3. The Market for Christian Enablers – Preliminary Conclusions

If their existed no other Christian mission facilitation organizations, one might conclude that either;

  1. A market doesn’t exist for this service, or
  2. No one has yet discovered an untapped market.

Since their exists more than 100, maybe multiple-hundreds of mission facilitation organizations, one might conclude either;

  1. The market is already saturated and there is no realistic opportunity for further entry, or
  2. The market for this business has already been proven, leaving room for the strongest to survive and the weakest to go away, or
  3. There’s no sense in re-inventing a service that might already be well serviced by an existing organization.

From my perspective, the above market survey serves as encouragement to follow-through with the dream expressed earlier in this business plan.

  1. The market for this business has already been proven.  This is reassuring.
  2. Although multiple strong organizations already exist, none appear to dominate to the extent that there is no more room for new entrants.  In fact, each organization demonstrates significant constraints to their own growth.  Personal service-based organizations become harder and harder to manage well, as they grow larger.
  3. Each organization inherently demonstrates its unique personality and culture.  Although they all appear truly Christian in principle, each organization’s personality will not appeal to all prospective mission trippers.  This is true with churches, just as it is true in each industry and other competitive environments.  An entrepreneur’s spirit will always drive him/her to believe that he or she can do it better.  In fact, the capacity to do better never goes away, no matter how fierce the competition appears to be.  This fact is, in part, why free enterprise yields such strong economic results.
  4. Very little mission trip emphasis has yet been focused in Tanzania.  It’s likely that none of the Tanzanian individuals who have expressed an interest in this crazy idea of a business plan exercise have become aware of any other mission facilitation organizations operating in their country.  Even if they have, the impact in the community has surely been minimal, to this point.
  5. Personally, as a passive Christian congregant, I have not been acquainted with any mission trip opportunity programs through their marketing efforts, to-date, other than those sponsored by my own church.  It’s certainly possible that one or more ministers or lay leaders have.  If so, they simply have not made known their endorsements of such mission opportunities in a highly visible way.
  6. Each of the mission facilitation organizations that I reviewed appear to have focused their marketing towards a large potential audience.  In effect, their outward appeal appears to sound like, “Come one! Come all!”  One exception to this appearance appeared to come from an organization called “InterVarsity”.  Their internet presence seemed minimal, while the underlying volume of activity seemed to represent more of a swell of good interpersonal marketing.  However, these impressions could be wrong.

The market for Christian mission trip organization and facilitation appears to be huge.  The “competition”, though credible in its offerings, appears to be naturally limited in multiple ways, including focus of purpose, foreign country destination, and personal service limitations to organic growth.  Relationships, leveraged both in the Denver and Arusha metropolitan areas appear to represent a strong springboard from which a mutually beneficial partnership can develop.  The potential for enhancing individual Christian discipleship through partnering between US and Tanzanian churches and individual Christians represents a wonderful opportunity towards fulfilling the Great Commission, as well as simply sharing the love of Christ interpersonally.