“FARM’s basic and fundamental goal is to strengthen the global church, and we want to do that by focusing on our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in, you know, places of physical poverty,” explains Scott Clifton.

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

FARMS works through local churches to provide loans, technical support for income generating projects, and spiritual training for families. Loans are repaid to a revolving fund, and recipients agree to tithe to their local church. However, there are three criteria that need to be met in order for an organization to qualify for a loan:

• Global church—There must be a spiritual emphasis and biblical principles, acknowledging individuals’ roles as a stewards, not owners, and upholding the value of a local community that is seeking God together.
• Local ownership—The project must be sustainable and genuinely desired by the local leaders and participants. It is their program; FARMS is just helping them to create it.
• Livelihood development—The project must include humanitarian elements.

“We can see, if we remove any one of them, how that has the potential to negatively impact our ultimate goal,” says Clifton. “If we took out the church and we had a great organization focused on local ownership and really helping people develop their livelihoods, then that could be great in a lot of ways, but we have to wrestle with, you know, what does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul? So then you think about if there isn’t local ownership, we have to be really careful, because we might be contributing to harmful dependency, which is actually going to increase the need later on. And the third thing, if you take livelihood development out of the picture, we have to wrestle with the words of James, and he says faith without works is dead. What good does it do to pray for someone without taking any sort of action to help them, you know, overcome their physical barriers that they’re experiencing? So when those three things intersect, that’s really where FARMS sees ourself participating in the context of development and ministry around the world.”

This can mean saying no to organizations, like it did for an opportunity FARMS was pursuing in Honduras.

“We had an initial trip last November, and we went in with some ideas. When we highlight local ownership, the idea is that we’re not forcing a solution, but it’s actually desired by people who are there, and it fits within livelihood development as well,” describes Clifton. “So when we went there, we had an idea of ‘We’re going to start a loan program for a group of farmers.’ But then we gathered farmers around and we listened—we just asked some basic questions and got some answers, and realized that if we were to start a revolving loan program, they were not ready for it. We would have been setting them up for failure, because they wouldn’t have ever been able to repay those loans. Yet it would have been really hard to say no to, you know, a source of funds. And so we realized that it wasn’t the right time for that, but we could do an agricultural training where we could introduce them to some methods, like farming God’s way.”

Joe & Pat Richter with one of the FARMS project holders in Thailand. (Photo, caption courtesy of FARMS International)

FARMS partnered with Equipping Farmers International to conduct the training this month. FARMS is also developing a new program in Southeast Asia, based around a program they’ve seen success with in Thailand.

“This program in Thailand has been going for about 30 years, and they’ve been asking the last year to start another one in this neighboring country, and so we have the opportunity to do that. We’re actually doing that as a matching fund, where we provide some of the funds, and that program in Thailand is also going to provide some of the funds.”

Meanwhile, they’ve hired a regional coordinator based out of Zambia, with experience in agricultural and small business training, to help FARMS expand their work in Sub-Saharan Africa. They also have relationships and programs in the Caribbean, throughout central-eastern Africa, in the Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka, among other countries.

You can support FARM’s mission by partnering with them financially. Go to farmsinternational.com to learn more.

Header photo courtesy of FARMS International.

Scott Clifton of FARMS International says impoverished businesspeople have three options to obtain seed money. The first is to build savings. 

“That’s certainly a good option, but in many cases it would take a decade or two decades to be able to save enough to start a business,” Clifton says. 

In the absence of savings, loans are in order. The logical source for them is banks. 

“Which aren’t an option,” Clifton says, “because if you’re poor you don’t have collateral. You don’t have anything that the bank can sign off against in case the business doesn’t succeed.” 

As a result, many poor people turn to loan sharks, who burden their clients with extortionary interest rates ranging from 60 to 300 percent annual interest. 

“And so it’s just impossible to get out of poverty when you’re in that type of situation,” Clifton says. 

