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Creating the Map: Exploring Categories in the BAM Ecosystem 

by | Jan 29, 2025 | Articles, BAM, Resources

Part 2 

In Part 1 of this two part series, we introduced the new BAM Ecosystem map developed in partnership by The Stone Table and BAM Global, with input from other partners in the business as mission community. 

In our first post, we outlined our motivation and hopes for this new tool. In this second post, we will briefly share our approach to adding entities to the map and then discuss in turn each of the five main categories, including notable sources, resources and observations.

Mapping the Ecosystem

The business as mission community is broad and diverse, with a wide range of entities associated with it from across the world. Some are solely focused on BAM and would label themselves as such. Whereas, others do not primarily identify with a ‘BAM label’ but are like-minded in terms of goals and/or may have an association with BAM activities. 

The BAM Ecosystem Map recognizes that BAM overlaps, in terms of vision and activities, with several other movements that have their own growing ecosystems. For this reason, we have not put hard boundaries around what constitutes ‘BAM’ when it comes to inclusion on the Map; we have not limited ourselves to those who self-identify as BAM entities or who operate only within our definition of business as mission.

Instead, we have asked ourselves whether an entity has resources and activities that would be of interest to current and would-be BAM practitioners. We have also looked at the degree of alignment in terms of vision, i.e. a shared goal to multiply business solutions to the world’s pressing global issues in response to God’s missional call on His people. And we have looked at historic and relational connections between the entity and those active in practicing or resourcing BAM. 

An exception to this approach is in the area of Networking, Events and Prayer, where we have included only networking and convening entities that are more specifically focused on BAM, plus a few significant like-minded networks. This is because we could not include the vast number of “marketplace ministry” networks around the world that share our theology of work foundations but do not have an overt BAM application. There are other directories for such organizations for different countries of the world and our intention is that the BAM Ecosystem Map will stay more focused on helping people discover specifically BAM-centered networks, events and prayer initiatives.

To reiterate, the Map is a work in progress and is open to new additions and amendments. Please use the Submit a New Resource’ form or contact us to give us feedback or let us know about broken links or errors.

Finally, it must be noted here that some entities have chosen not to be on the Map for security reasons.

BAM Ecosystem Map

In the course of our research, we chose the following five categories as a way to organize and navigate the BAM Ecosystem:

  1. Coaching/Training
  2. Incubation/Acceleration
  3. Recruiting/Mobilization
  4. Capital/Investment
  5. Networking/Events/Prayer

Although there is some overlap, each subcategory has unique characteristics that we will discuss in turn.

Coaching and Training

It is worth observing that there is some crossover between what some organizations call coaching and others call mentoring. OPEN is one organization that uses both words and distinguishes between the two. In this case, whereas coaches are subject matter experts and trained coaches/consultants, mentors are those who have lived in unreached areas of the world and have engaged in transformational business there. On the other hand, Transformational SME calls the former “mentors” and it does not have an equivalent for OPEN’s mentor program. Meanwhile IBEC Ventures calls their subject matter experts “consultants” and occasionally “coaches.”

The role of a coach is generally accepted to be someone who walks alongside the BAM practitioner as an experienced guide that draws out the solutions from within the practitioner, encourages, prays, and occasionally gives advice or demonstrates solutions. A coach may be utilized in a long-term capacity (as many think of a mentor doing), or they may be employed for a short period to address a particular issue in the business such as technology implementation or lean manufacturing education.

Notably, there is a growing number of peer advisory groups (PAGs) among the BAM network which differ from coaching and mentoring, but are often  led by coaches. We have included certain PAGs, for example C12 and CBMC International, on the Map in the coaching category where they have a significant international spread and alignment with the BAM concept. Other initiatives and entities that encourage peer-to-peer connections but that are primarily networks have been included under the networking category, for example the BGlobal Community or OPEN.

