History: How the Vision Came to Life

Among the 4885 delegates to the 1995 Global Consultation on World Evangelization (GCOWE) in Seoul, Korea, was a small group of businessmen from various countries attending as observers. During the consultation, they were asked by AD2000 & BEYOND chairman Thomas Wang and International Director Luis Bush if they could imagine a way to enjoin the business community in the task of world evangelization.

Gunnar Olson of Sweden, Juerg Opprecht of Switzerland, Graham Binet of Australia, and John Thompson of the U.S. took up the challenge. The Business Professional Network (BPN) was conceived in the months following and by June 1997 a Business Executives Consultation (BEC) was an official part of GCOWE '97 in Pretoria, South Africa. At that meeting, more than 400 business people gave wholehearted consent to what appeared even then to be the plan of God for these times. A book by Swiss historians Marco Gmur and Hans Sutter, outlining the effective collaboration of commerce and mission in past centuries, was published for that consultation.

A Declaration affirmed at that consultation acknowledged that business executives and professionals also are called to fulfill the Great Commission and serve the unreached peoples of the world. As a response to the consensus of the BEC, the Business Professional Network was established, with international headquarters in Switzerland. Gunnar Olson became chairman, and Juerg Opprecht accepted duties as International Coordinator. By 1998, the Business Professional Network had established an office in Switzerland. John Warton joined the international Board of BPN and took on responsibility for activities growing out of the U.S. In November, a conference on international entrepreneurship was conducted in Romania. There, several groups reported on the successes of the concept of business in missions. Of particular note was a group of Swiss Christians who have successfully assisted 180 companies owned and operated by Romanian Christians. This same assistance model is now being used in a BPN pilot project in Kyrgyzstan.

At the outset of 1999, Juerg Opprecht organized a BPN conference in Switzerland for the presidents of the international marketplace ministries with memberships that have a global outreach. Bonds of fellowship were established and joint ministries were envisioned. A subsequent meeting was held in New York in 2000 and another planned for 2001 in London. 1999 also saw the BPN's first North American Symposium on Doing Missions through Business, a consultation for Christians in business who are also helping national entrepreneurs and church leaders in developing nations build up their own businesses. A second symposium was held in November, 2000 in Seattle.

The International Office of the Business Professional Network was moved to Portland, Oregon in May 1999 and John Warton became the International Director. The Board of Directors was expanded to include George Fisher and Dale Neill of the United States and Brian Wegerle of South Africa. A Board of Reference was established, including Christian leaders such as Peter Hammond of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Dr. David Befus, president of Latin America Mission, Dr. Luis Bush, International Director of AD2000 & BEYOND, and Dr. Alec Hill, chairman of the Business and Economics School at Seattle Pacific University.

The BPN supports regional consultations organized by Interdev for major regions of the world and since 1998 has been a co-sponsor of the Central Asia Business Consultation. Pilot projects for business development in Central America and Eastern Europe were started in 2000 and will be the basis for engaging hundreds of business people in the lives and businesses of Christian nationals in many undeveloped, unevangelized nations of the world.