Microfinance, Evangelism, and Discipleship — Amata Thomas — Ep. 206

How can humanitarian mission work be done without harming others? What does business have to do with mission?

Our guest today is Amada Thomas. Amada is a Bishop and Christian Believers Fellowship, and he is the Director of Operations for Open Hands in East Africa. We understand that you use business and financial training in your ministry. Can you describe this to us? Open Hands has the vision of seeing the financially vulnerable, stabilized, and growing, as well as standing with each other. There is a way that we would define the financially vulnerable. We think of the financially vulnerable as the materially poor.

But also, when you think of it deeply, you may get to see the reality that the rich can also be financially vulnerable. But when we look at the place of stewardship, we will see that it's possible. The two materially poor and the materially rich, they can converge.

How can we help this materially poor person rise up without looking at the materially rich person as the God in their lives? And how do we help the materially rich person stand up and stretch forth a helping hand, but in a way that does not in any way erode the dignity of the poor person? At Open Hands, we think there is a place of giving to the poor in a way that raises them in their dignity, positioning their eyes to look up and to the Lord and not across to the giver.

However, still enabling them to be grateful to the giver. We have an approach that we are using to teach the materially poor in various parts across the world. I am from the East African side. That is Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We have the savings groups.

Savings groups where 6 to 25 people come together as a group to save their money. They are saving in the family of shares. It could be from one share up to 10 shares, for example. One share probably being equivalent to a dollar. A dollar might sound so little, but that dollar, in some of those places to get it, it might not be readily available. When they come together, they agree what's going to be their frequency in their savings days. It might be weekly. It could be every two weeks. It might be twice a month, or it could be once a month. They come in to save their money. While they are saving their money, Open Hands helps them to form the bilos that govern them.

When they are saving their money, they use those bilos to watch over the things that they are doing. And there is room for them to sit in the savings group, worship God, and hear the word of God through training programs. So there are two things here: savings groups and teaching ministry in the savings groups.

Think of people who do not go to church. Who shares with them the word of God? Think of Monday to Saturday. Even for some who go to church, how, again, do they interact with the word of God when they are having the pressure to earn? We're thinking the savings groups, when there is teaching ministry involved in the same, it helps to disciple the ones who are serving in those groups. We use now our training programs to expose them deeper to Christ and His word. We are having Christ-centered savings groups and training programs at the center of our ministry.

Our training program, I'll pick one, and what it does. When they're seated there, they are serving and there's opportunity for an Open Hands facilitator to teach. He'll use the training manuals that are Christ-centered. We have a variety. First being the House of Principles. Then we are having Family Finance for God's Children, developed by Open Hands, and five business curricula.

The first one is developed by Chama Center for Economic Development. That curriculum, when you listen to the details in it, the savings group has a house. A house that is placed upon a rock. A house that is built upon a rock. What is a rock?

We think of the group as being built on Jesus and His word. Then we have trust as the foundation of this house. We'd want to restore that trust. Then we have three pillars: transparency, discipline, and leadership. Transparency is, again, another big thing that is missing. People want to do things beneath the table. But in the savings groups, we are encouraging them to be accountable to each other. How many brothers do you see in the church who don't want their lives to be questioned?

How many sisters do you see who don't want to let the light of the Lord, through the spirit of brotherhood, shine in their lives? We'd want transparency to be practiced in the groups. Doing all the transactions when the rest of the group is seated and they're watching.

Nothing is hidden. So that that trust at the foundation is built. And discipline. How do we encourage people to be disciplined? In some of the developing countries, including mine, discipline can be a tall issue. We commonly do say the white colonial masters came into our land. They traversed our land. When they were going, they left carrying the clock with them, but they left us with all the time. So we commonly have people who don't keep time. Discipline when it comes to time can be a big issue. You agree that you're going to meet at 2 o'clock. The first person might be arriving at 2:30 after you have arrived at 2 o'clock or before 2 o'clock.

And the person will be surprised. You mean you are already here? Remember, he's late, but he's surprised that you're already there. Time is a big issue. The third one is leadership. Think of it. Using a savings program to teach people how to be godly servants, to teach people how to be servant leaders of the rest. Then, as we teach that House of Principle and come to the roof, we have prayers. We have stewardship. We have relational support. We have reflection. Write it the roof.

