Nepal (MNN) — Nepal has been an up and down place for the work of FARMS International. However, there are several cases of micro-credit loans that have been very successful.
Success for FARMS is developing a business that eventually no longer needs their support. One man in Nepal who started his goat project with a FARMS loan has not needed another loan to supplement his business in the past three to four years.
Such successful businesses are what really help the local church grow. Every person who is in a FARMs project is required to tithe ten percent of their profit to the local church. Not only does this mean that the family is benefiting, but the entire church is on its way to becoming self-supporting as well. "There's been a lot of reports of some real positive things happening in that area as the churches are becoming self-supporting and really being a testimony to the other non-believers in that area," said Nathan McLaughlin with FARMS.
Churches mature just as believers mature. As they do so, they are more able to reach out to people around them. McLaughlin says this is happening with believers in Nepal on a limited scale–"not on the great scale we'd like, but there do remain some significant obstacles when it comes to the political and other types of turmoil that are there. But in small pockets of Nepal, we are seeing some pretty good success."
FARMS is interested in offering micro-credit programs to more countries like Nepal. "Throughout southeast Asia and even a few places within Africa, even reaching over into the Middle East. We have some opportunities that have presented themselves," said McLaughlin.
He encourages any person or church who knows missionaries in any of those areas to contact FARMS. "In order for a FARMS program to go into an area, we really need to have some discussions with other groups that are in the area that have a need to build some self-sufficiency for maybe the new churches that have been planted or organizations that are there. So, we need those partnerships."
Go here to learn more about a partnership with FARMS International.
