Foundations for Farming
Foundations for Farming was born out of a man living in relationship with Jesus Christ and basing his life and farming on foundations found in the word of God.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31
Years ago, Brian Oldreive was managing a farm in Zimbabwe that was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was using the common practices of burning and plowing that caused terrible erosion resulting in the loss of soil, seed and water. He was spending increasing amounts of money on the machinery required for plowing, and yet the crop yields were decreasing.
Being a man of faith, Brian asked God to reveal a way for him to get out of the dire situation . He sought God with a childlike faith and observed growth in a nearby forest leading him to discover God’s way of farming in natural creation that he then applied to growing crops.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:22
The methodology God had given Brian was so successful that from that point on the farm produced a profit. Each year, Brian began farming more and more of his land using this zero-tillage system. Within six years all 1,000 hectares (about 2,500 acres) were being farmed using this method. The farm became so successful that neighboring farms were also purchased, bringing the total farm area to 3,500 hectares (about 8,600 acres).
God impressed upon Brian that these techniques were not just meant for him. Through Isaiah 58 , God commission and gave him a lifelong passion to make a plan for the poor .
And so he began to reach out to nearby small-scale farmers, teaching them to make a profit as he had done. He ran into many challenges as he tried to teach others, but during this time he began to learn more principles and also develop a management system with keys for profitability.
Embedded in those principles were the core values of faithful stewardship and generosity. In order for a farmer or an entire community to break the shackles of poverty, they must also learn to be faithful with little and give unselfishly.
Crown Financial Ministries
A discipleship and training ministry, founded in 1976 by Larry Burkett, with a passion for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The ministry now reaches around the world serving the spiritual and financial needs of all people, regardless of their economic condition. Crown’s outreach impacts individuals, families, churches, and businesses through the joyful, liberating biblical truth of making and managing money so that God’s purposes for one’s life can be fulfilled.
For over a decade Crown’s CEO, Chuck Bentley, has traveled the world teaching biblical financial principles to the affluent, middle class, poor and ultra poor .
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. Prov 19:17
He has carried a deep-rooted passion for those enslaved to poverty so much that he embarked on a “listening tour” around Africa in 2007. Most western evangelists dive into the mission field with a crusade type mentality that says, “This is what people need to hear, I’m going to tell it to them.” Chuck took a different approach. He chose to listen to those living in poverty before ministering to them, to gain a better understanding of their hearts and their needs.
And what he found is that people in these impoverished nations are in need of the same practical, biblical teaching on how to make a profit, manage the fruit of their labors and fulfill God’s calling as those in more affluent areas.
In 2010, the God Provides™ Film Learning Experience was launched under Chuck’s lead as Executive Producer. Crown’s first series of short films were designed to convey God’s principles of provision and sustainability through dramatic Bible stories delivered in visual media and are now translated in 33 (and counting!) languages reaching around the world!
Chuck believes that poverty is also a mindset that is difficult to break but can be defeated by understanding God’s principles of stewardship.
What began as a partnership at Crown’s Stewardship Training school in Malawi where both FfF training and Crown training were originally combined by Johann Van der Hamm and the Crown team, became an enduring friendship between the two organizations.
Along the way, the leaders of both organizations, Brian Oldreive and Chuck Bentley, found a common passion existed in their hearts – to serve the world’s poor but also a common perspective on how best to alleviate poverty.
With Crown’s long history of teaching biblical stewardship and practical application, the FfF team found the materials and support necessary to provide more in-depth training. The team believed that it was vitally important to teach the farmers how to steward the yield of their efforts while transforming their hearts to recognize the Lord as Creator and Provider and how to give back to God’s Kingdom. The values of Lordship, Stewardship and Generosity are ingrained in both Crown’s training and the Foundations for Farming training.
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