We recently interviewed singer/songwriter and HOPE supporter Liz Goodgame, who is donating all of the proceeds from her new album, Fresh Lemonade, to HOPE. We caught up with Liz on the inspiration behind the album, her creative process, and her own history with making lemonade.

*Through August 31, HOPE is giving supporters a free copy of Fresh Lemonade with every one-time or new recurring gift of $50 or more. Donate today to receive your free copy.

I notice from your website that Fresh Lemonade was recorded in your basement after an eight-year hiatus from music. Could you talk a little bit about what inspired you to return to music and record this album?

I had a real “call”…it was too clear to ignore. I think God, in his good humor, knew that it was about the only thing that could have motivated me to get back into music.

It was easier for me not to tell anyone what I was doing. At the time it seemed like too much to explain… and I also wanted to have an easy out, in case I got cold feet. When I announced that I was recording, it was a surprise to most people that knew me.

To this day, I don’t really understand how all the pieces came together—at the time my husband was a medical resident, and I had two kids under four. I prayed a lot and God’s hand was all over the process.

As you were working on Fresh Lemonade, did you have a goal in mind for what you wanted to accomplish through the album?

I wanted to create an album that could be enjoyed by many different kinds of people. I hope that my faith is evident in all my songs, but I never intended to write an exclusively Christian album. I would be thrilled if Fresh Lemonade sparked some curiosity.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted my music to help people, more specifically people living in extreme poverty. I was inspired by other artists and musicians that were using their gifts to draw attention to important causes. Initially, I thought that my album would be a compilation of songs that addressed some of the social issues that are close to my heart. But the album took on a life of its own and almost paralleled my thoughts and feelings on social justice…for me, Fresh Lemonade is a celebration of the gifts and blessings in my life.

The opportunity to partner with HOPE was the final piece in the puzzle. HOPE is a Fresh Lemonade kind of organization—they are empowering hard working, creative people to make lemonade in some of the toughest places in our world…and I am honored to play a small part.

Could you tell us about the story behind a particular song?

“Free to Dream” is the last song on the album but the first song that I wrote. It was inspired by my two kids, Max and Maggie, and the desire I have for them to dream big dreams. I was struck with the responsibility and challenge that I have as a parent, to encourage them towards the unique purpose that God has for each of their precious little lives.

For the past few years, a family from our church has set up a fresh lemonade stand in front of their house during the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival. They used it to raise money for International Justice Mission. I was inspired by their initiative and family collaboration. “Fresh Lemonade” was my last song, and I wrote it in less than an hour, which is very uncommon for me.

Speaking of lemonade stands, have you ever had one of your own?

Several…all with very little success, most likely due to the below-average product I was offering and a poor marketing strategy.

What made you decide to donate the proceeds from this album to HOPE?

Our church, Willowdale Chapel in Kennett Square, has a strong partnership with HOPE and does a fantastic job of highlighting, praying for, and supporting all of its mission partners. Microfinance makes sense…and HOPE does it right. I also love the enthusiasm I have witnessed—HOPE is a fitting name for this organization.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I love my husband…he fueled this project in many, many ways! Thanks for your constant support and encouragement Ben…and your money.

For more information on Liz, check out her website at lizgoodgame.com.

In Lancaster, PA on Sunday, July 11th?  Meet Liz Goodgame in person at Prince Street Café, where she’ll be providing live music for HOPE’s first annual Card Me Party with Gift Card Giver. Click here for more details.

this post is third in a series from HOPE International regional representative Chris Horst

Three months ago I started a journey, in monthly installments, to two fictional cities—Assetsville and Needsville—both cities representative of poor communities in Africa. While the issues, such as education, health care and sanitation, in these cities are identical, the responses to these issues could not be more different—both in philosophy and methodology.

“Is HOPE the solution for global poverty?” It is a question I am asked often, and the question which inspired the past few months’ musings. My answer to this question is a resounding no. I do not believe HOPE is the solution to global poverty. Christ-centered microfinance is wonderfully effective, but it is not a miracle cure. What I do believe is that the principles undergirding HOPE, and the work of the fantastic organizations I highlighted over the past few weeks, are the solution.

