued
• We have a message that resonates
• We need to patiently overcome misconceptions
• The world is primed for business

We explore the implications of these themes on the messages that we need to communicate, on our marketing strategies and on engaging people to action. Practical suggestions are given for each these three areas: 1. Developing message content – four key content areas to adapt for any context. 2. Developing marketing strategies – three recommendations for those considering the marketing of BAM concepts and opportunities. 3. Engaging people to action – three important considerations for engaging people to action. Finally, we make recommendations for follow-on initiatives: a prayer network, a call for ‘storytellers’ to join us and a global campaign that would help us reach beyond our current audience for business as mission.