That’s where partnership with a microfinance institution can play a key role. Through financial trainings, zero-interest loans, and savings initiatives, believers are offered a chance to help their families thrive. Beyond practical assistance, FARMS offers its clients a commitment to operate from Biblical principles. 

“We think it’s very important to focus on personal dignity: that someone is empowered, that we’re not replacing the efforts that they should be giving, that we’re not robbing them of their rights to put to use their God-given skills, gifts, and abilities.” 

Courtesy of Pixabay

The team at FARMS works exclusively with believers, basing their decision on Galatians 6:10, which encourages goodwill toward everyone but especially those in the household of faith. 

“If we have family members who are struggling, we should try to help them, and we really believe that these are our family members: our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Clifton says. 

Working among believers produces a secondary impact into the community, he says. As Christian businesspeople are shown love through the work of FARMS, they engage their neighbors with the same Biblical perspective. 

 “As they’ve been helped, they’ll turn around and help others, and we’ve seen that time and time again,” Clifton says. 

Principles like stewardship, tithing, and money management are incorporated into the work of FARMS. In some of the areas where this ministry works, believers are persecuted and even martyred for their faith. While the suffering is hard to endure, Clifton says it’s also inspiring to see such faith and passion in the hearts of fellow Christians. 

“And that’s something that I find very humbling to work alongside,” he says. 

Please pray for the work of FARMS International and similar microfinance organizations. Pray that Christian businesspeople would be helped practically and spiritually and that they would use their resources to bless those around them.

Featured image courtesy of Pexels via Pixabay

But the pushback from India against this designation has been swift and sharp. A spokesperson for the nation’s Ministry of External Affairs referred to the report as “propaganda,” and called USCIRF “a biased organization with a political agenda.” 

So what is going on? Tim Landis with FARMS International says there has been a “ramping up of new anti-conversion laws.” 

India’s population is nearly 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim and 2% Christian. (Source: CIA Factbook) Photo courtesy of Ron Hansen/Unsplash.

Twelve states in India criminalize changing your religion, under certain circumstances. There are also concerns that India’s current government will make all of India a nationalist Hindu state. We’ll see who is in office after the general election results come in June. (More on the ongoing election here.)

For now, incidents of mob violence against Christians are on the rise, and FARMS is feeling it. One of their local partners had to move his family due to threats in their home area. 

“Church, believers, and families were persecuted, false accusations of saying that the businesses were giving people loans and beneficiaries loans to convert to Christianity, which is not the truth. It’s not even how FARMS operates,” Landis says. 

FARMS offers interest-free loans to Christians to help them work their way out of poverty. It doesn’t touch on conversion. Until recently, their work in India has not been under much threat.

“[Our partner] has had very good connections within the government, but that is starting to deteriorate, as the government kind of keeps pressing on these [anti-conversion] laws,” Landis says. 

Pray against the fear Christians are facing of losing their crops, livelihoods or lives to community attacks spurred on by anti-conversion laws.

Learn more here about how you can come alongside Christians around the world with FARMS International.

Header image is a representative stock photo of India courtesy of Akshat Vats/Unsplash.

Even though the pastor had some gardening access to grow food for his family, Tim Landis with FARMS International says, “They were living hand-to-mouth. Basically, they were growing and then just feeding themselves with what they are growing.”

Then everything changed when the pastor connected with FARMS and was approved for their small entrepreneurial loans program.

“He was able to start this rice mill in his village and able to support himself, his family, and the local village and the church,” Landis says.

“It extends out to all of that, and the end goal is to help them with their physical needs so then they can continue to preach the Gospel and teach in their local churches.”

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

In this area of South Asia, many pastors have to be bi-vocational and work one or more jobs in addition to shepherding a church. A jumpstart into entrepreneurship was just what this pastor needed to not only find financial stability but be a tangible blessing to the very community he is reaching for Christ.