Effective service and ministry to poor communities and individuals should affirm:
• Assets trump needs: All individuals, regardless of how great their needs, are created in the image of God and abounding in strengths, skills, and dreams. The doctor-patient approach to poverty (“you have problems – I can cure them”) will never achieve lasting change—it will simply reveal, and even create, more needs and deeper problems. Over time, this perspective will create unhealthy dependency, eroding the autonomy and creativity of communities and individuals.

• Their solutions over our ideas: Regardless of the clout of our graduate degrees, or the breadth of our professional backgrounds, the best solutions to community challenges reside within the members of the communities. We need to unlock ingenuity, not rest on our pedigrees.

• An exit strategy versus an empire strategy: Transitioning to (or starting with) local leadership should be the goal. It is financially—and even philosophically—prohibitive to employ Westerners to permanently staff organizations in communities abroad. All international (non-local) workers should be focused on working themselves out of a job.

• Dignity above desperation in our messaging: It is easy to motivate people to act with shocking images of babies with bloated stomachs and starving moms with flies in their eyes. But, easy is not always best. I believe we need to abandon guilt marketing and communicate the worth and beauty of all people and communities, even those who suffer from seemingly catastrophic material poverty.

• We are all poor: What if we viewed hunger the same way we viewed over-eating? What if we viewed the challenge of living in a shanty as the mirrored challenge of keeping up with the Joneses? What if we viewed the problem of not having enough money as a counter-problem to the addiction to money? Each person and community has issues, though some may be more hidden, more below-the-surface, than others. We need to abandon the “savior complex,” serve with humility, and recognize that we are all broken people in need of help.

• Helping is enabling: If you help a vengeful poor person – and there is no heart change – he will simply become a wealthy tyrant. Helping individuals and communities without speaking to heart issues is like baking a cake with vinegar. The size of the cake, quality of ingredients and intricacy of the decorations are irrelevant if sin is not addressed. We are only enabling the oppressed to become the oppressors if we do not boldly communicate the truth of the Gospel.

Here’s my summary encouragement: Ask the hard questions of the ministries and organizations where you are volunteering and giving financially. Examine whether you would be more likely to find their philosophy, theology and methodology in Needsville or Assetsville. Our resources—time, talents and treasure—are finite and precious. We care called to invest them wisely.

Meet Loveline, HOPE Congo’s first loan officer supervisor.  Loveline played a valuable role in assembling and training the first 50 clients, and she is also managing and training the current staff of two loan officers.  She provides an important layer of internal controls and efficiency for HOPE Congo’s work.  Honestly, when I think about Loveline, the first phrase that comes to mind is “rock star.”

If you go into the markets, the churches, les quartiers (neighborhoods), she knows and is known by everyone.  She’s the kind of confident, striking woman that you automatically respect and listen to, but she’s also gentle, smiles often, and has a good sense of humor.

Loveline was born in a small town where people grew sugar cane, and she moved to Brazzaville with her family when she was older.  By the time Congo’s civil war started in 1997, she was already married and had two children.  Because of intense violence in the capital, her family joined thousands of others fleeing Brazzaville.  She settled with her husband’s family in a small town 600 km from Brazzaville.  At the time, Loveline’s husband was struggling with mental illness, and her in-laws pressured her to take him to a witchdoctor for treatment.

Loveline had been raised Catholic, and though she says she didn’t know the Lord, she refused to put her husband in this position because she “had faith in something greater.”  She started praying, reading the Bible, and understanding what was written.  When she read Psalm 91, she understood that God was her refuge, her protection and he was at work through everything that was happening to her.  “That’s where I saw the hand of God and came to know the Lord.”

After five months in the village without access to a hospital, her husband was still in need of help. When it was safe enough to return to the city, she and her husband decided to go to a church in the city.  While they were there, church leaders offered to pray for his sickness, and that same day, he was healed.  Her husband also came to know the Lord, and they were baptized together in 1998.  They continued to mature in faith as their pastor discipled them and taught them from the Word.

