It is always a good thing when you measure success and find that your energies and efforts are making a difference.

In 2009, four churches in Johannesburg partnered with Paradigm Shift and have impacted the lives of 106 entrepreneurs coming from seven African countries and speaking 11 primary languages.

The initial impact results are amazing:

• Average starting monthly income for an entrepreneur = $114
• Average ending monthly income for an entrepreneur = $208
• Average income growth after six months= 82%
• 87% = Single moms who are the sole earners for their families
• 84% = Entrepreneurs who met monthly with their mentor
• 25% = Committed their lives to Christ for the first time

Lives are being changed as entrepreneurs are empowered.

You may want read more by downloading the 2009 Impact Report.

This is a question we are asking ourselves at Paradigm Shift.

How do we measure success?

There are three main “customers” that Paradigm Shift serves: churches, entrepreneurs, and Christian schools.

I am just going to focus on one of the three: entrepreneurs.

Measuring success for a participating entrepreneur is easy when it comes to reviewing their business. We look at cash flow, current debt and liabilities, business assets, new customer acquisition, loan repayment record, business partnerships, accounting methods, profitability, etc.

These are all aspects that are pretty clear cut as we measure business success.

But what about spiritual success? How do we measure that?

Jesus puts it in perspective in Luke 12:16-21 when he says in verse 21,

“yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

We work with microentrepreneurs to build their business skills and give access to capital, but if they are not rich towards God then they are fools and our work at best is of limited value.

So, if people’s hearts are vastly more important than the success of their business–then measuring spiritual growth would seem a logical next step. But measuring spiritual growth is a challenge and far more complex than tracking a sales report!

Paradigm Shift is still searching for tools to access spiritual growth, so if you know of some then send us an email…

At the present, the measurements are captured in conversations. Conversations like the ones I had yesterday.

An entrepreneur said she has seen tangible differences in the way she responds with gentleness and patience to challenging situations.

Or another entrepreneur that said she has experienced love the past few month in a way that she never experienced before.

Or another entrepreneur asking a simple question, “what does Jesus mean when he says you need to be born again?”

Or another entrepreneur understanding fully that we as people are stewards and not owners. And being a steward changes perspectives on how to treat money, time, resources and people.

Or when spontaneous worship happens at the end of a weekly meeting with African dancing giving praise to God.

Or when an entrepreneur shares that he now has a new found spiritual hunger which he wants to fill with reading the New Living Bible.

Or when an entrepreneur who is going through a divorce because her husband beats here comes to the weekly meeting and feels safe and valued. This same entrepreneur is returning to God and has even started studying the Bible with her friends at her home.

Or when another entrepreneur asks where he can buy a Bible.

Or when the entrepreneur experiences tangible grace from a local church and reflects a heart of gratitude for it.

Maybe spiritual growth shouldn’t be boiled down to statistics, but rather the testimony of individuals coming into a vibrant relationship with God. At the end of the day, maybe it can only be explained rather than counted. Numbers are signs of heatlh, but people’s hearts and lives are more than what numbers can capture.

Jesus tells us that you’re a fool if your trust is in wealth. Our hope is that entrepreneurs would place their hope in Christ and success would be measured not just by their business growth, but also by their relationship with God.

With the proliferation of social networks, the proliferation of causes has been a byproduct. According to a Washington Post article published in April, there are:

235,000 Non-profits using the Causes application
25,000,000 people that have joined at least one cause via social networking

Paradigm Shift has even created a Cause page

But Paradigm Shift is not a cause…

We are not waving a banner of business training and microfinance to be a cause to get behind, but rather an expression of God’s heart for the poor. Thus we are not a “cause” though we have a cause page.

Recently, I was reading Isaiah 58 and was incredibly challenged by what God considers true worship. For sure, the need for faith, forgiveness and personal holiness is a given.

But, if I asked the average Christian what it means to worship God, answers would be what we do at any of our gatherings: prayer, worship songs, reading the Word, fasting, etc. These things in and of themselves are insignificant and meaningless when our hearts are not in them.

Isaiah looks past righteous motions and looks at the core of God’s desire as we worship him:

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

Isaiah 58 mentions 5 kinds of human need:

1) The need for freedom from bondage & oppression – v6

2) The need for food – v7

3) The need for housing – v7

4) The need for clothing – v7

5) The need for respect – v9

The team at Paradigm Shift, along with an wider body of believers continue endeavoring to make answer these needs with the message of Christ around the world. My concern is that this can be considered just a job for those in “development” whether that is international or at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

Irrespective of it being some individuals full-time occupation, it is a holy calling and part of our worship for all of us. We must find ways both financially and through our energies to care for the vulnerable and share the message of Christ in the process.

Rainbow nation’s outsiders live in fear

By Karen Allen
BBC News, Johannesburg

We recently conducted a survey of entrepreneurs who completed our 20-week Business Growth Course. The goal was to determine what impact the weekly business training and discipleship had on their businesses and their lives.

The results were highly encouraging. Here are some highlights:

• The entrepreneurs are an incredibly diverse group, representing 5 different countries and 10 primary languages. (If you’re curious, those languages are Bembe, English, French, Ndebele, Portugese, Setswana, Shangaan, Shona, Sotho and Zulu.)
• 72% of the participants are females – many women start their own businesses because the flexibility allows them to raise children and care for their homes.
• 87% are female sole earners, almost all are single mothers with no other financial support.
• 56% of the entrepreneurs started their businesses less than one year ago, and thus have a great need for business training and microloans.
• 25% of the entrepreneurs began a relationship with Christ and by the end of the program 100% were regularly attending a church.
• The entrepreneurs experienced an 82% average increase in their monthly business incomes.
• Members of our partner churches collectively volunteered over 1,000 hours to serving the poor through the Paradigm Shift program.