These loans for small businesses to generate additional income are also life-giving when these pastors face persecution and discouragement in ministry.

Landis says, “In these places, when we see baptisms taking place [and] new believers, these pastors aren’t working in vain and they’re not dedicated in vain. Even in these hard circumstances and difficulties where they’re suffering persecution, they are still able to preach the Gospel and people are coming to Christ.”

You can come alongside FARMS’ ministry and help other pastors start their own agricultural businesses through small entrepreneurship loans!

“FARMS has a great need to get more loans out there,” Landis says. “We already have some that are in progress and that we would love to start. But, like any ministry, FARMS has financial needs as well. So that is one area where you can be praying and thinking about supporting FARMS in that way.”

Click here to visit the FARMS website.

Header photo courtesy of Sandy Ravaloniaina/Unsplash.

*Country not specified for security.

Communications Director Tim Landis says the new FARMS program in Kenya started through social media. “God worked it out through connections and conversations on Facebook; it all happened very quickly,” Landis says.

“It’s one of those things where you’d step back and [say], ‘God doing is this because if it were up to our human hands, it would not have happened this way.’”

Watch a video about the new program here.

After communicating online and flying to Kenya for in-person meetings, FARMS began work alongside a local church and five loan recipients. “Back in November, we made a trip to Kenya to meet with them, train them, help them develop business plans,” Landis says.

“[Today,] we’re getting these messages back from them to show us ‘hey, we’re already up and going, we’re ready to go.’”

Some loan recipients grow produce or raise livestock, while others own small stores. “A couple of [recipients] lost their businesses due to due to COVID… God, at just the right time, has come in using FARMS to [revive] the businesses,” Landis says.

See testimonies from the field here.

Pastor Wycliffe, a strong advocate of FARMS’ approach, “started a business of growing maize and beans, and he has a couple of fields [now],” Landis says.

“His dream is to make enough money to start a hardware shop.”

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

FARMS International combines Christian stewardship with interest-free loans to help believers work out of poverty and give to the local church. Volunteers from the local church form a committee and serve as overseers of the FARMS program.

“We want them (participants) to grow spiritually, to be well-discipled, well-trained in godly business practices. Some of their earnings from their businesses go as tithe into the local church, building that up,” Landis explains.

“It’s essential that the local church is a part of FARMS programs as much as individuals.”

Support FARMS here to help grow God’s Kingdom in East Africa.

“Part of their (local believers) dream is to expand FARMS in Africa, to go to different places throughout the continent. So if God’s placed it on your heart to give to FARMS to start up new loan programs in various places, that would be great,” Landis says.

Header and story images courtesy of FARMS International.

(Photo courtesy of Joey Pilgrim via Unsplash)

FARMS’ interest-free loans create a dependency-free way for families to establish agriculture and small businesses, breaking the cycle of poverty. The pandemic was especially hard on impoverished people and day laborers around the world, making these programs more important than ever. Through the difficulty, Scott Clifton says the churches FARMS partners with have stepped up.

“Churches have really come together. People have given their own resources to help their neighbors. Churches have coordinated with other churches to band together and help in light of natural disasters. In the Philippines, there was a big typhoon, and one person used a T-shirt print shop and sold T-shirts as a fundraiser to raise money [for] typhoon victims,” he says.

“A farmer gave milk from his cows to his neighbors so they would have some food and his church that put together relief packets for people. These are just a few examples, but we’re hoping many people would come to know the Lord through [all of] this.”

Another blessing amid the hardship of 2020 is how FARMS’ model meant the ministry could continue operating even without travel.

“The pandemic has really reinforced some of our principles. One of those principles is every program is overseen by a local committee. This local committee is comprised of volunteers who give their time to review business plans, to check in on people who have received loans for their business or for agriculture, and so on. They oversee the day to day operations of the program,” Clifton explains.

“We train that committee, and we provide funding to that committee. Although it’s very useful for us to travel, the program still goes on without us being there.”