Loveline had experience in microfinance even before she came to HOPE.
For nine years, she worked for a Christian multi-sectoral organization that ran mid-sized microfinance projects in Brazzaville and Pointe Noir.  Through this role, she built relationships with more than 200 local churches, and HOPE Congo has already started working with some of these same churches.  When these projects ran out of financing, Loveline was without a full time job for 2 years.  “While I was searching for a job, something told me that working in an office was no good for me.  It’s not right for me to stay in the same place all day, doing typing, working with papers - no!  I need to be in the field with the people.”

Eventually, she heard about HOPE Congo.  On three separate occasions, friends connected her to Simeon, HOPE Congo’s Managing Director.  She accompanied delegates from HOPE’s program in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo when they visited Brazzaville to analyze the possibility of launching an MFI here.  She joined the HOPE Congo team in 2009.

When asked what she likes about her work, she responds, “I love the level of professionalism we have here – things are structured well.  I like the quality of the work we have – we know where to begin and where to end.  For me, being a part of microfinance is my passion. You can meet someone in the beginning, and he might have nothing at all, but you give him a loan, and after one year, he can have a good life and a future because of your help.”  She adds, “Counseling is also part of what we do.  We meet clients in their homes, at their businesses, and we see them often so we get close.  We get to know the family, and whatever the problem – the kids are sick, the marriage is in trouble – the client can talk through it with you, ask you to pray with him, and try to resolve it with you because he trusts you…I need to help transform the lives of the people.”

I’m so thankful God has assembled passionate, capable staffers like Loveline to lead HOPE Congo through these first key months!

I had the opportunity to sit in on the first client trainings for two new community banks today and yesterday.  Before receiving a loan from HOPE, clients need to pass through a fairly intensive series of training seminars.  By the time they get to this first meeting, clients have met with loan officers in their homes or businesses, but still have lots of questions about HOPE Congo and loan details.  At the first meeting, HOPE explains its mission and identity as a Christ-centered microfinance institution, describes its vision for positive impact on clients, reviews the loan products and terms, and explains how clients work together as a community bank and can advance into higher loans over time.

At the first meeting, loan officers started out speaking in French, but as many as half the clients felt more comfortable getting this information in Lingala or Kituba, two of the local languages spoken in this region.  Luckily, Loveline speaks both very well and was able to translate everything.  Having clients understand this information is of utmost importance.  Loan officers are willing to stay and answer questions for as long as it takes for clients to have a crystal-clear understanding of what HOPE Congo does and why, and what kind of responsibility they’re walking into when they sign up for loans.

During three additional training sessions, clients learn more details about functioning as a community bank (they write bylaws, select a group name, elect bank president, secretary, etc), receive biblically-based business skills training (e.g. bookkeeping, inventory control, basic business strategy and marketing, etc) and learn the value of savings.  Once these trainings are complete, clients are ready to receive their loans.

When clients walked into the meeting, they saw these verses written on the blackboard:

Psalm 127:1 – “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”

Proverbs 24:27:  “Finish your outdoor work, and get your fields ready.

 After that, build your house:”

Jacinta, the Operations Manager, explained that her team chose these verses because they wanted clients to understand both the value of training and the fact that HOPE Congo is centered on Christ.  “We want to say, right away, ‘Hey, before you do anything else, you need to come to these trainings and get your business ready because you need preparation before you can grow.  Then, when you have more understanding, you can get a loan and start to build success.’  We tell them why we pray during our meetings.  Unless God builds the house, unless your business honors God from the beginning, then all the training for the loan and all the work you do with the loan will be in vain.  So we start all our meetings with prayer and commit them to God.”

This past weekend, some friends and I went to see what life is like outside the city.  So we boarded a huge Mercedes bus headed north, and five bumpy, wind-blown hours later, we found ourselves standing on the side of the road in a small village called Ollombo about a quarter of a degree shy of the Equator.  The people of Ollombo live in small homes made mostly of mud, thatch, and local wood, and the whole community is a pleasantly ordered network of dirt footpaths connecting the market, the soccer field, the school, churches, and homes.  At first glance, it might appear that this village has nothing to do with HOPE’s work in Brazzaville hundreds of miles away, but I see a pretty clear connection.

