Pentecostals push Entrepreneurism in Poorest Countries

I was drawn to this series about Pentecostal missionaries facing members of organized crime in Brazil; I read The Cross and the Switchblade as a teen and have always been impressed with what one man can and did do (it's the story of how Teen Challenge centers were started). Of course, religion is not the focus of this blog, nor do I ever want it to be. But when religion crosses with finance, the end result is interesting -- at least in this case.

Wealth gospel, long the territory of television evangelists and charlatans, has apparently moved to the slums with a surprisingly positive result. It sounds as if the movement is having a varying degree of success; critics point to a $33 million dollar mega-church in Guatemala that seats 12,000 and sports a heliport -- hard to justify in the middle of an impoverished region, after all. It's sort of like building a cathedral in the middle of a slum. But for those grassroots churches that are giving people seed money to start a business -- well, that seems more fiscally responsible. Or perhaps it would be better to simply say it sounds more fair. It's hard to say, but any program that encourages finance education is good by me.

The 'Gospel of Prosperity' helps Guatemalans help themselves out of poverty

Early Pentecostals reached out to the poor with the idea that poverty on earth would lead to riches in heaven. They gained a reputation for being concerned only with the "otherwordly." But the movement has unabashedly adopted a new ethos: God doesn't want anyone to be poor.

This message, known as "prosperity theology" or "health and wealth gospel," is most often associated with the newer Neo-Pentecostal branches of the religion where adherents, mostly upper and middle class, fill massive megachurches. But in Guatemala even the more traditional denominations are adopting a message of social mobility, making the words "self-improvement" and "ascent" part of the daily lexicon.

In churches like Showers of Grace, Pentecostals are told that poverty does not equal humility. They are offered business classes, taught how to save money, and encouraged to be community leaders.