Helping the Hurting

With these blessings in mind, Clifton hopes the pandemic will improve throughout the year, allowing farms to move forward with plans they have for growth in 2021. FARMS currently has 17 programs in nine countries, and they hope to add four more programs this year.

“These programs represent growth in that they’re another program, but they’re also programs that could potentially grow a lot within themselves. There’s a lot of excitement over partnering with the church this way because the pandemic has had such an impact and increasing poverty. There really is more opportunity to come alongside the church to help people to create a sustainable income source,” Clifton says.

As FARMS begins pursuing these programs, Clifton asks for prayer.

(Photo courtesy of Adrien Taylor via Unsplash)

“We want God’s wisdom. We don’t believe that growth for the sake of growth is a good thing. We believe that’s where God is pointing us, so [please pray] God gives us wisdom and everything that we pursue.”

To learn more about FARMS and how you can support their ministry, visit their website here.

Header image courtesy of Heather Suggitt via Unsplash

For years FARMS International has helped Christians grow small businesses into sustainable sources of income through microcredit loans. In turn these businesses support their communities and the local church. But as with many small businesses this year, some FARMS programs have faced challenges with the pandemic.

Recipients of FARMS loans are able to share with others in need. (Photo Courtesy of FARMS International)

However, FARMS continues to support and train small business owners from afar and through the local church. And against all odds some programs continue to grow. For instance, rural agricultural and livestock businesses generally are doing well. A few have seen the price of their goods drop as economies struggle to keep up with the pandemic, but overall their products are still in demand.

However, programs that depend on face-to-face consumers are struggling, and have been for months.

Difficult Days

Scott Clifton, Executive Director with FARMS International says, “Even as restrictions lift in some places, there’s still this fear that we might be hiring the person who’s going to bring COVID to our family, and that type of thing. And because of that fear, it’s really difficult for day laborers still.”

FARMS entrepreneurs who work in cities  are finding it especially challenging to keep their businesses afloat. If they own a bicycle taxi for instance, they are having a hard time finding customers. Fewer people are traveling or are willing to be in close contact with someone else. Clifton says that the same holds for other day laborers like carpenters or people who do housework.

(Photo Courtesy of FARMS International)

“People in these positions are kind of on the fringes, not always having a secure source of income, and all the things that follow: food and education, those types of things,” Clifton says. “And so, when it’s difficult even under normal circumstances, you can imagine the stress that’s added to life wondering if you’ll be able to find work that day or not.”

The teams at FARMS continue to support, encourage, and work with their entrepreneurs with day laboring businesses. The goal is still that they will be able to find work.

FARMS also sees the opportunity to bless additional entrepreneurs as unemployment rises in some areas. God willing they can come alongside additional people as they face difficult situations and help them find a sustainable way forward.

Supporting the Church

For many in the West, the challenges of a day laborer are foreign. Pandemic life is becoming fairly normal. Routines are set and followed. Yet, for many Christian brothers and sisters around the world survival is a daily challenge.

Clifton encourages the Church to stay alert and in prayer. “For one, I think if we’re just mindful that this is still having a big impact around the world. Two is to be praying for all the people who are in these tough situations, praying that God shows us how we plug in. And then three, you’re exactly right, the ministry of FARMS goes on. We’re very passionate about addressing the source of the issues by giving people opportunities for their own income.”

Pray that God would bless current FARMS loans recipients and also give FARMS leadership wisdom as they invest in new programs.

Learn more about FARMS and how you can support them here.

(Header Photo Courtesy of FARMS International)

FARMS International strengthens the local Church by helping Christians achieve sustainable business goals to leave poverty and live more freely.

Rejecting Shame and Poverty

South East Asian values differ greatly from those of Western cultures. People operate in terms of community honor and shame rather than individual achievement.

