A Generous Revolution

Peter Greer is the president of HOPE International and co-author of The Poor Will Be Glad. We believe this bellwether book brings to light one of the leading tools available to help alleviate poverty: microfinance. Peter’s vision for microfinance is compelling and could revolutionize the way you and your church take on mission work and charitable giving.

His recent campaign, NeverEndingHope.com, challenges regular people to take $10 and turn it into $100 for their campaign. If you were at Catalyst this year, you received a $10 bill for just this purpose. Using creativity & entrepreneurial spirit, anyone can accomplish this & have a lot of fun doing it! Take a minute to watch this video. And here are some fun examples to get you started.

Catalyst: Tell us how you became involved with HOPE International.

Peter: I was studying overseas as part of the International Business Institute and had lunch with a gentleman in Moscow who introduced me to microfinance, which combined my interest in business and the ways I thought God had gifted me. It was a pivotal conversation for me and totally changed my life direction. I then attended a conference and was put in contact with HOPE International. Their work inspired me to get involved, so I did.

I started working in northern Cambodia and Phnom Penh, and I saw the benefits of microfinance firsthand. I remember being literally blindfolded and I was able to smell the difference between development versus poverty in places where HOPE International hadn’t been operating. In other villages where the microfinance services had been in operation for a few years, there was a noticeable difference in the health and hygiene of those areas.  

I really liked the fact that HOPE International viewed poverty as more than a financial issue. For them, unless you’re simultaneously introducing individuals to the hope of Christ, you’re really not able to make a lasting impact. I had an opportunity to come in and we’ve grown it from two countries in 2004 to now fourteen countries. 
 
Catalyst: Your new book The Poor Will Be Glad examines how Christians can impact extreme poverty around the world. Explain what makes microfinance such a comprehensive solution, one that alleviates spiritual poverty as well as physical poverty.

Peter: We all know there’s a time and a place for charity, like after natural disasters when it’s absolutely critical. But after trillions of dollars have been spent in the developing world, it’s okay to say, “Show me what the lasting impact is.” If you look at the graphs, the increase in aid in many countries correlates over the same time frame to a decrease in the production of an economy. 

So the poor are not glad; they are kept on their knees versus getting up and working with the skills and abilities that God has given every single one of us to work and provide for our families. That’s where the title comes from; it’s a different way of looking at the problem of poverty. It has a different end game; it has a different premise.

It says that individuals caught in poverty are not just to be pitied, but they’re to be partnered with. They’re not to be passively receiving but actively working with us if we’re going to see lasting results.

We recognize that more income is not the solution, either. More income can enable today’s oppressed to become tomorrow’s oppressor. There’s got to be a heart change as well. It is economic development but it also has a moral base. That’s where we see this combination of capitalism plus the introduction to an even greater gift that can be found in Christ.
 
Catalyst: Talk about modern church history as it relates to microfinance. How can the church reorient itself from that traditional “charity model” to development?
 
Peter: The church isn’t going to reorient its approach unless it’s convinced that something’s broken. It’s a tough thing for a church mission group or a group that’s been sending supplies for a long period of time to have the guts to say, “Let’s really look at the long-term impact of what we’ve been doing.”

That’s a tough thing for churches to do, but I’m seeing more and more churches ask some tough questions and say it’s not okay if our good intentions are having bad results. It’s not okay if our good intentions are creating a dependency mentality, it’s actually disincentivizing people to work for their families.

One individual in Haiti said, “I have absolutely no motivation to improve my house because if I improve my house then I’m not going to be the one chosen by foreign missionaries and the church groups that come down this summer to rebuild the houses. So I want to make sure I look like the poorest person in my community, and if I don’t get it this year then maybe next year, or the year after.”

Microfinance comes in and says, “We’re not going to give anything away, the only thing we’re going to give is an opportunity for you if you want to work. If you want to improve your family, we’re going to provide you the tools and training so you can provide a permanent solution to poverty through employment, not just never-ending handouts.”

Ninety-nine percent of the microfinance programs in place around the world are done by secular agencies. That’s really one of the primary reasons for the book. We want to say, “Church, we’ve got something that works; let’s get behind this.” It’s got huge potential if we could spend more of our time and energy using this proven tool that will lift the world out of poverty.

Catalyst: Talk about the importance of shifting the mindset of the world’s poor from dependency to dignity. What does dignity do for them as opposed to this handout mentality?

Peter: A friend of mine in Mozambique described a village where he talked to people working on a little kiosk, a by-product of microfinance. The first day, there were some sticks set up in a little frame. The next day there was a roof on it, then some shelves. In four days there were goods and supplies and people were starting to congregate and get engaged in commerce.

A mile away a large United Nations agency was giving away goods and supplies. He said there could not have been a starker contrast between those two places. At the U.N. food drop there was this desperation and hopelessness as people clamored to get free goods. 

Contrast that with the dignity, hope, and optimism he saw in the other community where individuals were starting to get engaged in small businesses. There’s a noticeable difference when someone is taking ownership and getting engaged in productively working. People invite you into their homes saying, “Let me give you a Coke. I’m so pleased that you’re here. Let me show you my small business.” You get a totally different feel when a group has been hurt unintentionally by a charity.

You can’t fault people for reading Scripture and saying, “I have two cents, I’m supposed to give one away.” But there’s a broader context woven throughout Scripture of responsibility and hard work and accountability. 
 
Catalyst: Talk about the need for balance between social activism and proclaiming the gospel.
 
Peter: Typically we go to one side of a pendulum, right? Like in the early twentieth century Christians reacted negatively to the “social gospel,” saying we only needed to preach the gospel. I’m so thankful that the world is not as black and white as it was, that you either do good works or you proclaim the truth of the gospel. That is neither a biblical concept nor an historical concept. The movement of the Christian church, when the Spirit was starting to move, was always a model of both/and.

In our research for the book we found that when the church was on the rise, it was because of this care and concern for the full person, their physical and spiritual needs. Let’s not go where it’s just about serving the poor and miss the fact that if it is just about serving the poor, then Jesus Christ didn’t need to die. We could have just followed Gandhi or some other social activist.
           
Catalyst: If you could accomplish one thing with this book and with HOPE International, what would it be? 
 
Peter: A solution to poverty. I want microfinance to be as prevalent in the church as child sponsorship. I want this to be seen as a valid tool that everyone knows about and not just viewed as a new thing. I want it to be a way to help whole families, putting them permanently on the pathway to a very different future.

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