How The Story Began

The story of Business Forum began in 2017 when an individual who was passionate about disciple-making movements traveled from South Africa and divinely met up with a team of USA-based business coaches from a company called SummitTrek. For the next two years, this individual continued asking the SummitTrek team to come to South Africa to invest in business people to see a positive transformation in a nation. After two years of asking – sounds a bit like Luke 11:5-10, “… he will not give him anything because he is his friend but because of his persistence” – they prayerfully decided to say YES to the invitation.

The team arrived in South Africa in November 2019, and some key relationships were birthed with leaders in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. After a few more interactions, they invited a handful of leaders from around South Africa on a coaching journey to experience the restorative approach of how they do things. It was through their deep humility and radical generosity that the idea of Business Forum was birthed in the hearts of business and church leaders. How could church and business leaders partner together and how could the Church be part of the solution to the socio-economic challenges being faced in South Africa (and globally)?

Our battle is not primarily against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12). We believe that God birthed the gift of Business Forum for His Church out of a place of deep humility and radical generosity to wage war on the self-promoting, self-protecting, self-sustaining spirit of this world. As we continue to hold true to the place out of which Business Forum began, we will find leaders moving BEYOND SELF and serving one another in a way that sees the Kingdom being established. In April 2022, after several years of genuine friendships, the SummitTrek team again visited South Africa. The picture below was taken a few days into that trip, when during a time of dreaming and praying into the future, the Lord planted a small seed in the hearts of like-minded church and business leaders. By the end of the trip, the team had seen the first expressions of what the gift of Business Forum could mean for His Church by gathering with over 200 leaders in Johannesburg, sowing into their lives and creating the blueprint for Business Forum.