In his book God's New Envoys, Tetsuano Yamamori notes that "when the twenty-first century begins, an estimated eighty-three percent of the world's non-Christian population will reside in countries closed to traditional missionary approaches."

Such a statistic should startle any church that wishes to approach its missionary job strategically, because the church that plans to spend a majority of its funds for conventional missions work is not planning to invest its resources where the majority of the world will be living. The strategy of "tentmaking" missions- through which Christians take secular jobs overseas and use the opportunity to evangelize cross-culturally- is one with which both local churches and mission agencies must come to grips.

Is tentmaking a biblical strategy?

Yes. Although tentmaking was not used as a way to gain entry into "closed countries", some people in scripture chose the route of tentmaking as a way to support their church planting efforts. The apostle Paul, whose occupation coined the phrase "tentmaking", chose to be self-supporting missionary. "...We worked day and night," he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9, "...so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have a right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow."

Perhaps an even better example of tentmakers would be Priscilla and Aquila, a couple who planted churches while making tents to support themselves (Acts 18:1-3). These average laypeople, who were neither apostle nor received an extraordinary missionary call as did Paul, voluntarily chose the self-supporting style of missionary work.

The tentmaker- a hybrid cross between a full-time secular worker and a missionary- is to puzzle to many local churches. Consequently, few churches seek to encourage, develop, and send tentmaker missionaries. Before tentmaking will become a viable strategy for many churches, certain wrong assumptions must be cleared up:

Wrong Assumption: All Christians living overseas are tentmakers.

"Tentmakers are distinguished from other Christians living overseas by their evangelistic motivation," concluded a recent evangelical consultation on tentmaking. Some 400,000 North American Christians currently hold jobs overseas because of a job transfer or for the purpose of personal career advancement, but they have little concern for the cross-cultural evangelism. Tentmakers, on the other hand, seek secular employment abroad for the primary purpose of evangelistic opportunities.

Wrong Assumption: Tentmakers don't need financial support from churches.

Some churches are attracted to the tentmaking strategy because they think that tentmakers are "cost-free missionaries". They are surprised when a future English teacher in North Africa applies for financial support. Yet some tentmakers hold jobs that may occupy as few as two hours a week. And are merely a reason to be in the country. They are paid accordingly! Even some full-time jobs overseas pay only meager salaries. Some mission agencies that deploy tentmakers require that the tentmaker's first four-year term be spent in language learning, which must be local-church-financed.

Not all tentmakers serve with mission agencies; some independently pursue employment overseas. Before sending an independent tentmaker, your church must realize that few jobs oversea are permanently secure. Factors affecting a nation's desire to employ foreigners include the state of the economy, the nation's own fluctuating unemployment rate, and a change if political leadership. What would your church do if a middle eastern university decided to release all western teachers, including your tentmaker? Would you require that he come back home? Or would you be willing to pay his living expenses while he looks for another job? Sending an independent tentmaker will require much more involvement and supervision on your church's part than sending a conventional missionary with an agency.

Wrong Assumption: Real missionaries don't make tents.

Many churches believe that only a full-time church planter is a viable "missionary", and that tentmakers evangelize "on the side" when it is convenient. Thus, they assume that tentmakers do not need the same screening, training, and support that conventional missionaries need.

If your church wishes to incorporate tentmaking into its strategy, what can you do to send tentmaker missionaries?

- Require the same preparation and spiritual qualifications of tentmakers that you would of conventional missionaries. Confirm that tentmakers are spiritually mature, and that they have demonstrated evangelistic/disciple making skills at home. A recent survey of tentmaking missionaries conducted by TMQ Research showed that the majority of effective tentmakers had led an evangelistic Bible study before going overseas.

- Commission tentmakers and hold them accountable. Note the TMQ Research survey results: Most effective tentmakers have "strong relationships with their home church. Their attendance and participation was consistent, and their church considered their tentmaking work true missions activity. Most were commissioned by their church, and felt accountable to their church." One respondent replied, "I saw some rather pathetic examples of people overseas (who were not accountable to home churches). They fell into sin, lacked guidance, and drew away from responsibility."

- Care for your tentmakers. Tentmaking can be a lonely and discouraging job (compared to conventional missionary work) because the tentmaker may not be working for an established mission agency or even with a team of believers. For fellowship, tentmakers often mist diligently seek out national believers or other expatriates. Thus, in some ways, tentmakers need local church support and nurture more than conventional missionaries do.