Making Tents or Building Churches?

by Interview with Mans Ramstad

An EMQ interview with Mans Ramstad (pseudonym), veteran tentmaker in China. He works with an organization providing professional services to various agencies in China.

An EMQ interview with Mans Ramstad (pseudonym), veteran tentmaker in China. He works with an organization providing professional services to various agencies in China.

What distinctions do you make between the roles of missionaries and tentmakers?
A: The primary differences are in support (tentmakers usually are fully or partially supported) and in vocation (tentmakers have secular vocations). Tentmakers may do pioneer evangelism and discipleship training. Unfortunately, many often argue that it is too difficult to do evangelism, so they focus on meeting physical or educational needs.

Of course, not every tentmaker wants to use the title “missionary.” Regardless of the title used, the question is whether they want to work toward traditional missionary goals of evangelism and church planting. We suspect that for various reasons many don’t.

Some say that it’s dishonest to say they are professionals (English teachers, doctors, business people) when really they are evangelists. Others believe the most important thing is to do their secular jobs with excellence, arguing that people will be so impressed they will be open to evangelism later on. For many, their vocations leave time for nothing but minimal evangelism. These are important considerations, but they beg the question of how tentmakers carry out the highest calling of the missionary, to build the church.

Q: How have you tried to do this?
A: We feel very strongly that tentmakers need to have an objective toward which they pray, strategize, and work. They must return often to their objective to see how they are doing. It is too easy for tentmakers to become completely caught up in satisfying their secular employers, or in meeting immediate physical and educational needs. In other words, their agenda is set by the people around them, not by themselves in prayer. Of course, God leads in unexpected ways, but as much as possible we ought to win people to faith in Christ, and to guide them into the nurture and discipline of the church.

We know well the difficulties involved in meeting such objectives in our “restricted access” nation. We have endured police interrogations and always feel the oppressive weight of police surveillance. But the dangers and difficulties are not enough to dissuade us from the primary importance of evangelism and church planting.

We find it most helpful to establish friendship and build trust with local authorities. We are honest about our Christian faith and life. We show that being a Christian is not the same as being a political activist. We want to live with honesty, diligence, and integrity.

We make ministry a natural part of our lives, so that we might not be accused of being hypocritical or subversive. We freely pray with our friends (Christian and non-Christian) when they are ill or have problems. When we are asked why we do certain things, we explain our Christian convictions naturally and clearly.

We don’t go hunting for people to evangelize. We try to evangelize through natural channels of conversation and within the context of people’s everyday experiences. When people come to Christ, we call them to Christian fellowship, worship, Bible study, prayer, godly living, love, and mercy.

Of course, some new believers don’t want anyone to know they have believed in Christ. When there’s a risk of losing your job, or of being harassed by the party secretary, we understand the difficulty of going public with your faith. We encourage them to tell others, but we don’t tell them who they should tell first. We try to help them to figure out how to share their faith in their family, neighborhood, and workplace. Over time they are able to be more public about their faith.

Some new believers refuse to meet with other local believers. This causes us to wonder if they have experienced genuine conversion, or if they just want to say they are Christians to participate in foreign cultural events. We make clear that fellowship with local believers is not optional, so they must find the best place to fellowship, worship, and hear the word of God. We emphasize that becoming a Christian means repenting of sin, receiving forgiveness, and submitting to Christ’s lordship. It does notmean to subscribe to certain ideas or cultural habits they perceive as Christian.

Q: How do you relate to the local church?
A: We support the local church, whether it is registered with the government or not. However, we prefer to associate with the registered church because it is the only legal church, and it is in the best position to be the body of Christ in public and in society. We are not concerned with denominations or worship styles. We do everything we can to support and encourage the local body of Christ. We take our converts there and expect them to join, or at least to participate.

The local church pastors and elders are our leaders, and we look to them for guidance and direction. We don’t get involved in things they do not support. They know the local situation better than we do. They will be here long after we leave, and they will have to live with the consequences of our behavior.

We feel our behind-the-scenes role is the best way to build indigenous leaders and to avoid hassles with the authorities. For example, for four years we have been encouraging our church to begin a Sunday school class for children. We have provided them materials and taught how to use them. At their request, one of our people trained 20 Sunday school teachers. Finally, they started the class and it’s standing room only.

In some places where no local churches exist, tentmakers must gather their converts together as soon as possible and encourage them to appoint leaders and start a church.

Q: How do you deal with the authorities when conflicts or misunderstandings arise?
A: When we are called in and criticized for engaging in Christian activities, we do three things. First, we make certain we are being criticized for something God would be pleased to see us being criticized for. In other words, it should not be something foolish or illegal.

For example, we got some bad advice and went to a closed village without a permit. When we were scolded for this, we were ashamed and regretted our carelessness.

