In From Dependence to Dignity: How to Alleviate Poverty through Church-Centered Microfinance (Zondervan, 2015), Brian Fikkert offers an excellent follow-up to his (and Steve Corbett’s) best-selling When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor … and Yourself (Moody Publishers, 2009). His new book—co-authored by Russell Mask, Fikkert’s colleague at the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College—describes how materially poor churches and the materially poor people within them can use microfinance to pull themselves up out of poverty and support themselves and their families.

Microfinance, which provides access to financial services (savings, loans, insurance, money transfers) to the poor, has seen great success in the Global South. And Fikkert and Mask highlight the microfinance ministry of the Masai church in rural Kenya as an example of the potential of this economic aid.

In Chapter 2 of From Dependence to Dignity, excerpted below, the authors discuss the theology behind the role of the church in carrying out the Great Commission while fighting poverty in the 21st century, and whether there’s such a role for parachurch ministries. —Mickey McLean

Chapter 2: What Is the Mission of the Church?

In the first century, mission strategy was always congregationally based. … There were no mission societies, mission boards, or parachurch organizations. … Today, most local churches are sidelined and uninvolved when it comes to missions. The message from most mission and parachurch organizations to the local church is essentially “Pray, pay, and get out of the way.” … I believe the proper role for all the great parachurch and relief organizations is to serve local churches in a supportive role, offering their expertise and knowledge, but allowing the local churches around the world to be the central focus and distribution centers. —Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church

Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. That is what this savings and credit association is all about. —Lay leader of a church-centered microfinance ministry in Togo, West Africa

This book is fundamentally about the church and the Great Commission in the twenty-first century; hence, this book is necessarily about materially poor churches and materially poor people. Therefore, before we delve into the details of microfinance ministry, it is important to first consider theologically the very nature of the church. Specifically, what is the mission of the church? What is the church supposed to do about poverty? Is there a role for parachurch ministries, including Christian relief and development agencies?

This chapter explores these theological issues and argues that the Masai church’s microfinance ministry represents a highly significant development for the church and its mission in the twenty-first century.

The Mission of Jesus Christ

What is the mission of the church? Because the church is the “body” and “fullness” of Jesus Christ, its mission is rooted in the mission of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:1–13). Therefore, in order to appreciate the theological significance of the Masai church’s microfinance ministry, it is important to first consider the nature of the mission of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’s earthly ministry began one Sabbath day in a synagogue in Nazareth. Week in and week out, Jews gathered in this synagogue to worship under the chafing yoke of the Roman Empire. Aware of Old Testament prophecy, these worshipers were longing for God to send the promised Messiah who would restore the kingdom to Israel and reign on David’s throne forever. But centuries had gone by with no Messiah, and the Romans were in power. Hope was probably in short supply. It is in this context that the son of a carpenter from that very town stood up and was handed a scroll from the prophet Isaiah:

Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” … The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:17–21)

A shiver must have gone down the spine of the worshipers that day. Isaiah had prophesied that a King was coming who would usher in a kingdom unlike anything the world had ever seen. Could it be that Isaiah’s prophecies were really about to come true? Could it really be that a kingdom whose domain would increase without end was about to begin (Isaiah 9:7)? Was it really possible that justice, peace, and righteousness were about to be established forever? Would this King really bring healing to the parched soil, the feeble hands, the shaky knees, the fearful hearts, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, the broken hearted, the captives, and the sinful souls, and would he proclaim the year of jubilee for the poor (Isaiah 35:1–6; 53:5; 61:1–2)? Jesus’s answer to all these questions was a resounding “YES,” declaring, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The announcement of the arrival of the kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus’s ministry. Indeed, just a few verses after Jesus’s declaration in the synagogue he declared, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43, emphasis added). The mission of Jesus was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, to say to one and all, “I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and I am using my power to fix everything that sin has ruined.” As pastor and theologian Timothy Keller states, “The kingdom is the renewal of the whole world through the entrance of supernatural forces. As things are brought back under Christ’s rule and authority, they are restored to health, beauty, and freedom.”

Of course, Jesus did not just speak the good news of the kingdom; he demonstrated the good news of the kingdom through acts of healing and compassion amongst the blind, the lame, the leper, the deaf, the dead, and the poor (Luke 7:18–23). And as people watched Jesus do these things, they got a foretaste of what his kingdom will look like on that great day when it comes in its fullness, a day in which all of the effects of sin will be permanently defeated (Revelation 21:1–5).

