To be sure, it's easy to assume a tentmaker cuts canvas, sews tents, and sells to campers. That's unless you're talking about sharing the gospel and living for God's mission on earth!
In Christian circles, a tentmaker is known as someone who has chosen to follow the example of Apostle Paul and his friends, Prisilla and Aquila, who were professional tentmakers--an art in the first century. But that's only part of what he did. While Paul met his clients and took their orders, he also listened for a chance to help those in need, to share his testimony and--always--to tell about his risen Lord. That's how he reached a whole class of people in the "marketplace" who would never have heard about the resurrected Christ.
To MENA Total Employment, a tentmaker is a mission-minded Seventh-day Adventist who chooses to make a living in the secular workplace in order to be actively involved in intentional, personal, cross-cultural mission in a region that is not open to an organized church presence. A commitment of long-term, self-sustaining mission extends the outreach of the Seventh-day Adventist church to areas where institutional religious activity are not allowed.
What is a tentmaker?