Training also comes in all shapes and sizes. BAM Moves, Third Path Initiative, and Business 4 Blessing are all led by experienced BAM pioneers and dive into specific cross-cultural business challenges. On the other hand, The Center for Faith and Work, Theology of Work, and Global Faith and Work Initiative all focus around theology of work topics. While these might describe themselves more broadly as a “marketplace ministry”, they offer key, foundational training resources to the BAM community. And there are many others that fall somewhere in between, offering both foundations and application, such as the Missional Marketplace Course by The Stone Table or courses offered by SfK Network, for example.

The role of universities and colleges in BAM is still relatively undeveloped, although there have been some notable pioneering institutions. Andrea Soberg, facilitator of the BAM Academics network, has conducted research on training provision in BAM. She concluded that most often it is unaccredited, non-institutional BAM courses and business incubators that contribute most to the development of BAM practitioners.

While there are several colleges that are making great strides such as Dallas Baptist University with their Center for Business as Mission and Colorado Christian University, under the tutelage of Patrick Lai, the hurdles to getting universities involved in BAM are significant. Soberg cites the hurdles of accreditation and a lack of faculty capacity as two primary challenges. Today, the majority of institutions intent on venturing into this space have done so either by creating certificate programs, developing faith and work centers or institutes, or partnering with business incubators like Praxis.

Incubation and Acceleration

For those unfamiliar with the terms, incubation is a word generally reserved for startups. You might call them pre-seed investments or businesses in the ideation or early development stage. Whereas, acceleration usually focuses on the seed stage or later, where businesses already have a minimum viable product (MVP) and are seeking to grow and scale.

You can expect that most incubators and accelerators will include a variation of cohort-based, time-bound sessions, connections to coaches and mentors, pitch development and competitions, and access to capital. Most range anywhere from several weeks to a year in length.

Praxis is by far the largest and most well known accelerator in the “redemptive entrepreneurship” space with chapters all around the world and a focus on high-growth ventures. Its primary operations are in the US, as are Oceans and Missional Labs.

Sinapis is also working at scale, with operations in three countries and partnerships in nine developing nations. Like Sinapis, Angello, Itzinya, and TBN are also focused on developing nations. 

The B4T Incubator is an entity that focuses exclusively on unreached areas of the world. YWAM Colorado Springs has developed incubation functions alongside the central pillar of its School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SOBE) training course and also has a focus on business among unreached peoples. These organizations, and others on the map, highlight the strong overlap between training and incubation (and indeed between incubation and funding) which we touched on in Part 1.

It has been encouraging that there has been much development since the 2015 BAM Global Report on BAM Incubation. However, there is still much room for growth. One critical need in this space is the development of industry- and region-specific programs. Such developments could provide excellent opportunities with aligned investment funds that are struggling with deal flow.

Recruiting and Mobilization

There are two primary categories listed in this section: mission organizations, and BAM support organizations with headhunting services or job boards. 

If you are interested in seeing those with job boards, here are a few great examples:

  1. BGlobal
  2. Transformational SME
  3. Adilstone
  4. Global Works
  5. Scatter Global
  6. Tent International
  7. Switchboard (volunteer, part-time positions only)

Turas, on the other hand, may be the only purely headhunting and recruiting service on the Map. With regional offices around the globe, they partner with large organizations and churches to coach and place candidates in jobs that fit their skills and the calling that God has placed on their life.

Notably, the majority of the organizations listed in this section are mission agencies. While many of these organizations also have their own infrastructures for BAM that might fall into other categories, quite often much of that infrastructure is not public-facing. Since the Map is intended to convey resources that anyone can connect with, we have chosen to primarily list these mission organizations in the Recruiting and Mobilizing category, where they usually offer more publicly accessible onramps.

It should be particularly noted that many incredible entities on the Map were born out of or are still housed under mission agency leadership. The B4T incubator is a great example of this. It was first developed under the commission of Global Works, the BAM expression of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. However, once it successfully serviced the needs of its own organization, The B4T Incubator was released to meet the needs of the broader ecosystem.