Note that Jesus’s miracles were acts of reconciliation—that is, acts that restored people to what God created them to be. Jesus did not simply show off his immense power by making trees walk or by sending lightning bolts to destroy things. Rather, his miracles helped restore the blind, the lame, and the leper to what they were created to be. In these acts of restoration, Jesus gave a preview of that day when his kingdom will come in its fullness, a day in which there will be no more blind, or lame, or lepers, because full restoration will have come to the entire cosmos (Colossians 1:19–20). Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Given some current misunderstandings in the church, it is important to emphasize that the cosmic scope of the kingdom of God does not replace the need for people to be individually saved through faith alone in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. Indeed, when people encounter the good news of the kingdom, they are called to submit to it: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). The “good news” is only good for those who put their faith in the King, while punishment awaits those who do not (Matthew 25:31–46; John 3:16; Romans 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10). In other words, the only proper response to the good news of the kingdom is to trust and obey the King.

The Mission of the Church

The mission of the church is rooted in the mission of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Bible teaches that Jesus continues “to do and to teach” through his church (Acts 1:1).

Hence, it is not surprising that when Jesus sent out his twelve disciples, he sent them out as he was sent: “He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1–2). Similarly, when Jesus sent out seventy-two of his followers, he commanded them, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’ ” (Luke 10:9). The message of Jesus and his followers was the “kingdom of God,” and it was communicated through both words and deeds.

Moreover, when the New Testament church was established, the concern for both word and deed ministry, particularly amongst the poor, was part of the very fabric of the church (Acts 2:42–45; 4:32–37; 6:1–7; 2 Corinthians 8–9; Galatians 2:1–10; 6:10; James 1:27; 1 John 3:17–18). Paul described the relationship of words and deeds in the New Testament church in this beautiful way:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–13)

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are all primarily engaged in the ministry of the Word with the goal of equipping the members of the congregation for “works of service.” The Greek word that is translated as “works of service” in this passage is diakonia, the same word that is commonly translated as “deacon,” i.e., church officers who engage in practical deeds of service, especially caring for the poor. And what happens when the church ministers in both words and deeds? It becomes the “fullness of Jesus Christ,” because this is how he ministered while he was on earth, and it is how he continues to minister through his body, the church.

In recent decades, the global body of Christ has been rediscovering the intimate relationship of word and deed ministry in its mission, an approach that is increasingly being referred to as “integral mission.” For example, the global gathering of the Lausanne Movement in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010 declared “integral mission” as inherent to the church’s task:

Integral mission is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world, we betray the Word of God, which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the Word of God, we have nothing to bring to the world.

Jesus Christ engaged in integral mission; as his body and fullness, the church must engage in integral mission as well.

The Unique Role of the Local Church

The church of Jesus Christ is necessarily global in nature, as reflected in the phrase “the holy catholic Church” in the Apostles’ Creed. Thus, the global body is to engage in integral mission together.

At the same time, it is profoundly important to recognize the theological significance of the local church, i.e., the particular congregation in any context. The Bible indicates that each local congregation is to have elders in it to equip every member for “works of service,” making the local congregation the primary manifestation of Jesus Christ and his kingdom in its community (Acts 14:23; Ephesians 4:11–13; Titus 1:5). Although this is not a new idea, theologians, missiologists, and development practitioners are increasingly emphasizing the special role of the local church in God’s kingdom mission. There are multiple reasons for this increased emphasis, but one of the primary factors is the recognition that biblical contextualization is essential in order for the gospel to be fruitful in each cultural setting. In his book Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, theologian and church planter Timothy Keller explains contextualization as follows:

Contextualization is not—as is often argued—“giving people what they want to hear.” Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them. Sound contextualization means translating and adapting the communication and ministry of the gospel to a particular culture without compromising the essence and particulars of the gospel itself. The great missionary task is to express the gospel message to a new culture in a way that avoids making the message unnecessarily alien to that culture, yet without removing or obscuring the scandal and offense of biblical truth. A contextualized gospel is marked by clarity and attractiveness, and yet it still challenges sinners’ self-sufficiency and calls them to repentance. It adapts and connects to the culture, yet at the same time challenges and confronts it. If we fail to adapt to the culture or if we fail to challenge the culture—if we under or overcontextualize—our ministry will be unfruitful because we have failed to contextualize well. (italics in original)

In short, contextualization means communicating the eternal truth of the gospel in a way that is understandable, relevant, and attractive to a particular culture, so that unbelievers in that culture will be challenged to repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation.

