MDE was founded on a vision to see thousands of believers taking the presence and message of Jesus Christ to the unreached “marketplaces” of the world. We accomplish that vision by empowering and encouraging believers to make money and make disciples in those marketplaces. It has always been about serving a specific kind of missional person – rather than targeting a specific place. Prospective members describe their deep sense of call to go to a specific unreached community and launch a business or take a job there. We, then, do our best to provide the resources they need to thrive. It was never a goal to build critical mass within a specific geography or industry.
That’s been a fine model overall. But now–10 years in and with significant recent growth–we have clusters emerging organically in both geography and industry. Where, in the past, we have connected with our members on a one-to-one basis, we now see the wonderful opportunity for members to connect with each other for relational, missional and business support.
Seeing this, we’ve just launched–as a pilot–our first regional member connection group focused on our 5 BAM ventures in one of the largest countries in Asia. Some have met each other previously, but this was the first convening of this committed group of missional entrepreneurs. New personal and family connections were made, business resources shared, potential collaborations discussed, and common challenges acknowledged. MDE learned more about the group’s perspectives and suggestions on managing data and communication security. The group shared contact info, and MDE created a Signal group where this new community can continue the conversation
This is a small start in what feels like a high-potential, new chapter offacilitating direct community among our members. We hope to launch similar groups in other regions in the months ahead. We may also create industry-focused forums where our members, while perhaps not geographically connected, can still share, support, and learn from each other and share best practices in their specific fields of technology, agriculture, services, etc. We are also considering similar volunteer connection groups where mentors and BAM team managers can collaborate on their challenges when serving members in faraway places.
Some of you may have more experience than we do in creating connections and groups like this. Help us as we make these groups a valuable resource for our members and volunteers! Please send any thoughts you might have on this to bburke@buildmde.com.