This is true of many others such as MDE, which was originally commissioned by SEND International and IBEC Ventures by Crossworld. Some initiatives that are now under the leadership of BAM Global started life as YWAM ministries and still involve YWAM-seconded team members. Scatter Global and B4T.org have their roots in OM, and the Agathe Center is affiliated with the Global Enterprise Network of the Navigators

Despite the large number of organizations in this section, there is still much work to be done in the area of mobilization. Is there any shortage of problems in the world that might be best solved by business mechanisms, or a shortage of people who have yet to hear the gospel?! The harvest is truly plentiful and the workers are few. According to the World Bank, there are still 700 million people in the world living in extreme poverty. The Joshua Project cites 3.4 billion people are still unreached with the gospel. 

Several BAM companies known to us have been waiting for years for someone with the right skills, vision and depth of faith to step into a job opening. But getting the word out is not always easy. Many mission agencies are still primarily reaching out to seminary graduates and ministry professionals. Operating environments that are hostile to business and/or mission make it difficult for many BAM enterprises to find key personnel.

Still today, few Christians have a studied understanding of how the sacred-secular divide permeates their life. Most Christian business people still have no awareness of the concept of business as mission or the strategic need for business skills in the global, holistic mission work that God calls His Body to.

Capital and Investment

While the list of funds is long and each fund has its own industry, region, development stage, and market cap focus, we will undertake to list the key investor-facing organizations and underlying research here.

First, one of the greatest blessings to the body of research in this field is Pragma Advisors. They are acknowledged for their significant contribution to the ecosystem map and play a significant behind-the-scenes role in networking with investors and mapping of the whole ecosystem of funds connected to frontier markets. You can access the 2024 Pragma Advisors Investment Study here.

Another significant contributor to education and connecting investors in least reached areas of the world is The Steward Investor. Their master class can be accessed here and the accompanying book by Don Simmons is highly recommended.

Undoubtedly the largest network of kingdom-minded investors is Faith Driven Investor. From their many regional networks to their annual conference, online marketplace connecting investors with entrepreneurs, and even a podcast with over 180 episodes from notable speakers, Faith Driven Investor has boomed into an ecosystem in itself for all things investment related in the kingdom of God.

And we would be remiss not to mention the National Christian Foundation which is focused on donor-advised charitable giving and has facilitated over $14.5 billion in grants since 1982.

Our intention is to include these investor-related networking bodies on the Map itself in a category of their own in the next iteration, but for now we have limited the scope of this section to BAM practitioner-facing funds and networks of investors.

Highly recommended reading in this field includes:

  1. The Steward Investor, by Don Simmons
  2. Faith Driven Investing, with seventeen authors including Tim Keller, Andy Crouch, and Cathie Wood
  3. 2024 Investment Market Study, by Pragma Advisors

Networks, Events, and Prayer

These are the foremost activities of BAM Global who host the largest gathering of business as mission professionals at the annual BAM Global Summit. BAM Global hosts two online events each year that combined see over 550 attendees representing more than 75 countries.

Other notable events include OPEN’s B4T Expo, Faith Driven Entrepreneur’s Annual Conference, Christian Economic Forum (CEF)’s Annual Global Event, and Forge Global Summit.

Beyond these events, BAM Global has also launched a community of practice for network leaders from over 25 partner networks, many of which are listed under the regional subcategory.

Faith Driven Entrepreneur hosts over 100 local or online groups, and there are global sector-specific network builders such as FaithTech and the Freedom Business Alliance.

At first glance, this section of the Map may appear to be a miscellaneous junk drawer for the BAM ecosystem. Do networks, events, and prayer really all go together? Absolutely they do!

If anything it is the networks, their accompanying conferences, and the channeling of networks into regular, strategic prayer meetings that has allowed for the work of God in us and through our businesses. Network building involves a spirit of unity, openhandedness and surrender to God that the BAM movement, as well as the faith and work, business for transformation (B4T) and redemptive entrepreneurship movements, have benefited from.

There is surely power in prayer and even more so when we gather together (Matthew 18:19-20, Acts 1:14, 2:42, 4:24, 12:5, James 5:16, Jonah 3:5-10, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Ezra 10:1). It has also been said that “Prayer does not equip us for some greater works—prayer is the greater work”—Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest.