Some Christians get nervous about the term contextualization, as it seems to suggest that the gospel is “relative” rather than “absolute” truth. This is a very legitimate concern, and contextualization has sometimes been misused in this way. Hence, it is important to be completely clear: the gospel is absolute Truth with a capital T that transcends time, place, and culture. But this fact does not negate the need for the unchanging truths of Scripture to be contextualized so that they can be understood in different cultural settings. As Keller points out, even the isolated act of translating the Bible into a local language requires contextualization, as the local language is necessarily reflective of the local culture.

Note that contextualization is not a “necessary evil”; rather, it is at the very heart of Jesus’s mission. Jesus’s incarnation involved the eternal and unchanging Word of God taking on a human body, in particular, the sort of body that would have been typical of the people to whom he was trying to communicate: Jewish people living in Palestine in the first century. And his ministry involved translating the universal truths of God into words and deeds that could be understood by the people of that particular culture.

And just as the eternal and unchanging Word took on the flesh and cultural trappings of a particular people in order to reveal himself to those people at a particular time, so too the local church is to embody that eternal and unchanging Word in the particular cultural setting in which it finds itself. As the local church seeks to live out the new realities of the kingdom of God in its setting—in some mysterious but very real sense— it becomes the “Word made flesh” in that setting, speaking and acting like Jesus himself would speak and act if he him self had chosen to come to that particular culture at that particular point in time. And, of course, Jesus has indeed made this choice, as evidenced by the fact that his body is in that culture in the form of the local church.

Missiologist Lesslie Newbigin explains that as the local church lives out the realities of the kingdom of God in its setting, it is able to demonstrate that this new kingdom life is a real possibility—i.e., is “plausible”—for the unbelievers in that setting. No longer is the gospel just something that works for other people, e.g., just for the missionaries or just for white people; rather, the local church can speak and act in such a way that local unbelievers can see that this new community and its way of life is something that is possible for them. Unbelievers are able to say, “Yes, I see. This is true for me, for my situation,” so that they will want to join the church community too.

According to Timothy Keller, such contextualization requires that the local congregation “reflect the demographic makeup of the surrounding community, thereby giving non-Christian neighbors attractive and challenging glimpses of what they would look like as Christians.” Indeed, nobody is better able to communicate the good news of the kingdom of God to unbelieving Masai—in a way that is understand able, relevant, attractive, and plausible—than a community of redeemed Masai who are trying to figure out how to live out the realities of this new kingdom in their cultural setting.

In summary, the global church must engage in integral mission, but it must do so in a way that enables the local church to be what Christ has created it to be: his “body” and “fullness” in a particular setting. All of these considerations are summarized in the Integral Mission Principle.

Integral Mission Principle: The local church is to engage in integral mission: proclaiming and demonstrating among people who are poor the good news of the kingdom of God in a contextually appropriate way.

The Masai church’s microfinance ministry is a successful example of the Integral Mission Principle, and therein lies part of its theological significance. As the Masai church engages in integral mission, it is communicating, imperfectly but really, something of what Jesus Christ would have sounded and acted like if he had been born into the Masai tribe instead of into the tribe of Judah. And as a result, the Great Commission is being advanced, as evidenced by the fact that unbelievers are asking to join the Masai community of believers.

It is important to note that one of the keys to the success of this story is that the microfinance ministry was designed in such a way that the members of the Masai church could undertake the ministry on their own, using their own gifts, talents, and resources. Indeed, savings and credit associations are indigenous to Kenyan culture and well within the capacity of local people to own and operate themselves. As such, this microfinance ministry is a vehicle that very poor churches can use to be the fullness of Jesus Christ in their settings.

The Role of the Parachurch

None of this should be taken to mean that there is no role for parachurch organizations, including international Christian relief and development agencies. Indeed, these organizations often do profoundly important work, and they have expertise, capacities, and callings that extend well beyond those of the local congregation. For example, as will be discussed in chapter 10, microfinance institutions provide services that local congregations cannot and should not try to provide on their own. It is bad stewardship for churches to ignore the tremendous gifts that God has given to parachurch ministries, and it is simply unbiblical for a church to own and operate every institution in its society.