Ollombo is a beautiful place, and the people seem to be in good spirits.  But with few exceptions, the people of Ollombo get by without electricity, indoor plumbing, concrete floors, privacy, internet, TV, books, quality education and healthcare.  Wage-paying jobs are almost impossible to come by, which means most people have very restricted access to cash.  Their very means of survival comes through subsistence agriculture - they eat only what they can grow themselves or secure through bartering (aka lots and lots of nutrient-poor manioc).  Partly because they’re so disconnected from the outside world, superstition and poor health practices are cripplingly prevalent.

Not surprisingly, many people get out of Ollombo as soon as they can save up $10 for a bus ride to Brazzaville.  And there are hundreds of towns like Ollombo all over the Republic of Congo.  I think this helps explain why more than 25% of the country’s population lives in Brazzaville.  It’s universal - when you’re desperate for opportunity, you move in whatever direction you think will give your family the best shot at a better way of life.  Some of the people who made that kind of bus ride are now HOPE Congo clients, or will be very soon.

When they say they want their businesses to improve so their children can live better lives than they had, images like the living conditions in Ollombo are driving their ambition.  Clients already have the skills, the understanding of local markets, the time, the good work ethic - by giving them access to capital and basic training, HOPE is simply giving them one of the last puzzle pieces they’ve been waiting for.”

by Chris Horst

My friend, Brian, recently returned from a missions trip to Kenya. He led a group of youth as they supported their Kenyan partner church ministry for two weeks. The Kenyan ministry’s focus was HIV positive mothers in its very poor slum community. They provided food, money, prayer and helped their children—demonstrating the love of Christ in word and deed. Brian and the youth group dove in. They spread the news of the church’s ministry into the neighboring communities.

A week into the trip, Brian had a stirring, even haunting, realization. This Kenyan ministry had become “the cocaine of its community.” He shared candidly with me that these mothers were completely dependent upon the charity, and indirectly on Brian’s church which funded it. Instead of working, these capable women would sit every day at the door of the charity, waiting for the free distributions. As a result, their children saw their moms time-and-again not as providers, but as placid receivers.

The more I study, the more I discover how different the biblical prescription of charity is from my own. Consider gleaning. God’s people were not commanded to harvest the fields fully and give a tithe of their grain away, but rather to leave portions of the fields unharvested. Doing so provided the poor, the widows and the foreigners with meaningful work, sustenance and on-the-spot vocational training. And gleaning was a command for all business owners, not just the wheat farmers.

When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. (Deut 24:20-21)

I believe we have misinterpreted God’s commands to help the poor. Jewish scholars state that woven through the Torah is an understanding that “not all charity is created equal.” They cite that “the greatest level [of charity], above which there is no greater, is to support a fellow Jew by endowing him with a gift or loan, or entering into a partnership with him, or finding employment for him, in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others.”

Does this prescription align with the majority of our charitable endeavors? Brian had deep respect that this Kenyan ministry served the “least of these.” But, was this charity in alignment with the biblical model of charity? Were they helping these women…

1)      To no longer need to receive charity?

2)      Experience the dignity of honest work?

3)      Enjoy the blessing of providing for their children?

4)      Know the joy of giving charitably to others?

In fairness, there are times when the only appropriate response is to freely give things away. The Haiti earthquake and support to the disabled are examples of such. But, barring such exceptions, our long-term aim should always be to help in a way which frees recipients of the need for our charity, “so that they might help others in need” (Eph. 4:28). Well-intentioned charity devoid of this goal can lead to unhealthy dependency and even addiction.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, read HOPE’s top five ways Christ-centered microfinance is an expression of love.

More and more people are coming to understand the financial benefits of microfinance. At HOPE, however, we believe the benefits can be more than financial. We believe the heart of microfinance is reaching out to those in need with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. If we are to model Christ, we need to embrace others with dignity and enable them to facilitate change in their own lives. In this season marked by love, we want to share five key ways Christ-centered microfinance is an expression of love.

