Did you know that approximately 2.5 billion people, 40% of the world’s population, live on less than $2 per day?
One of the biggest challenges for the poor is that they don’t literally get $2 each day. Instead, their incomes are irregular and unpredictable. For example, they might earn $6 every third day or $10 every fifth day.
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Please rank the following from most important to least important to you: relationships, possessions, reputation, community and individuality.
If you are like the entrepreneurs in the Paradigm Shift programme, you selected relationships, reputation and community as most important, and possessions and individuality as least important.
As part of providing a loan, lenders usually require collateral, which they can take from borrowers if they do not repay. Typical forms of collateral are possessions, such as a house or car.
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Have you wondered why microcredit, rather than donations, is part of the Paradigm Shift programme? It’s a good question.
When we encounter people with significant material needs, the desire to give to them seems to be the most generous and loving response. But handouts often do more harm than good, regardless of our best intentions. Economic development is a long-term process of empowering the materially poor to be better able to glorify God by working and supporting themselves and their families.
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This week Assist News Service published an article about Paradigm Shift entitled, “Paradigm Shift Extends God’s Family by Empowering Entrepreneurs.”
The article provides a comprehensive overview of the four key components (business training, microcredit, discipleship and mentoring) the Paradigm Shift program uses to connect business-minded members of local churches with microentrepreneurs in their communities.
Please forward the article to anyone you think might be interested in learning more about Paradigm Shift!