Scott Clifton with FARMS International says that failing to provide for your family, for instance, implies much more than the physical lack of shelter or food. It brings dishonor on the head of the home.

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

This shame combined with the day-to-day realities of poverty can be overwhelming. FARMS desires to empower the Church to focus on the Gospel by supporting individuals with sustainable business goals.

Clifton stresses that their goal isn’t to just “help” people stop feeling the effects of poverty, but to provide a lasting way for them to move forward.

“As a ministry we want to assist efforts that are going on. We want to strengthen the Church, but we want the ownership to lie with the people who are impacted. And so that’s coming from people themselves who run the program and who are part of the churches.”

A Different Type of Loan Program

Practically, FARMS operates through a model that combines Christian stewardship with interest-free loans. The loans are used for business goals that individuals are already pursuing. They can and are applied toward a variety of industries, from fisheries to wood-working businesses.

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

Clifton says “We operate through revolving loans. And so that means that it’s a loan that must be paid back. We operate among believers. Believers agree to give offerings out of their profits and that’s really the core principles.”

The model is simple, leaving plenty of room for cultural interpretation. In places like South East Asia, it helps preserve the honor of those receiving the loans. It’s not just charity, but a way for FARMS to Biblically assist the Church while empowering them to take ownership in their families and communities.f

Clifton explains that just as not being able to provide for a family can bring shame, using a FARMS loan to move out of poverty can transform a person’s mindset.

“To say that I moved from not only just struggling to provide for myself and our family, but now we have excess and I can give and I take part in the ministry of the Church in a new way. I impact the community around me. That’s a huge transformation at a personal level for people in that culture. So that’s what I’d say [is important] within the honor/shame culture.”

Get Involved

Clifton says he is encouraged that many ministries are moving toward a more sustainable model of ministry and spreading the Gospel. Sharing Jesus is critical, but helping disciple and support local believers in a way that allows them to take ownership of their local churches is also vital.

FARMS has programs in many areas of South East Asia and around the world. Join their team today and help Christian brothers and sisters step out of the struggle and shame of poverty to focus on local ministry. Learn more here.

Header Photo Courtesy of FARMS International

For 20 years FARMS International has operated two separate loan programs in Haiti. Surviving hurricanes, earthquake, and sickness, these locally-run programs seek to strengthen communities by offering business loans through local churches. Projects typically revolve around agriculture and livestock, says FARMS Executive Director Scott Clifton.

One program issues 35 loans a year while another had issued more than 300 before natural disaster setbacks. They’re working back up again, and 60-65 families are currently loan recipients.

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International).

Among the recipients are many large families with 7-10 kids. Widows with FARMS loans have been able to create livelihoods for themselves and their families.

Haitian loan participants often buy goats and pigs. With the additional money or livestock they are able to pay back the loan, allowing money to go out again.

Those extra livestock are a form of security for many families.

“If they have goats and they need an emergency expense… then they’ll sell one of the goats and they’ll have that money available,” Clifton says.

The earnings also go back into the community through church offerings, adding an extra layer of support. Learn more about FARMS here.

Relief vs. Development

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International).

There is an important place for relief, but that’s not where FARMS does its best work. In cases of disaster and war, fast externally sourced relief can be life-saving. FARMS does its best work by addressing the long term.

“Haiti really is a place with a lot of need and a lot of poverty. It’s a difficult situation to work in, because the need is so evident, yet at the same time there’s so many people trying to help. There’s more NGOs per capita than any other nation and so there can be a real problem of dependency as well,” Clifton says.

The FARMS approach focuses on local development and dignity.

“They’re joining the purpose that God has for their life by using the gifts and talents that God has given them. And when people have that… dignity, participating in the kingdom in that way, that can be really transformative,” he says.

Haiti’s Unique Training Program

FARMS loan programs are each run by a local board of directors who receive training in business and on what to look for in a loan. The Haitian directors decided to go a step beyond and provide general and technical training for all loan recipients, Clifton says.

