Partnership Overview

Since 2017 BHW has been supporting a partnership in Southeast Asia (IDN01) which has grown significantly. One of the people associated with this partnership began a separate ministry to poor women. This began as a Bible study and has grown exponentially into a separate movement. The women have specific needs as the majority of them are abused or abandoned and require extra understanding, support and encouragement. 

Many women in this network are coming to faith and as the work developed, the needs of the women became very obvious, and the leaders began to assist them with small business loans. However, the number of women coming into the movement has overwhelmed the capacity of the leaders to support them although they want to do this as they are constantly involved in the lives of these women. 

This project is the establishment and boosting of a small business loan project to empower women and help them support their families.  

History of Partnership

This loan programme is something that just happened. The story here began a few years ago, just before COVID. Karen wasn't involved in our initial partnership here as she was learning the language but was reading their literature and hearing a lot about it, and wondered how she could get involved as an outsider in the culture. She talked to a few people and one of the older American leaders suggested she talk to their office cleaner as she seemed to have a lot of contacts. Karen showed them how to start a discovery Bible study and quickly there were five little groups formed. Then COVID came and it still continued to grow and grow. They organised some help for the women in the groups as they were very vulnerable and that brought more into the group. 

Long story short, the number of groups has continued to grow until the present (2024) where there are over 3,500 people now in groups. These are pretty much all women, but they are now starting to impact men as well. The women that join are largely women in great poverty, abused and downtrodden and require a lot of support. 

The leader of our initial partnership suggested that BHW's New Partnership Facilitator meet with Karen as he was aware of the issues they were encountering with many needy people. He did this in 2023 and spent some time working on this new opportunity. He had also previously met Karen and Dana on an earlier visit when Dana interpreted for him at a conference.  

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the women of the Rebekah Project who want to obtain a loan to start a small-scale business to support themselves, their families and the ministry.  

What We Like About The Partnership

This has grown out of an existing partnership that is operating really well.
This is led by people with extensive experience.
It has been going for several years so many of the issues have been identified and dealt with already.
This supports an effective model of evangelism and church planting.
We love that this is something that God did, it was not planned. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Karen and Dana 
Karen is the main contact and the mentor to this movement. Dana supports Karen. This is something that just happened and was unexpected, so they have both become involved in it.  

They are both in their second marriage having had their first spouses die. Karen was a missionary in Central Asia with her first husband and speaks that language fluently. Karen and Dana have been married for 8 years and Karen moved to Indonesia to join Dana who is a career servant of the Lord in Indonesia. They are both fluent in Bahasa Indonesia. 

Other People Involved

We are unable to put any other names here. However, there are six regional leaders who show great promise for long-term leadership in addition to six assistants and local leadership teams over each neighbourhood.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Vision 

To empower women who are economically needy to provide resources for their families. 

Strategy

The project has three levels of loans:

1) Seedling loans: To provide organic seedlings to women to grow on the porch of their home or in their yard and teach them how to extract the seed and plant new plants. They in turn provide seeds to others in their area, and the repeated contact gives them opportunity to share the gospel. Meanwhile, their families are helped economically (not having to buy these vegetables and spices), and also nutritionally, as types of vegetables and spices are chosen because of their immune-boosting properties. They have done one experiment with this in the past but would like to expand it to many new areas. In this case, they do not pay back cash, but rotate the loan by sharing seedlings with their neighbours.

2) Micro-loans: These are cash loans of 1 million rupiah (approx. US$62) to start a small business. Recipients of these loans receive training in money management, both personal and business finance principles, and biblical principles related to money. They join a monthly group in their area of all micro and macro loan recipients where they share ideas, support one another, and pray for one another. As they pay back their loan in instalments, new recipients are added to the group.

3) Macro-loans: These are cash loans of 3 million rupiah (approx. US$186) given to selected people who meet several criteria: 1) they are previous recipients of micro-loans, 2) they have shown diligence in building their business to the point of being able to hire 1-2 other people to work for them, providing income for non-entrepreneurs, and 3) they show potential and have the vision to use their business to advance the ministry in their community or beyond. Priority is given to those already in spiritual leadership. They also participate and often lead the monthly micro/macro group in their area.  

Recently, a men's ministry has begun with the help of a mentor with movement experience. The first group of men put in a proposal for a larger amount of capital, but with a clear plan to see that amount circulate among 15 families over three to five years. All 15 men have signed their commitment to this. These men have already been meeting, have formed a cooperative and have been given a loan to start a duck egg producing business as a pilot project. From this project, they hope to start men's loan groups in three other areas.  

There is also a new area initiative they want to commence. Many of the women have relatives in other areas, outlying villages, or other cities. Starting in a new area takes financial investment for travel, for the first month of meetings, and for initial materials. 

Annual Budget

The budget in the first year would be used in the following ways:

1) Investing in 220 seedling loans
2) Investing in 42 micro-loans
3) Investing in men's group macro-loans in two regions
4) Business training for all of the above
5) Investing in opening four new regions. This includes transport, initial meetings, and materials

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

Y has a physical disability that makes her feel inferior, but she learned from one of the Love Team named Mrs SP. She started learning with "Glorious Family" material, then started a business and became an example to others with stroke disabilities. She became more confident and started helping neighbours. Her husband is also involved in her business.

Mrs N was bankrupt, had huge debts, and was enslaved by another woman. One of the Rebekah team leaders, through her catering business, helped this woman. Now Mrs N is being helped with a macro-loan to open a small food stall business. Because of the help, she is now debt free and feels her life is being changed. She is also taking part in being a leader of groups, accepting other jobs in the snack business and even being able to help others. Her ministry has also grown with many new members. In addition, Mrs N is also active in helping others who are hungry or in trouble.

Mrs SK owns a small stall business and sells food and drink. She does this together with her husband. In her business she has many young customers including young men because they often pass by her stall. Mrs SK provides material in front of her stall and because of that there is a change in the lives of people who used to get drunk, now they choose to drink ginger water (traditional drink). In addition, her own husband also feels more peaceful and even had the opportunity to start a men's group. 

Mrs D is one of the group leaders, helped by her husband. Other members help make her business better by buying eggs from her. Mrs D is the neighbourhood leader with 40 groups in her area and is starting a new ministry area. Through her ministry people's faith in Jesus grew. In addition, her son who moved away also began to participate in the ministry where he lives and has potential for men's ministry.