Articles
The term “tentmaking” has been used with different understandings since it came into frequent use in churches and missionary circles in the 1970s. The term and the movement enjoyed a boost from J. Christy Wilson Jr. (1921-1999) whose book Today’s Tentmakers: Self-support--An Alternative Model for Worldwide Witness, was published by…
Many Christians have lived and worked overseas for years, but have never experienced the joy of helping a national come to an understanding of the Christian gospel. Perhaps they have had good intentions but just didn’t know how to begin. What kind of prior preparation might have helped them initiate…
Job opportunities outside North America for tentmakers vary greatly from country to country and over time. In the mid-twentieth century the teaching of English as a second language in developing countries was perhaps the most common opportunity for even marginally qualified candidates. But the current overseas job market has become…
The Christian professional pursuing a tentmaking career benefits greatly from three Scriptural teachings. These are in addition to a clear understanding of the basic Christian gospel. By “tentmaking” I refer to a person with professional qualifications and/or workplace experience who accepts employment in another country for income and for opportunities…
The first step is having an updated resume showing both your relevant training and related work experience. According to your profession or training find out where job listings and advertisements are posted for people in your field of work. The professional organizations you might join hold conferences, produce newsletters, and…
Some people who are more accustomed to traditional missionary approaches draw on poor representations of tentmaking to raise objections to the tentmaking model of ministry. Maybe the most frequent objection is that a tentmaker’s job consumes all the hours leaving little or no time for ministry. In response, I point…
Tentmakers give various reasons for choosing to support themselves through employment in their field of ministry. Author Kurt Kruger in his book Tentmaking (Wipf & Stock, 2020) argues that the Apostle Paul supported himself to set himself apart from traveling false teachers who were eager to collect handouts from their…
© GLENN D. DECKERT | WORKING ABROAD WITH PURPOSE – THE WAY OF A TENTMAKER