Paving a Path to Self-Supported
By Ronnie Barnes III
We often talk of making ministries self-supporting or indigenous, but rarely have a comprehensive enough plan to do so. We have also seen well-intentioned missions money sent to help set up “micro-enterprises” get established, only to have the money poorly used or reinvested.
At Source of Light, our Branches are primarily led by nationals and yet at the same time they depend primarily on support from the US. The model is quite risky and is particularly dangerous when the majority of one’s support comes from fewer donors. Even this past year, a significant donor of a couple of countries, without warning, backed out of their commitment leaving those teams in financial distress. But even more concerning to us is that this will never lead our Branches to become independent ministries, indigenous, and self-supporting.
To begin a shift toward lesser dependence on the US, SLM has been exploring and investigating ways we can help our ministries add “more legs” to the financial “chairs” of their ministry for greater stability. This is being spearheaded by Ron Barnes Jr., SLM General Director, and his son, Ron Barnes III, who recently joined SLM after graduating Liberty University with a Business degree. Together they have been working to formulate a plan for greater independence and financial stability, which includes support from the US, support from the national church, and some sort of small business (micro enterprise) that the ministry could use to support itself.
On most of our fields, we have found that a small business can be a huge benefit to both our missionaries, their specific ministries, and their communities. Of course, with so many different missionaries in so many different places, we can’t just design a “cookie-cutter” business plan and expect it to work everywhere, so we encourage our missionaries to come to us with their ideas. They have the knowledge of their area and they have the ability to come up with the types of ideas that those of us who don’t live there would never think of. During Ron’s last trip to Africa, the missionaries there spoke with him about some of the small business ideas that they believe could help support their families and their ministries.
Uganda—James Byakika has a few ideas for different ways to bring in some support for his family. The first of which is a “Printer/Photocopy” business. James lives near a popular university and the students that go to the school have many assignments that they need to print up or make copies of. James believes that the photocopy business could provide an extra few hundred dollars a month. James also has the idea to store recently harvested grain, maize, and coffee and then resell the goods back to the market once the harvesting season ends and their value increases. He expects to be able to maintain good margins on the prices, while not taking much time away from his various ministries!
Investment:
$1,100 Photocopy business,
$22,000 harvest storage investment.
Ivory Coast—Isaiah Bernasko has the vision of starting a pig farm. Piglets cost about $25 each and then a full grown pig can sell for $300-$500 depending on the size of the pig. The unique thing about this business though is that Isaiah has an orphanage that he works with. So this pig farming business could provide for the orphans that are currently needing support, and it could train them in a trade that they could use once they are too old to stay in the orphanage. They will also learn to support the SLM ministry.
Togo—Sika Yawo has a business idea to support his ministries and orphanage much like Isaiah in Ivory Coast. Pastor Sika believes that he can start a sewing business. His orphanage takes in many young ladies who would otherwise be prime targets for prostitution, and the young women have expressed an interest in learning some sort of trade that they can use to support themselves as they get older and must leave the orphanage. Sika’s idea is to start what he calls the “SOS Christian Sewing Workshop” which he expects to be “another ministry,” a way to support the orphanage, AND an opportunity to make a meaningful change in the quality of these young women’s lives.
Investment:
$5,000 which will buy supplies, equipment, facility, and support for two years during startup.
Small business ministries are becoming an integral part of modern missions. The climate for American missionaries overseas can change rapidly and in the event that an American who is leading a ministry someplace must leave, the impact that it might have on the nationals he works with is often not taken into consideration. When something like that happens, they tend to get left with little to no support and don’t have the connections or relationships in place to be able to sufficiently fund their ministries. The small business route is an excellent way to gain trust and become involved in a community, support their own ministries, and increase the quality of their lives.
If you have interest in supporting any of these projects or have a desire to help, contact Ronnie at rbarnesiii@slmin.org.