1. Financial services are dignity-affirming opportunities.

All of us want the best for those we love, but so often poverty prevents people from fulfilling their potential and steals their dignity. In the Dominican Republic, HOPE’s partner, Esperanza International, has had the opportunity to offer small business loans, basic business training, and a support system to women who formerly worked in prostitution. One group member said her life has been changed. “Before I went out and engaged in prostitution. I feel safer now because I don’t go out. And now I can support my family by selling clothes. I knew about the love of God before, but I didn’t understand it. Now I understand that God loves me.”

2. Group members are in it together.

Members of community banks or savings groups develop a special bond. Meeting week after week, praying together, and sharing triumphs and struggles, groups grow in solidarity. One HOPE India savings group member confessed to her fellow group members that her husband beat her regularly. Instead of merely sympathizing, the other women in her group took action. They travelled to her home, and in a show of solidarity and courage, they confronted her husband. Knowing that the abuse could no longer be perpetrated in secret and that these women cared enough for his wife to hold him accountable, the man stopped beating his wife.

3. Microfinance can promote reconciliation.

In one small Rwandan village there were two feuding brothers and only one savings group. Both valued the opportunity enough to tolerate one another, but neither planned to reconcile. As the savings group began to rotate its meeting locations to various members’ homes, the first brother was forced to decide: Would he skip the meeting and forfeit this opportunity or would he enter his brother’s home? He attended the meeting. A few weeks later, his brother attended a meeting at his home. This second meeting opened with a reading from John 3:16 and a discussion of love. The brothers began to cry, pleading with one another for forgiveness. Faith, finances, and community united in such a way that two enemies became reconciled brothers.

4. Microfinance offers opportunities to share God’s love.

Again and again we hear from our loan officers that the best part of their job is sharing the love of Jesus. This was just the message one HOPE China client needed to hear. He had always been a family man, but after his wife passed away, Liu saw little meaning in his life. He became addicted to alcohol, grew distant from his daughter, and let his business slide. He wanted a change, so he sought a loan from HOPE China, but life still seemed empty. When his loan officer shared the Gospel, Liu said Jesus was exactly what he needed. His family and his community have seen the difference. Once heartbroken, Liu is now filled with joy. He sings while he works, and he says his prayers are prayers of gratitude. Seeing Liu’s genuine transformation, both his daughter and mother have come to put their faith in Christ as well.

5. Microfinance enables clients to show love to their communities.

As a mother of a special needs child, Xiomara longed to stay home with her daughter to give her the care she required - but her income was also needed to provide for her daughter. Living in a community in the Dominican Republic where many of her neighbors left their children behind and travelled to resort towns to work, Xiomara realized that she probably wasn’t the only mother facing this difficult choice. She wanted mothers and fathers to know that their children were well cared for, even while they were away at work. She opened a school and daycare center using a loan from HOPE’s partner in the Dominican Republic, Esperanza International. Parents pay Xiomara to care for their children as they are able, enabling her to provide for her own family, but Xiomara’s love for children and her community extends beyond her business interests. “I will never turn down a child because of a parent’s inability to pay,” she says.

Want to show love by supporting microfinance? Give a heart-felt Valentine’s gift of HOPE here.
Think there are other ways Christ-centered microfinance can be an expression of love? Share your thoughts!

by Chris Horst

I love online banking and e-commerce. I love the convenience of checking account balances, making transfers, and purchasing products in sweatpants from my living room. I’ve quickly become accustomed to the ease of doing business from home, although this luxury is unique to the past decade. It’s easy to forget that just ten years ago online banking was nothing but a dream.

Last month I visited HOPE’s work in the Dominican Republic. There, I had the privilege of meeting our clients, seeing their businesses and soaking in the culture of a country I have come to love. One of the questions I asked to a few of the community banks (groups of 15-30 clients) was “Why HOPE? Why did you choose to become a HOPE client?” Time and time again, in different communities throughout the country, our clients responded, “Because HOPE came to us.”

