Business models that spread the gospel

A unique conference will come to Ballito in October that will discuss, discover and develop ideas to generate income for churches.

The Business as Mission SA Indaba will take place at Grace Church in Ballito from October 14 to 15.

Keith and Angela McLaren run a church, orphanage and day care centre in Mtubatuba in Zululand and have already started implementing some methods to increase their income and support the community.

“This conference will be all about bringing like-minded people together to learn from each other,” said Keith McLaren.

This will be the first meeting of Business as Mission in South Africa and will feature international speakers Rob Rufus from Hong Kong, Daniel Gunaseelen from Kazakhstan, and Tom Jennings and Don Larson from the USA.

These entrepreneurs will share their experience and models that can be replicated to generate income.

“It is business models that spread the gospel. Traditionally we tried to keep the church and business separate, but if you want to grow, everyone needs to contribute,” said McLaren.

Mclaren said they do a few simple things at their church, Edwaleni, to generate an income and be more self sustainable.

“We have a few chickens that produce about 700 eggs a week that we sell to the local guesthouses. We also sell live, fresh chickens to the locals which give us quite a bit of income. Furthermore we have a small wood fired bakery that make a few loaves of bread,” said McLaren.

McLaren said they will soon introduce aquaponics to grow vegetables. He said although these are simple ideas, they do not need any electricity and yet generate an income and they support the community and have food for the kids at the day care centre.

“The idea of the conference is that everyone can share and demonstrate what they are doing as a business and spreading the gospel. The conference is open to anyone and everyone will be able to benefit from this.”

Registration for the conference costs R600 and includes tea and lunch over both days.

For more information visit www.businessasmissionsa.co.za