Four years ago, twin brothers Jason and David Benham heard a disturbing statistic: every month, over six hundred overseas missionaries return home due to lack of funding.
Recognizing their call to be ministers of the gospel, the Benham brothers began to pray about how God could use them to reverse this trend. They recognized that they needed to get to the root of the problem: the lack of sustainability in the current missionary financial support model. They told me in a recent interview that,
Fundraising won’t be enough, so we did all that we know how to do. We started a business.
They named their new model “missioneering,” a combination of pioneering, engineering, and missions-focused hearts. An a recent interview they discussed:
- How missionaries have been sustaining themselves through business, providing jobs, building relationships, and creating value to help overseas communities flourish both spiritually and physically.
- The experience two missionary families have had in Davao City, Philippines, as they’ve worked with the Benham brothers at O-Link, which hires locals for various IT jobs. Employees are introduced to the gospel as they earn steady wages in a positive environment.
- How local authorities are responding to the Benham brothers’ “missioneering” model.
While this model is revolutionary to the missions world, it’s business as usual to the Benham brothers. They run their domestic companies as missions endeavors by focusing on excellent service, value creation, and keeping Christ first in all that they do. They don’ t just preach the Word; they live it out through their calling to business.
“David and I are just being the church,” Jason told me. “That’s it.” He concluded:
…we need to think about being the church and being salt and being light, and when you do that, you don’t need to worry about what to do. That’s going to take care of itself as God’s life flows through you, and you become an actual force in the marketplace.
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