Each of these is a lesson or lessons that are covered in the training manual so that we can fulfill a purpose. Our purpose mainly is to restore or reconcile four fundamental relationships. These four fundamental relationships are relationship with God, relationship with others, relationship with ourselves, and relationship with creation.

Each of those happens. And in East Africa, it is not easy to have Muslims pop up in the church. The coastal side of East Africa is mainly Muslim in those groups at the coast. Muslims are going in. They are getting the word in the groups, not knowing they are getting the word. They think they are coming in to save their money, but the Christ-centered teaching is taking place and then giving their lives to Christ. If they don't, we are also glad that we've given them an opportunity to be witnesses to them. That is such a blessing because that is what the Father seeks. But again, do you see the picture where there is dependency? I come to you, and you begin giving to me.

The first time, I receive joyfully. I come again, I ask you for assistance. You give me the second time. The third time, you give me. The fourth time, you give me. The fifth time, you give me. Maybe the sixth time, you begin questioning.

This is too much. But as you question, this is too much, and now you don't want to give me, the other side of me takes over. And I am like, I'm entitled to receive from you. You can see it in my approach. You can see it in my language.

And then suddenly, because you're not willing to give to me, I develop bitterness against you. These are the things that are happening now if people are just prone to hand out. We are keen as Open Hands. We don't give any material funds to the group, and we don't receive any material funds from the groups, from these members. However, we are glad that we give to them the basic teachings, and those teachings are helping them have restored relationship with each other. And there's relationship with self where dignity is worked on. Well, thank you so much for that introduction to Open Hands.

To end this episode, I'm curious if you could share a story or an encounter with somebody involved in one of these saving groups that gives you enthusiasm, excitement to continue, and that you can see that you're accomplishing your goals. I'm thinking of the relationship with self.

I went into this place where we were forming the savings groups. We were there with about 200 people. Out of the 200, we were going to form probably 15 groups. As they were forming their policies, I was going around facilitating, guiding them. So this one group calls me, "Hey, we have a question. We have this lady here. She's poor, sir. Just look at her. She's very poor.

One share here is going to be $1. However, because she's poor, her one share, we are asking, is it possible to be 50 cents?" I knew in the room there was another group that was having 50 cents for one share. And I was like, "Hey, lady, let me take you to a group that is having one share worth 50 cents." As they held our hands gently, I felt resistance. I was provoked not to anger, but to action. I knew something was happening in this lady's life. I asked her, "Let's save time. Let's move to the other side," or that group. And she told me, "I'm not going." I asked her, "But here, there's a group for $1, and there's a group for 50 cents.

Let's move to the group for the 50 cents. Come, let's go." She said, "I'm staying here. How are you going to stay here in this $1 group? I'm going to pay the $1." She said that, and her face was brightening.

And I was like, "Something is going on." She told her, "You sure?" She said, "Yes." And then he told her, "Bill, you're going to pay the $1." I watched her. Something had happened. First month of their saving, she was giving $1. Second month of their saving, she was giving two shares, that is $2. Third month of their saving, she was giving three shares, that is $3. Fourth month, three shares. Fifth month, three shares. Sixth month, three shares. But something had happened. This is a lady that had been shabby in that first encounter. She was filthy. I don't say that to dishonor her, but as I looked at her, she was filthy.

Now, by the sixth month, remember, she is saving $3. The others that had called her poor were saving a maximum of $2. She was now saving $3. But the other significant thing that had happened was this lady that had been filthy, this lady that had been shabby, was now the most neat person, the most neat individual in the whole group.

I knew others were calling out poverty in this lady. But God helped me on that day to call out His image, dignity out of this lady. And she responded. She's doing well without stretching forth her hand or without looking at herself as being poor. I think that has even captured me to leave my career work and step more into the Open Hands work because we are making a difference. And yet, we are not giving the materials.

We are teaching them how to rise up and go forth to the glory of God. Thank you for joining us for this episode. And thanks to our donors and partners for making this possible. For more episodes, please subscribe or visit our website at anabaptistperspectives.org. You can also leave a comment or review to help more people find our content.