Pastors and savings groups

HOPE's savings and credit association (SCA) model in Rwanda partners through the local church. This provides a great institutional framework for training volunteers and mobilizing new savings groups. A danger to using the church, however, is that money is a root of all kinds of evil. Trustworthy reputation for a church (or for a microfinance institution) is vital.

So, for the savings programs to grow and be successful, we need pastors and ministry leaders to be excited and involved. For savings programs to not endanger reputations, we need pastors to keep out.

In Rwanda, the message has been clear throughout the trainings, don't handle your people's money. How have Rwandan pastors responded? Beautifully. They start their own groups.

In Kigali, Pastor Sam Mugisha has an SCA of 46 pastors, and pastors only. They are excited, involved, and they know the value of saving and how it works. In other dioceses, we have seen the same story again and again. Most pastors are in a group with other pastors, and they have passed the training on to their churches and communities. There are several good stories of the ways pastors use their own groups, and I know of one group of diocese employees that also includes the bishop (though he doesn't hold any leadership position within his group). Most pastors' groups have similar variations, but here is one example:

The 3rd Sunday of every month, 5 pastors from nearby parishes gather together in one of their parish churches, which rotates each month. A visiting pastor will preach that week. After service, the 5 gather and each save 3,000 RWF ($5.45 USD) of which 2,000 is given to the host parish pastor, and 1,000 is put into an accumulating account. Their accumulating account has grown to 30,000 ($54.55). The rotating fund typically goes to something for hosting like utensils, plates, cups … but sometimes the rotating fund goes to community projects in the parish, like new roofing for the church. When church members see visiting pastors use their own money to fix the roof, they feel it would be good to contribute, too. The pastors not only set a good example by their fellowship and savings, but also by their giving in the community. This particular group of pastors takes their monthly visits a step further toward helping the community, they dig coffee holes. 60 cm deep, 40 holes per pastor, they prepare fields for coffee plants that are purposed solely for the community to benefit.

In different pastors' groups, the stories are similar. Often the pastors are empowered to care for community members better than they otherwise could. One pastor was robbed, and with an internal loan from his group he was able to restore his household quickly and pay it off slowly, and when students came by for help with school fees, he was prepared to help. Even after an emergency like being robbed, a pastor on a pastor's salary was able to restore his house and help students with extra money, too. That is a strong statement to the parish.

Supporting the church

HOPE's savings program in Rwanda is partnered through the local church. Church leadership has decided that poverty is not a good condition for the human soul, and so their churches are involved in various development endeavors to strengthen the local community, Christians and non-Christians.

Hopefully, our savings programs also support the church and its ministry. Well, we see that happening in hundreds of ways through the stories of these savings groups, but here is one story that does more than support its local church.

In Shyogwe diocese, a group of about 11 households have been meeting together and saving together. They were trained by a pastor who was trained by HOPE. The pastor set up the group, taught them the foundations and principles, help them set guidelines, monitored their progress. The group traveled long distances to attend church and they consistently met and saved.

Over time, the group decided they would not travel long distances to come to church anymore.

Instead, they took a portion of their savings and rented a house for 5 months. Everyday … full time. They plan to buy the house. The house is where they meet, where they save, where they discuss common concerns. The house is also where they gather on Sundays. They have asked the parish priest to provide a catechist who will lead their "home" church. Not only has this group of households decided that they no longer accept poverty, but they have also decided that they will be responsible for shaping their own community - even starting their own local church. That's one way to support the local church.

(As a side note, successful savings groups in the area are drawing many Christians and non-Christians who want to join these church-based cell groups that are "doing savings.")

Bob Lupton Reading List

Bob Lupton is an Atlantan, introduced to me by Angie Allen. When I was at CCF we worked with his organization, FCS Urban Ministries. Bob also happens to be a great writer of gritty substance when it comes to the mission of the church. Theirs is the Kingdom is one of my earliest reads on theology, a collection of stories that leave you to resolve within yourself. Here is Lupton's list:

Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor (2007)

Renewing the City: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal (2005)

Return Flight: Community Development through Reneighboring Our Cities (1997)

Theirs is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America (1989)

A friend once taught me that the goal of ministry is to comfort the uncomfortable, but also to discomfort the comfortable. A 2008 Lupton article is particularly discomforting for the international missionary, his comments are bold, and you'll not want to read it unless willing to be humble and challenged. As a disclaimer, the intensity of Lupton's argument does not reflect the cooperative attitude and optimistic spirit of my organization or me personally, but his admonitions serve as a warning of the unintended consequences of benevolent intentions.

Church in Kigali

St. Etienne Cathedral
And the Prince of Peace Choir

Our first Sunday, I think we’ve found our new church home. English service starts at 8:30 am, Kinyarwanda service follows afterwards.
This week Pastor Sam Mugisha preached and Pastor Adriaan Verwijs read scriptures and made announcements. They began with some of our favorite contemporary worship songs – Blessed Be Your Name – along with the very lively and young Prince of Peace Choir.
Our friend Diana sings, and I love this guy Eddie who sings and plays the keys (I have another favorite Eddie that played keyboard at Tech, so I like new Eddie all the more). This choir and band is very talented – apparently they travel and do appearances that pay, which makes it possible for them to travel and perform at orphanages and other pro bono concerts.
Between worship songs, Adriaan read scripture as the band played softly, and the scripture connected the meaning of the previous song with that of the next, and it was all rather beautiful. Formal scripture was read from the lectern after the contemporary music and then we sang some hymns.
I think Adriaan and Sam will be friends. Adriaan and his wife Lisette took us to an expatriate Bible study that afternoon, and just yesterday evening Sam dropped by our porch to visit and welcome us again. Sam invited us over to his home with his wife Jackie and 3-year-old Iris.
Sam is 38, Rwandan, and along with marrying about 3 couples a weekend plus funerals and baptisms, he is excited about another degree in business administration. Sam hopes to expand his ministry into something more, something that engages people outside of church walls and enters into a public context: education related, young people, professional people, microfinance maybe.
Adriaan is Dutch, and he and Lisette have served the Anglican Church in Columbia and the last 4 years here in Rwanda (and also in Holland). Adriaan speaks Kinyarwanda very well. They have two boys in school at the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, and one boy in university in Holland.

One church we look forward to visiting:

Congregation of the Blessed Mango Tree
And the God Help Us Choir
Reverend Nathan Amoti, Administrator for the Kigali Diocese and a very funny man, asked the Archbishop – who is also Bishop of Kigali – for permission to start a new church. Nathan wanted a new church building. His grace, the Archbishop, was more than happy to endorse a new church, but why start with a mortgage. His grace recommended beginning the new church under a mango tree. Rev. Nathan actually liked that suggestion, so that’s what he did. I’m not sure how good the God Help Us Choir is, but I think they have their theology right.