Pastor Renaud, one of the Haiti program directors, describes the process as ‘like training a toddler to walk.’

First they stand, then they take their first steps, and soon they’re running around having completed their business development.

Pastor Renaud and the other Haitian FARMS leaders have made development even easier for program participants.

“It was something that they developed because they saw the need, and when they developed it, they saw it meet that need. And so they continued with it. And that’s a great model to follow,” Clifton says.

He thinks the Haitian Loan Program’s training may be helpful in other locations.

How Can I Pray?

Pray for the residents of Haiti and other FARMS locations around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases have now reached Haiti, but social distancing is often not possible due to close quarters and an inability to stop working.

“It’s just a very difficult situation if diseases start to spread rapidly.”

Pray for the success of FARMS programs and local loan recipients. Ask that successes now would create a domino effect for future generations and communities.

Consider donating to help support initial loan investments in places like Haiti.

Header photo courtesy of Tim Trad via Unsplash.

New Beginnings From Chance Meeting

It all began when Bill Wingenroth met former FARMS International Executive Director Joe Richter in a chance encounter at a missions conference. At the time, Wingenroth was working with a different organization and had been ministering in Cuba for several years. Outreach already included teaching, training pastors, and growing churches, but Wingenroth wanted to do more to improve the lives of believers and was encountering roadblocks.

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International via Facebook)

“We felt overwhelmed with what we saw, how poor the people were and how they were totally dependent on government rations,” Wingenroth says.

Purchases were limited, government programs had failed, and many were without work, Wingenroth says. (Learn more about Cuba’s current economic challenges here.) The will was there but the inability to get bank loans stood as a major hurdle to Cubans trying to improve their lives.

“They just needed some support, to be able to make some investment to start their own business,” Wingenroth says.

By providing interest-free loans through churches, FARMS International gave potential business owners exactly the opportunity they needed. Wingenroth, now a FARMS Board Member himself, considers the encounter almost a miracle.

Loans bring growth for the Cuban People

The effect of FARMS International’s involvement is already visible and Wingenroth is thrilled with the impact. The loans provided through FARMS have helped feed and support families, businesses, and churches alike.

“We started business after business after business. It’s been a very successful program in Cuba. FARMS International has just been an answer to my prayer, for the Cuban people to be able to take pride and be able to build up their church, and also be able to provide jobs for people within the church.”

Churches have grown and congregations have multiplied thanks to funds from FARMS programs, Wingenroth says. The impact continues to spread.

Impact of Local Church

In the province of Artemisa, a loan of several thousand dollars has already changed lives. With FARMS funds, a small house church rented 26 acres of land and hired 6-8 residents to work the plot. Half the crops were sold to pay back the initial loan and provide a profit, but the other half is being used in the church to feed the elderly who may only have a retirement of $10 a month, Wingenroth says.

“They’re feeding two meals a day for about 75 people in this little church.”

The elderly receive one noon meal and, after a worship service, go home with a supper.

“When I saw that I just had to cry because I thought, oh my gosh, how the Lord has blessed this program,” Wingenroth says.

(Photo provided courtesy of FARMS International via Facebook)

Through the FARMS loans programs, close to $60,000 has been invested in Cuba. But more generosity is needed to continue to improve the lives of communities and believers. Currently, there are more programs than there is funding to support them. FARMS international is not just servin in Cuba; they’re present all over the world including in Moldova, Ecuador, and the Philippines.

What’s next?

Will you join FARMS International in providing empowerment opportunities? Help communities in Cuba and around the world through a one time or recurring donation.

Wingenroth also asks for prayers. Pray for the success of the loan programs to build churches and communities to their full potential. Pray for the committees that oversee the loan programs and guidance in their decision making. Also, pray for wisdom among training leaders as they work to overcome the hurdle of teaching small business.

Header photo courtesy of Chandler Cruttenden via Unsplash.