To join a network in regular prayer, take a look at BAM Global’s monthly meeting or Faith Driven Entrepreneur and Faith Driven Investor’s weekly gatherings for prayer.

May our prayer together be “Lord, Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done…In Business” (see the BAM Global Biblical Foundations Report and 3 Minute Explainer Video for more inspiration on that topic).

A Call for Collaboration

On that note, we again want to call for greater collaboration and partnership among the body of Christ. Our hope is that resources like this Map will help demonstrate that BAM entities come from a diverse range of backgrounds, with a diverse range of specializations. Whilst some are central to the business sphere, initiated by business-background professionals and entrepreneurs, others have been birthed through pioneering work in the other three main BAM constituencies: mission, church and academia.

We particularly want to encourage mission agencies, church denominations and academic institutions to partner with and build on the resources that exist, rather than siloing. And we want to encourage entrepreneurs and business professionals to actively learn from and partner with those from other constituencies; leveraging the extensive relational, human and intellectual capital found in other spheres.

Key Exclusions

It may be observed that key resources such as books, podcasts, articles, research, etc.  are not included in the map. This is largely due to the fact that such resources are usually offerings and initiatives of organizations. For instance, nearly every organization has written some sort of article or blog that contributes to the wider body of research and thinking on BAM. 

The BAM Resource Centre Resource Library does have pages for each of these categories to explore further, and here are a few of the highlights from the above categories:

  1. Podcasts
    1. The Business as Mission Podcast, by Mike Baer
    2. Kingdom Keys, by Bill Job
    3. The BAM Canada Podcast
    4. Faith Driven Entrepreneur
  2. Books
    1. Top 10 BAM Books
    2. Business as Mission: Library of Books
  3. Articles & Research
    1. Business as Mission: Articles & Papers
    2. Business as Mission: Reports
    3. Business as Mission: Stories

Some specific services that are helpful to BAM practitioners such as internships or member care do not have their own section, either due to the dearth of resources at this point in that category or because of a strong overlap with other categories. 

For instance, as a result of consultation with Harry Hoffman (Coordinator of the Global Member Care Network and a BAM trainer) plus other member care leaders, it became clear that there are currently no specific member care resources for BAM professionals. We are hopeful, however, that a new BAM Global Consultation on BAM Practitioner Care and Well-being will spur on the development of new resources in this space.

Very specific service providers such as tax professionals, insurance providers, legal counsel, etc. are not included on the May, mainly due to space and capacity considerations since we have not drilled down that finely in this iteration. One notable service provider directory by OPEN can be found here.

These approaches to the Map may change in the future as the ecosystem evolves.

How You Can Contribute

The BAM Ecosystem Map is only as useful as it is relevant. The BAM Global team and its partners are committed to keeping this resource live and up to date. Please help us by submitting missing resources and updates in the  ‘Submit a New Resource’ form or contact us to let us know about broken links or errors. Let’s keep this map current!

As the body of Christ, we need to make one another aware of the resources that each of us has created and work to collaborate, sharpen, and grow together. Please share this resource with those you know would benefit from it. 

Please feel free share the BAM Ecosystem Map link or the link to the first introduction post:

https://bam-ecosystem.my.canva.site/

https://businessasmission.com/the-business-as-mission-ecosystem-map-a-new-interactive-tool/

Thank you!

Jon B, with Jo Plummer

Jon has spent his career as a serial entrepreneur and business consultant both in the US and abroad in missions contexts. From a young age he has worked to marry a calling to missions and gifting for business. He is currently the Director of Missional Business Development at The Stone Table and Coach Coordinator for OPEN USA. Jo Plummer is the Creative Director & Co-Founder of BAM Global and the co-editor of the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission. She has been developing resources for BAM since 2001 and currently serves as Editor of the Business as Mission website and The BAM Review Blog.

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The Stone Table Exists to Mobilize Marketplace Believers for The Great Commission.