Many Australian Christians would regard business leaders and owners as almost an unreached people group in our country. The Food For Thought ministry that John Sikkema has developed and leads is demonstrating that there is a spiritual openness amongst such people but that reaching them with the Gospel may require a different approach.

John was a 14 year old on the golf course, cleaning a handful of balls he had retrieved from the pond when the most amazing thing happened. He heard a voice saying that he was to earn as much money as he could until he was 50 and then he was to devote the rest of his life to helping others.

Over time John forgot all about this until one day John was listening to God Squad founder John Smith at church and it was like he received a heavenly download. Next, those thoughts the 14 year old John had came back to him clearly and powerfully. From that time on, John began changing from an inactive church member to a man on a mission. John wrote about this in his book “Enriched: Re-defining Wealth”.

Incredibly about a year before turning 50, Garrisons, the business that John was the major shareholder in was sold, leaving John wealthy and financially independent.

Since that time John has devoted himself to developing ministries to see successful business leaders and owners come to faith in Jesus and be activated to live on mission with a Kingdom vision as Christ followers.

Central to this is the Food For Thought (F4T) network of missional small groups that John has started. His vision is to see 2,000 F4T groups started around Australia over the next 10 years.

John started his first F4T group in Melbourne in 2018 and using Alpha along with some guest speakers over a meal found that there was a hunger and openness around spiritual issues as well as a deep longing for community and a sense of belonging.

With his wife Sue, John has seen nearby Brighton Beach as well as their swimming pool get quite a workout as business leaders and owners, including some very prominent people, surrendered their lives to Jesus.

The covid years in Melbourne slowed progress for the F4T Groups. During this season much time went into developing training materials, manuals and much of the structure that could one day be built upon.

F4T has now grown to 20 locations around Australia with a conservative estimate of 50 locations expected by the end of this year.

A core team of 4 to 6 people will generally be in place for every F4T group that is started with the average group growing to 15 to 20 people. Generally 40% of those in a F4T group were previously unchurched.

In growing the F4T network, John has two major thrusts. On one hand John and team are proactive in searching for prospective F4T leaders and team members. At the same time they are active in putting on business related workshops to get connected with business men and women who are open to going on a spiritual journey.

John sees that the biggest problem to overcome isn’t in finding business people who are open to discovering who Jesus is. The harvest truly is plentiful!  Instead it’s in finding the men and women who will lead the F4T groups. They are the workers for the harvest. John finds that often business people are so focused on their own businesses and careers that they won’t have either the time or the focus to lead a F4T group. But there are some who do, and these are the people John is seeking out to become workers for the harvest across Australia with F4T.