In 2019, the HOPE network walked alongside more than 950,000 men and women around the world!
Through our blog, we’ve shared a few of their stories, along with insights into our work and the communities where we serve. We hope that you’ve been encouraged, challenged, and inspired in your own life to grow in faith and service to the Kingdom.
In case you missed any of these insightful and inspirational stories, here are our five most-read posts from 2019:
Ending poverty: three hopeful signs
We reported this message many times in 2018—but it’s such a paradigm shift, we kept sharing it in 2019. While 70 percent of U.S. adults think extreme poverty is rising, it’s actually fallen significantly in the last 30 years. Hear from Peter Greer, HOPE’s president and CEO, about the Church’s crucial role in the continued movement to eradicate poverty in all its forms. Read more.
5 ways to rethink your summer missions trip
Each year, an estimated 2 million Americans board planes for far-away places with the same mission in mind—to spread the name of Jesus. While short-term mission trips have come under great scrutiny in recent years, we believe God’s up to good things through these experiences—when approached with the right posture and heart. Read these five ways to rethink your next trip.
What does it mean to love mercy
Part of a seven-week series in 2018 by HOPE’s director of spiritual integration, Dan Williams, this post focused on the Micah 6:8 exhortation to love mercy, which Dan expounded upon by sharing about his motorcycle collision with a cow in Haiti. Loving mercy begins with our heart posture toward God’s mercy. Read more.
Why Jesus let people walk away
Originally published in 2014, this blog post continues to attract readers over four years later. In the post, HOPE’s former director of spiritual integration, Matthew Rohrs, answers the question: “Aren’t you [at HOPE] basically providing financial incentives to get people to convert to Christianity?” Read his answer.
Dust-covered kids: what poverty doesn’t look like
It’s easy to make quick assumptions from a distance. Seeing a young boy through their car window, a Rwandan staff member challenged an American staff member to look past the boy’s dusty appearance to a more nuanced understanding of life in rural communities. Read more.
Want to learn more about what it looks like when HOPE invests in the dreams of families? This short video will walk you through the process.
Featured image: Mary Msoni, an entrepreneur and savings group member in Zambia
