Photo via mnnonline.org

Ten years ago, refugees were making their way into Northeastern Thailand, reports MNN.

Joseph Richter with FARMS International says they were tribal groups, and poverty was preventing them from thriving. "Many of them relocated from Vietnam and Laos because of the war. They were very disadvantaged, living in Hill Tribe areas and small villages, needing this type of help."

FARMS launched a micro-enterprise project in the area. The region, as a whole, represents 450 projects among the Hmong and Mien tribes. A loan would be given to a vetted recipient, who would also be a member of the local Church. The idea is that once he starts seeing profit come in from his project, he tithes from that.

Another distinctive of FARMS is at that their loans are interest-free. Most micro loan programs charge high interest averaging 36% or more. Attempts to shake poverty are encumbered by the interest rates.

Richter explains that their outreach runs their programs with volunteer loan committees, which eliminates the need for profit from the people they would be serving. "So, it became good example of our overall type of program."

"We were able to document their original economic situation, which was pretty dire. I think the median income of the people we were working with was $750 a year," Richter notes.

How would micro-enterprise change the region? FARMS sent a team to conduct an extensive field survey of nearly 80 percent of the families in their project areas. The results were stunning. What they saw was an average project return of about 186% on investment. "Their housing had improved, and their children's education had improved. We also saw maybe 20 percent said they started new business. Over 10 percent said they purchased new land."

Nearly all of the project participants had repaid their initial loans. Are those numbers true? Because FARMS does not use "solidarity groups," they don't force people to guarantee each others' loans.

Richter notes, "The Bible calls this surety, and it can and does cause tremendous shame and destroys relationships. It may guarantee high repayment, but it also puts a burden on others in the group to bear the burden of the defaulter."

As a result, the local church can support itself. "We've seen over 100 percent of the people tithe, which is the cornerstone of our project. And almost 100% said they had grown in faith. The same percentage said that their churches had benefited."

God has been moving in the area. "We've seen such faithfulness, that we're going to expand the area. [We'll] also expand the size of the loans that people can receive," which further enables support to the church leader, freeing him to take the Gospel into more places.