From Tithes to Enterprise: Exploring Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Church Operations in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of entrepreneurship on achieving financial sustainability of the church in Zimbabwe in the face of economic instability and the loss of the traditional funding sources like tithes and offerings. The study therefore identified entrepreneurship as a strategic approach that can assist churches to diversify their sources of income and be in tune with the Vision 2030 development agenda in Zimbabwe. Four entrepreneurial dimensions are studied, namely partnership collaboration, real estate development, skills development and community involvement, and moderated by entrepreneurship enabling conditions. The research design used was mixed methods, which included 300 participants to collect quantitative data and 30 key informants to collect qualitative data from different denominations and regions. Stratified sampling provided diversity in the size and type of churches. Descriptive statistics, correlation and hierarchical multiple regression were used in quantitative data analysis, and thematic analysis was used in qualitative data analysis. Great care was taken to ensure that ethical considerations such as informed consent and confidentiality were adhered to. Results show that partnership collaboration, skills development and community engagement were moderately to highly active at churches, while real estate development was less common. There was a positive and significant correlation between all four entrepreneurial dimensions and the sustainable church operations. Through regression analysis, it was found that the most significant factor for predicting success is partnership collaboration, then skills development and community engagement, and then real estate development. In addition, the effects of the enabling conditions for entrepreneurship were greatly enhanced. Qualitative findings highlighted both cultural and resource challenges and opportunities such as strategic partnerships, capitalizing on land use and skills training for entrepreneurial opportunities. The study suggests that entrepreneurship viewed within the context of an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship (PEC), the role of policy support and leadership development could provide a viable means for Zimbabwean churches to become financially and operationally sustainable and continue to play their socio-economic role without losing focus on their spiritual missions. KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurship, Church sustainability, Zimbabwe, Partnership collaboration, Skills development