It’s hard to think back to what life was like ten years ago, when we had to drive to the bank or the store for just about everything. It’s even more challenging to imagine how extremely inconvenient it would be if we lived a few hours from the center of town, where a trip to the bank or to the store meant a day’s worth of travel. Yet, this is the reality for many of our clients. In Congo, our clients often live two or more hours away from the closest commercial banks, large stores, and even HOPE branch offices. To service these remote communities, our loan officers must travel two hours by bus on shoddy dirt roads or, during the rainy season, traipse hours by foot through the mud to reach these communities.
 
In that context, you understand why they list it as a primary reason for choosing HOPE. Our hardworking and diligent loan officers go into the communities where our clients live. This is about even more than convenience. That message—No, don’t come to us. We’ll come to you—speaks dignity, loud and clear, into the lives of our clients and into their communities. They matter. Their neighborhoods are not forgotten. When everyone tells them they aren’t, we tell them they are worth our time.

One client’s comments are still ringing in my ears. I asked him, “Why HOPE?” …and he responded, “When everybody else makes us come to them, you come to us.”

This past week has been encouraging regarding relationships I have with neighbors on my block. Four years ago, my husband and I intentionally (and we think, obediently) moved into a tougher inner city neighborhood. We’ve formed some really great relationships with adults and kids, but haven’t really “done” anything to write home about. No one’s professed new faith in Jesus. No one’s drastically improved in school. No one’s changed their status from unemployed to employed. And no one has gotten off of government funding. To sum it all up, no one’s really that drastically different at all…not even us.

A couple days ago, I was yelling over from my front porch to our next door neighbor, Angela (not her real name).  Angela is a single mom of three. It must have been an early start, as she has a sixteen-year-old son and she isn’t much older than thirty. Her two daughters are in third grade and kindergarten, and about as sweet as can be. Angela isn’t making it very easily. She lives in Section 8 housing, which means part of her rent is paid by the government. Her ex-husband rarely shows up and neglects child support regularly. She’s a teacher, and her paycheck just isn’t enough. This week, until her check went through, their refrigerator was empty, they were running on fumes, one of her daughters got sick (which meant she couldn’t work), and she was totally stressed out. I offered to watch her sick daughter the next day. As she described her situation, most of which seemed impossible to change, she also mentioned she can’t afford after-school care. Well, on her list, that was the one thing that I felt like I could do something about . So, we’ve come up with a plan for me to pick up her girls after school once a week and take care of them until she can come home. It might turn into three times a week, but for now she’s got the other days covered with other people. I think it hurt her to admit her need (both for the one day to watch her sick daughter and for the ongoing after-school help), but it really isn’t much of an inconvenience for me and I’m happy to help.

So, why am I telling this story in a post titled: Anonymity and the Gospel? Well, because I’ve probably told this story ten times already since it happened last week. Once at Bible study, when I asked for prayer for the relationship with Angela and her kids. I think some of my request was genuine, but it was in large part an opportunity to manipulate the conversation to make people recognize what I’ve done and think well of me. Then yesterday when I was picking up the girls from school, I ran into someone whose kids go to the same school. She was surprised to see me, and while it would have been WAY faster and easier just to explain that I was doing a favor for a friend…I went into the details. Why? Because I knew the details would make me look good. Pay no attention to the dignity it stole from my friend, Angela. I was striving for attention and accolades, and I shared personal details to make myself appear kind, compassionate, and basically awesome. Last night on the phone I did it again with another friend. Here I am again today, but for a different reason.

What does the Bible tell us about doing good works for attention? Well, here’s one really clear example from Matthew 6:1-8:

Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then, your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Sometimes I think we believe that it is only the materially rich who are reaping their rewards on earth, “where moth and rust destroy.” But, friends, you and I are tempted by a different form of pre-eternal reward: man’s acclaim for our works of righteousness. Every time we strive for attention, subtly manipulate a conversation or Twitter update to communicate something we’re doing for Jesus, we are robbing ourselves of true, eternal reward. It is always interesting to me that Jesus doesn’t say we won’t get a reward if we do our ‘acts of righteousness’ this way. He simply and devastatingly says we get our reward in full; we just get it here (from man), and not here and later (from our Father.)

