Missionaries Creating Businesses?

What is your image of a missionary?

The first major Protestant missionary movement took place in the 1700s. It was a surge of Moravians from Herrnut, Germany, under the leadership of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf.

One uniqueness of this movement was that these pioneer missionaries left home for far-off places with the understanding that they would not be receiving financial support after they settled in.  

The Moravians believed it was a missionary's duty and obligation not only to "preach the Lamb" that was slain for the salvation of souls, but to also build spiritually and economically integrated communities for the glory of God.

Not only did these missionaries create businesses to meet their personal financial needs, earning their living "as they went," but the businesses they created generated financial support for their missionary endeavors.  

But that wasn’t their entire motive for creating businesses. They did this in order to provide much-needed employment for the economically depressed people they came to evangelize and truly love.

Let me say it bluntly: The first wave of Protestant missionaries created profit-producing businesses. Lots of them. 

The Moravians went to neglected and marginalized folk. They intentionally went to the poor and exploited people of the world. They went to slaves in Surinam. To Eskimos. To Native Americans in the USA.  

Among the many kinds of businesses they established were: textile manufacturing, pottery-making, baking, canoe-crafting and watch-making. In Labrador, the missionaries owned trading posts and cargo ships.

Missionaries creating businesses?

Indeed. It was an integral part of their vision. The Moravian missionaries understood that Christianity brings meaning and purpose to work in ways not possible apart from Christ. They understood that faith is lived out through vocation, as well as through hymn-singing on Sunday morning. Without work, faith is dead.   

Besides saving souls, Count Zinzendorf wanted to teach the natives “the dignity of labor." In the process of creating businesses, the Moravians labored in the marketplace beside neighbors who knew not Christ. These neighbors found relief from the shackles of sin and the shackles of poverty at the same time.  

Zinzendorf disliked taking offerings, or appealing for aid. He rejected the collection-plate approach to missions in part because he did not think it was right to compete with other Christian causes. 

If you want to know more about the first Protestant missionary movement, and the Moravians who boldly and bravely participated in it, read William J. Danker's eye-opening book, Profit for the Lord.

In Profit for the Lord, William Danker writes: "...the most important contribution of the Moravians was their emphasis that every Christian is a missionary and should witness through his daily vocation. If the example of the Moravians had been studied more carefully by other Christians, it is possible that the businessman might have retained his honored place within the expanding Christian world mission beside the preacher, teacher, and physician."

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman