Can Missionaries Do Business? Part I

As the global landscape changes, more and more countries are resisting or refusing to allow traditional missionaries to enter. “Religious Worker” visas are harder and harder to get. Hence, the advent of “business as visa.”

Business as Visa uses the creation of fictitious or quasi-businesses to obtain an entry visa to a country only to use all or the majority of one’s time doing traditional missions. While many have dropped this less-than-honest strategy, it is still in use.

I don’t plan to impugn the motives of those who use this approach. After all, they’re the ones leaving hearth and home. Not me. I do plan on unpacking a better way. Instead of “business as visa,” why not “business as mission?” Real business. Real product. Real profit. Real mission.

I’ll close this installment of the conversation by posing the key question: can missionaries do business?

View part two here.