I’m not good with comparisons, but it would be like being eight years old and being offered a trip to Disney Land but choosing to watch Cinderella on TV instead. They’re both rewards or gifts, but the value of them isn’t even close. If we only knew what we were missing. C.S. Lewis says it this way: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Oh friends, I LONG with you that our ‘acts of righteousness’ would be radical, sacrificial, beautiful and for the most part, hidden. I long that God would receiveglory for what has been done, instead of us. I pray that we wouldn’t strive for attention for what we’ve accomplished but that we’d be pleased to stay largely obscure and less known. Francois Fenelon says it this way:

It is not surprising that you are very ambitious to advance in your spiritual life, and to find yourself in the company of those who have a reputation for being spiritual. No matter what it looks like, these things still flatter your self-love. Do not seek to fulfill your ambitions of becoming more spiritual, or to be counted in the company of those people who are honored for their spirituality. Your aim should be to die to all such ambitions by letting yourself be humbled. You must learn to accept obscurity and scornful disregard while you keep your eyes solely on God…Say little and do much—without wondering if you have been noticed or not. 

I always wonder if I’ve been noticed. I remember one pitiful moment when a friend was asking me about how my work was going—was I still working part time? And I TOTALLY manipulated the conversation, very subtly, of course, to slip in the fact that we’re adopting from Rwanda. Aren’t we great? Sick. Sick. Sick. Richard Foster says:

 Self-righteous service requires external rewards. It needs to know that people see and appreciate the effort. It seeks human applause—with proper religious modesty of course. True service rests in hiddenness. It does not fear the lights and blare of attention, but it does not seek them either. Since it is living out of a new Center of reference, the divine nod of approval is enough.

I like how he mentions that true service doesn’t fear the lights and blare of attention. Some of us/you are going to be in positions of God-given influence. But, we should be cautioned to not let the attention injure our souls and rob us of eternal reward. I’m not suggesting we never tell people about the work we’re doing, but I’m suggesting that we ask God to examine our motives when we’re doing it. How much of it is to encourage someone, glorify God, and obey him…and how much of it is to make myself look good?

Just because we struggle to do these things with pure motivations, does not mean we should just quit trying. God doesn’t give us that option. But, let us seek hiddenness and allow our impure motivations for service to become more pure. Foster says “nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It pulls for honor and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered.” Join me, friends, in moving towards anonymity and hiddenness, not to impress one another, but to have pride and self-love rooted out in us.

From someone who struggles deeply with this issue, who likely has done nothing anonymously in my life, please pray and ache with me that we would be people who would be content to be unknown. Content to obey God whether it brings us attention or not. Able to confess sin and admit temptation.  Pray with me that these ‘acts of righteousness’ we’re all doing will be tested later and found to be gold. Suitable for eternity.

We are gearing up for an exciting fall. As the educational year gets into full swing, we’ll be taking advantage of a number of opportunities to educate new audiences on the transformational power of microfinance. 

HOPE is especially excited about Sunday, October 18.  We’re launching Give HOPE Sunday, a national campaign retrofitted just for churches.  We’re aiming to break down the perceived barriers that exist between churches and this new mission field of Christ-centered microfinance.  We’re claiming that missionaries can be bankers and affirming that for the three billion people living in poverty on this earth, there is Good News: God cares for His children’s physical and spiritual condition.  For Give HOPE Sunday, we’ll happily provide sermon points for pastors, bulletin inserts, posters, videos, and other supporting materials to help your church explore God’s heart for the poor.  If you are a pastor seeking ways to encourage your congregation to reach out to the world’s poorest people or if you are a layperson seeking a chance to share your love for what HOPE International is doing, then host a Give HOPE Sunday.

Even before Give HOPE Sunday gets underway, we’ll be heading down to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta on October 7 to hear some great speakers and to leave our mark as well. HOPE International President Peter Greer will be launching his new book The Poor Will Be Glad.  We are brimming with excitement over the book launch! God is creating paths for our message, and people are responding.   We’re also excited for an opportunity Peter will have to introduce conference participants to microfinance in a radical and personal way.  Stay tuned to hear more!