Christian Farmers Associations Strengthen Community and Generate Economic Growth in Zambia
I’m still in awe over what I saw in Zambia in January! In the rural villages where Bright Hope is working, people are coming to faith, churches are growing, and livelihoods are significantly improving.
This is happening through a beautiful collaboration of churches and Christian Farmer Associations. It starts when a network of churches forms in a village, and Bright Hope Zambia provides them with biblical courses on topics such as knowing God, leadership, discipleship, stewardship, and compassionate ministry. Committees then form to facilitate shared projects (like clinics, school buildings, community markets, and maternity wards) and compassionate ministry to the most vulnerable in the community. A key committee is the Christian Farmers Association (CFA). With Bright Hope’s help, CFA members are able to improve their soil, store and process their produce, and gain access to both credit and markets. They thereby increase their income by at least 30% per year, allowing them to keep their children enrolled in school, support church compassionate ministry through their tithes, and reinvest some of their profit for further growth.
Here's a Flow Chart showing how that works:
Through donations from people like you, Bright Hope is able to provide seed funding for the loans managed by the CFAs, as well as capital investment in equipment like feed mills that further increase the farmers’ profit and generate more local employment. Not only that, but 30% of the CFA’s profit goes back to the churches to fund their compassionate ministry initiatives! That’s a win-win if I ever saw one!
At present we are working with 20 churches in 3 rural villages with a combined population of approximately 20,000 people. We really want to see that expand over the next couple of years. To that end we are aiming to raise at least $54,600 in Canada this year. If you can help us reach that goal, here's a giving link:
And if you are interested in learning more about this program, please let me know! I can send you more detail in writing, make a presentation for a small group or church, or just share more over the phone. There is also a good chance that Bright Hope Zambia's Director, Mark Brubacher, will be visiting Canada later this year ... We'll keep you posted!