Which variation is defined as 'Business ventures created and managed specifically for the purpose of advancing the cause of Christ in less-reached parts of the world'?

• A. Tentmaking
• B. Marketplace Ministry
• C. Business as Mission
• D. Christian Microenterprise Development

Answer: (C)

Business as Mission is about using entrepreneurship as a deliberate vehicle for gospel outreach in unreached areas. It isn’t just a job or a ministry activity; it’s a business built from the ground up with the explicit purpose of funding, enabling, and sustaining evangelism, church planting, and community transformation where people haven’t yet heard/are hard to reach. The profits and the very operation become part of the mission strategy, often involving local believers, partnerships, and long-term sustainability rather than handouts.

This distinguishes it from tentmaking, which centers on a missionary’s own work to support their mission rather than launching a venture specifically to advance Christ in a target region. Marketplace ministry focuses on witness and gospel presence in the commercial sphere rather than creating a business enterprise as the primary tool. Christian microenterprise development aims at poverty reduction and community development, which can support mission, but its primary framing is development impact rather than a mission-defined business venture aimed at reaching unreached peoples.