Second, we defend ourselves in such a way that the gospel is clarified to the authorities, and they see the relationship between the gospel and our behavior. Third, as humbly as we can, we explain there are some things we cannot be deprived of, such as Christian fellowship and the freedom to pray and enjoy the Scriptures with other believers. If we are denied these things, we tell them we will have to return home. This approach has been very useful.

We strive to obey God and to respect the local authorities. One time we were called in and criticized for fellowshiping with a group of Christians in a nearby town. Later, when we went back to that town on business, the same officials warned us ahead of time not to associate with the Christians, because it would cause “social unrest.”

We questioned the reasonableness of their request, and asked how they could deprive us of the right to visit our friends, who happened to be Christians. We explained that Christians are part of one family, and that fellowship, prayer, and Bible reading are a natural part of our family relationship. We said we had no intention of causing social unrest. Finally, we asked, “Are you saying that we cannot visit our friends?”

After some hesitation, the embarrassed officer said, “Please don’t associate with Christians in that town.” “Okay,” we said, “we will not go out of our way to find our Christian friends, but if they seek us out we will not turn them away.” This was a satisfactory agreement.

As it turned out, we saw a few of our Christian friends, and it caused no “social unrest.” When we returned, we went to the official and explained that we had had a nice time, had seen some of our Christian friends, and had caused no problems. He was greatly relieved.

Four good things came from this sensitive encounter. First, our relationship with the security officials improved. Second, we clarified the gospel. Third, we related naturally to Christians in the other town, rather than seeking them out with some hiddenagenda. Fourth, no problems occurred in the town. We believe that through prayer and reliance on God, most of the time there need not be a clash between our allegiance to God and our respect to those in authority.

Q. How can tentmakers establish reasonable goals?
A: We want to emphasize that tentmakers are not a failure if they don’t leave behind a new church. Also, we agree that it’s not easy to figure out in what ways we are evangelists and church planters, and in what ways we are Christians with secular vocations. But people who are supported with gifts and prayers from a home church must have a clear understanding about three things: (1) why they are going overseas; (2) what they are going to do to serve the causes of evangelism and church planting; and (3) how they will specifically work toward those objectives. Many tentmakers want this kind of accountability, but others do not. They argue that what they are doing is not missionary work in the traditional sense. In such cases, mission agencies and churches need to rethink their support, or at least clearly distinguish what it is these people are doing.

Granted, being asked by a board or church how their work contributes to church planting makes some tentmakers uncomfortable. They argue that their supporters must be reeducated to a new way of missions, i.e., that not every missionary is an evangelist, and that their professional service is valuable. Of course, people need to be reeducated, but not about new objectives in missions, rather about new strategies required to achieve the historical objectives of making disciples and enfolding them into the church.

We suggest that tentmakers who feel uneasy about establishing such goals should sit down with someone from their church or board and write reasonable faith goals. Something like: start a Bible study with colleagues; get air time on the local radio station; see two families won to Christ; explain the gospel to an important non-Christian leader; distribute some tracts in the vernacular; lead one disciple to take on another disciple, and so on. Mission boards and church missions committees should ask their tentmakers for these kinds of goals, and encourage them to use their secular work as a means to evangelism and church planting.

Q: How do medical, educational, and development work fit into this?
A: Objectives for tentmakers completely agree with what we call holistic ministries. Meeting physical needs goes hand-in-hand with meeting spiritual needs. It is hypocritical to offer spiritual hope and ignore illness, poverty, malnutrition, hygiene, and so on. In many cases, tentmakers are hired to minister to these very needs.

However, ultimate wholeness is not found in walking out of the hospital after recovering from an illness, but in the entire reorientation of your life Godward. When that happens, people not only confess the sins of their hearts, they also are inclined to forsake unhealthy habits, engage in productive work, put aside unhealthy, stress-producing relations with family and neighbors, maintain a sanitary environment, and so on.

This new Christ-centered orientation enhances health in every way, and it can be properly lived in the supportive environment of the church among God’s people. Therefore, although social ministries are crucial, they are eternally successful only when they result in redeemed people and new churches. I might add that these social benefits of the church also do much to disarm and even win over political leaders hostile to the gospel.

Q: What lies ahead for tentmakers?
A: The whole non-Christian world appears to be growing more hostile to Christianity. The cost of obeying Christ grows higher every year, regardless of the country. We have the challenge of obeying the Lord’s command to build up the national believers in Christ and strengthen the church, but also serving our host country’s purposes so that we are welcomed to stay.

We do not advocate living recklessly or disrespectfully, but we must be prepared to be criticized forserving Christ and perhaps deported. We must be careful not to measure our success only by how well we are received by our host government. We need strength to live holy lives that incarnate Christ. Our words must be authenticated by our attitudes and deeds.

At the same time, we must show our supporters at home that God is doing something special in hard-to-reach places through tentmakers, and one only wonders what things he has yet to do.

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