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision US, an affiliate of the largest Christian relief and development organization in the world, puts it this way:

Churches call in experts to help with all kinds of things: music, accounting, audiovisual support, counseling, and building construction. Shouldn’t we do the same to assist us in tackling complicated problems [in the Global South]? Some of this expertise may reside within our congregations, but we will likely have to look outside as well, perhaps hiring people with the necessary skills or partnering with organizations that have experience and a long track record of success. … Even when those with specific expertise provide project leadership, there will always be some valuable places where volunteers from your church can also add value.

At the same time, there is a need for the global body to reconsider the current manner in which many parachurch organizations function. As Bryant Myers, the former vice president for international program strategy at World Vision International, explains:

The church represents a special challenge to many involved in Christian development (i.e., poverty alleviation), since much of the work in the last quarter century has been done by the so-called parachurch agencies. Made up of Christians, these agencies go directly to Christians in the pews to solicit funds and then directly to poor communities to help the poor. The local church on both ends is too frequently ignored, or worse, seen as part of the problem. This is a seriously flawed view. … The church is the bearer of the biblical story because it is Christ’s body in the world. As Christians, we are part of this body, and that’s the way it is. With all our warts and pimples, witnessing about Christ and doing his work within the context of the church is our mission.

Designing and implementing the proper relationship between the church and the parachurch with respect to poverty alleviation is not an easy task. Indeed, as Ecuadorian theologian Rene Padilla states, “One of the greatest challenges we Christians have at the threshold of the third millennium is the articulation and practical implementation of an ecclesiology that views the local church, and particularly the church of the poor, as the primary agent of holistic mission.”

How can the global body—including the parachurch—function in such a way that a church comprised of materially poor people can serve as the “primary agent of holistic mission”? There is no easy answer to this question, and not all of these issues can be resolved in this book. But Newbigin provides a helpful guideline: parachurch ministries “have power to accomplish their purpose only as they are rooted in and lead back to a believing community.”

Figure 2.1 illustrates this idea. The Bible indicates that there are some things that the local church must do directly: preach the Word, administer the sacraments (or ordinances), exercise discipline, engage in fellowship, and care for the poor, especially poor believers (Galatians 2:10). When the church engages in these activities, it directly ministers holistically to the people in its midst, and it also ministers indirectly by equipping its members for “works of service” in two additional contexts.

First, some believers are called to be “salt and light” in institutions that are not parachurch ministries in that they are not engaged in explicitly Christian ministry, e.g., government, business, the arts, and civic organizations. Christ is the creator, sustainer, and reconciler of all things, including these institutions, so Christians must work in them as well, faithfully seeking to use words and deeds that bear witness to the present and future reign of Christ as much as possible (Matthew 5:16; Colossians 1:15–20). However, these institutions do not originate in the local church; that is, they are not “rooted in” the local church and are not expressions of the church’s ministry.

Second, some believers are called to be involved in parachurch ministries, which explicitly seek to help the global body of Christ to fulfill its mission. Indeed, these organizations often receive financial support and other forms of assistance from churches. Although these parachurch ministries may sometimes be national or even international in scope—e.g., some Christian relief and development agencies—they must work in such a way that the local church— not the parachurch ministry—is seen as the primary manifestation of Jesus Christ in that setting. There are several steps that can help to foster this:

These considerations present an enormous challenge to the staff of Christian relief and development organizations and of other parachurch ministries, whose work often fails to be “rooted in and lead back to a believing community.” Myers challenges these organizations and staff to reconnect to the local church:

Our (Christian relief and development) practitioners need to recover from their pride and professionalism and find a way to become part of the Christian community on the ground and thus function as part of the local body of Christ. Agencies must figure out a way to become engaging, supporting and empowering partners of local churches, with each discovering and respecting the respective roles of the others in God’s work of transformation.

What happens when the parachurch fails to “be rooted in and lead back to a believing community?” At least two major problems emerge.

First, the local church is unable to use its gifts to fulfill its God-given calling. In other words, the Integral Mission Principle is violated. In the process, the long-term spread and impact of the gospel is undermined in the local culture, for the local congregation is the primary vehicle that God has established for evangelism, discipleship, and the spreading of the kingdom. Indeed, long after the funding for the parachurch organization has dried up, the local church will still be present in that cultural setting. Hence, it is imperative that the local church be strong and flourishing in order for the gospel to blossom in the culture over the long term.

