These lay leaders are typically bivocational and come from the general profile of the people group being reached. As the movement unfolds, paid clergy often emerge. However, the majority—and growth edge of the movement—continue to be led by lay…leaders.
This reliance upon lay leadership ensures the largest possible pool of potential church planters and cell church leaders. Dependence upon seminary-trained—or in nonliterate societies, even educated pastoral leaders means that the work will always face a leadership deficit.
These churches push ministry down to house groups and to lay leaders. They expect lay leaders to lead the flock to care for each other, to grow, and to reproduce. Primary church life takes place in the house fellowships which commonly provide pastoral care, evangelize, disciple, bap-tize, practice the Lord’s Supper, collect money, and so on.

Building lay-centered churches which turn Christians into bringers of others and which constantly generate lay leaders is the key to church growth. How do you establish such lay-powered church movements? By doing it—by establishing a lay-ministry model. This is what Biblical tentmaking does—it sets a lay leadership pattern which produces lay-powered churches. This is why tentmaking is so important, totally apart from gaining access to restricted countries.

The genius and power of tentmaking.

Restricted access has pushed missions back toward tentmaking, often a hybrid missionary-tentmaker form perceived as second best to full-time ministry. But the apostle Paul did not see it as second best. With no external constraint, he consciously chose to work for his own living because of the benefits it provided. A careful reading of the text shows that this was not an occasional practice, but Paul’s standard operating procedure. He deliberately chose to be a regular, working Christian. (See “New Millennium Missions” and “Why Did Paul Make Tents?” at www.globalopps.org/materials.htm for a more complete discussion.)
Identification for incarnation – In 1 Cor 9, Paul gives reasons for his choice to work. In the last paragraph he gives his climactic reason: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (19, 22b) In context, Paul applies this great statement on identification to working for a living. Paul became one of the people, an everyday working person. He identified with his hearers in the most obvious and profound way possible—he worked just like they did. He incarnated the gospel in everyday life.

Tentmakers do the same today by working for their own living. They become one of the people, dependent on their work just like their hearers. They face many of the same pressures, struggles, and frustrations. The people understand how they fit in. By contrast, many missionaries have told me how hard it was for people to understand who they were or what they did. As a result, they found it harder to fit in or to be respected.

Tentmakers become part of the community by working for a living in a legitimate role.

As everyday working people, tentmakers demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel by the supernatural difference in their lives. They demonstrate their loyalty to Jesus by the quality of their work, by the caliber of their character, by their servanthood to boss, co-workers, employees, clients, suppliers, authorities, family, and larger community, by their response to pressure, injustice, and suffering, by their stand for righteousness, and by their witness to Jesus in everyday conversation. They integrate work, faith and witness. They arouse spiritual interest and scrutiny of their lives. In a word, they incarnate the gospel by working.

Heightened credibility among the unreached – By working, Paul killed any suspicion that he preached for money, which could present an “obstacle” to the gospel. (I Co. 9:23; 1 Th. 2:5) No one could say, “Paul, you get paid to preach.” or “Paul, you get paid to make converts.” —statements made repeatedly about missionaries and pastors in unevangelized regions. Fair or unfair, nonbelievers often discount the message of paid workers, especially in unreached socie-ties with no history of paid religious workers having great integrity and sacrifice. In fact, many experience the opposite from their priests. Tentmakers show that calling people to Christ has nothing to do with financial benefit.

Modeling lay witness and leadership – Because they incarnate the gospel in all of life, tentmakers create a model of workplace witness and lay leadership. They arouse spiritual interest and draw seekers into seeker groups to hear more about Jesus. They believe in the power of the Spirit, expect new believers to be eager to pursue God and to share Christ, and train them to do so. Like Paul, they model everyday discipleship and urge new believers to imitate them. (1 Cor 4:16; 11:1) No one can say, “You don’t know what it’s like to work full-time or to be mistreated or to be mocked or…”

Jesus commanded us to produce genuine disciples who obey all his commands. (Mt 28:20) This cannot be done through large meetings, but only through small discipleship groups (house churches). So effective tentmakers reproduce lay leaders who reproduce still more lay leaders to lead house churches.

All tentmakers can help plant churches as God blesses. They cannot plant complex, centralized churches with buildings, bands, sound systems, and multiple programs. But they can make disciples and gather them in simple house churches or cells within churches. Sometimes they will partner with others to do it. Sometimes, they may have to leave before getting the church fully developed.

However, tentmakers can and are doing it! “Daniel” planted a small house church in Taiwan as an ESL teacher. This church has since planted as many as seven more churches and won 600-1000 Taiwanese. Businessman, Ken started a house church which grew in sync with his company to about 300.
Planting churches is not just an apostle Paul feat. When Christians were scattered by the persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom, they preached wherever they went and started churches. These were everyday working Christians. Only the Jerusalem leaders were supported. Although they went “accidentally,” unlike Paul who went intentionally to extend the gospel, they were “dangerous” for the gospel wherever they went. These everyday working Christians not only evangelized, but started churches in Samaria, Antioch, and probably other cities. (Ac 8:5; 11:19-21)

Tentmakers make it normative for everyday Christians to be serious disciples and to make disciples. They make it normative for lay leaders to start house churches or cells. They create lay-powered churches. Such churches eliminate the need for donor-support in order to grow and thus eliminate dependency, one of the greatest problems in missions today which is sapping the vitality and reproduction of churches. (For more, see “Tentmaking: Antidote to Paternalism” at www.globalopps.org/materials.htm

Effective tentmakers provide an indispensable complement to regular missionaries. They add key ingredients which missionaries cannot provide. They incarnate the gospel in everyday life and work. They demonstrate the power of the gospel. They enjoy natural contact with nonbelievers. They enhance the gospel’s credibility as unpaid witnesses. And they make it normative for everyday Christians to be carriers of the gospel and lay leaders. They create lay-powered churches for rapid church growth.
Jacques Ellul makes the profound observation that pastors (full-timers) cannot penetrate society with the gospel. Only lay people can. This is not because many pastors, missionaries, etc. are not godly people, but because they are not in society—they do not work in secular jobs with nonbelievers. With a few exceptions, they work with Christians. But lay Christians work with nonbelievers in all sectors of society and can demonstrate and communicate the gospel.

Effective tentmakers are dynamite—pure gold. To establish lay-powered churches, we need many times as many tentmakers. Let us champion them, affirm them, hold them to full tentmaking/lay ministry principles, urge them on, pray for them, and multiply them every way we can!

A closing question: How do we mobilize the other 99% of lay people who do not even consider tentmaking because they have no “special call” to full-time ministry or missions?