My previous post argued that microfinance (MF) is an effective development strategy that:

1. provides more permanent solutions to poverty, not temporary hand-outs,
2. empowers individuals within their local contexts instead of creating dependency, and
3. significantly engages the economy.

These are no small assertions, and some explanation is necessary. First, let me give the layman’s view of what MF is. At its core, MF is a development intervention that targets people in poverty who are shut out of traditional banking services. MF is generally conceptualized and described as small business loans to entrepreneurs living in poverty. This is a key component of MF; however, MF has expanded to include several other important services such as savings and insurance. Continue Reading…

Jesus famously summarized the law and prophets by citing the two greatest commandments: to love God and to love neighbor. To illustrate what it meant to love one’s neighbor he told the parable of the Good Samaritan, the beautiful story of a traveler who, in contrast to a priest and a Levite, cared for an injured victim of robbery by carrying him to a hotel, nursing his wounds, and covering his expenses.

For years this parable has shaped my family’s ministry. We carried gifts to people dying of AIDS and served food to the homeless. Living overseas as missionaries, we strived to serve the poor in meaningful ways whenever and however we could. But something always bothered us. Our efforts, though compassionate, well intended, and modeled after Christ’s story, never seemed to produce the results we desired. We were not irrational idealists expecting that we could single-handedly reverse years and even centuries of defective and unjust social systems. But we gradually realized that when we gave donations to people there were two crucial problems: 1) we only temporarily met their needs — they would soon grow hungry, and 2) we inadvertently created dependency — we were their source for ending their hunger. Continue Reading…

The stock market meltdown that began in the United States, and then spread to Europe and other wealthy countries, is teaching us a lot about financial disaster. It proved that extreme economic troubles call for swift and strong responses. As banks and other investment firms failed, both governments and the private sector swooped in with massive recovery programs. The crisis was taken seriously because so many people in so many countries faced personal financial catastrophe. Continue Reading…