Second, failing to connect the poor to the local church is highly detrimental to the poor. As explained in When Helping Hurts, material poverty is deeply rooted in the brokenness of human beings’ foundational relationships with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. Because Jesus Christ is the only one who can reconcile these relation ships (Colossians 1:20) and because he is embodied in the local church, it is in the local church— in its words, deeds, and sacraments— that the only ultimate solution to poverty can be found. Thus, relief and development organizations that truly want to help the poor must work in such a way that poor people are incorporated into the life and worship of a local congregation; and they must work in such a way that poor people trust in Jesus Christ—not the relief and development organization—as their Savior. More about all of this will be discussed in chapters 6 and 7.

In this light, the savings and credit association of the Masai is again noteworthy, for it is actually a parachurch ministry that is deeply rooted in the life of the local church. The church does not own and operate this ministry. Rather, the church equipped its members to start this ministry on their own as an outflowing and expression of the reality of the reign of Jesus Christ in their congregational life. Both the Masai women who run the group and the larger community see the savings and credit association as an expression of the local church, even though it is technically not owned and operated by the local church. In other words, as pictured in figure 2.1, the savings and credit association is a parachurch ministry that is “rooted in and lead(s) back to a believing community.”

All of these considerations are summarized in the Church and Parachurch Principle.

Church and Parachurch Principle: Parachurch ministries must be “rooted in and lead back to” the local congregation(s) that minister in the same location.

Although this principle is sound, there are clearly all sorts of practical challenges in applying it in the real world. For example, in the case of frontier missions work, where no local congregation has yet been established, the parachurch ministry will need to be “rooted in” a sending congregation(s) from a different context until a local church is planted. In addition, there may be contexts in which established congregations are simply not preaching the Word of God faithfully, implying that they are not legitimate churches. In such instances, efforts may need to be taken to plant new churches. And there are other caveats as well, but such caveats do not undermine the general principle.

Poverty Alleviation as a Foretaste of the Coming Kingdom

As mentioned earlier, Jesus’s miracles were acts of reconciliation, restoring people to what they were created to be. In these acts, Jesus gave a preview of that great day when his kingdom will come in its fullness, a day in which there will be no more blind, or lame, or lepers, because full restoration will have come to the entire cosmos.

The church is an “ambassador” of King Jesus and has been given the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18–21). Therefore, like the King it represents, the church must pursue integral mission in a way that is restorative so that its acts will also give a preview of the coming kingdom. When working with people who are poor, such restoration involves helping the poor to be able to work and to support themselves and their families through that work, because that is part of what humans were created to do (2 Thessalonians 3:6–10; 1 Timothy 5:1–15). Indeed, being able to work and to support one’s family through that work is part of what it means to be human (Genesis 1:28–30).

Unfortunately, not all approaches to poverty alleviation accomplish this; in fact, many well-meaning attempts to help the poor often cripple the poor by undermining their desire and capacity to work. These considerations lead to the Poverty-Alleviation Principle.

Poverty-Alleviation Principle: Poverty alleviation is the ministry of reconciliation, seeking to restore poor people to what God created them to be. One result is that people will be able to glorify God through work and to support their families through that work.

The Masai church’s microfinance minis try is consistent with the Poverty-Alleviation Principle. The women in the savings and credit association have been empowered to be very productive, using their gifts to work and to help their families to thrive. In fact, the restoration is so complete that the Masai women are becoming restorers of others. As the Masai missionary states, “I want to teach the girls living in the interior regions, so that I can empower them to be just like us.”

Summary

Ironically, in an era of unprecedented wealth and rapid globalization, the local church in the Global South, a “church of the poor” with few material gifts, is on center stage in the unfolding drama of the kingdom. Hence, as the global body pursues the Great Commission, it must use strategies that strengthen the local church’s ability to pursue integral mission, working in such a way that the gifts and testimony of the local church are enhanced rather than undermined. Furthermore, integral mission must be done in such a way that the poor are restored to what God created them to be: people who can work and support their families through that work. The microfinance ministries described in this book are consistent with these principles.

Application Questions

Taken from From Dependence to Dignityby Brian Fikkert and Russell Mark. Copyright © 2015 by Brian Fikkert and Russell Mark. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com.