Doing one thing well

At a meeting supporting the work of the microcredit organization Opportunity International, I was seated next to a friend who had worked as a top executive with a mainline denomination. After hearing about OI’s impressive array of programs, we noted that it was doing the kind of work that denominations have been doing for years.

But there’s one big and important difference, said my friend. OI can focus all its energy and resources on a single, well-defined mission, while denominations must focus on many different programs and priorities: global mission, church order and discipline, theology, education, leadership training, curriculum, publishing, and ecumenical relations. In the process, declining resources are spread thin. OI does one thing: development. And it does it well.

Last year 12 million people used an OI microloan or through OI established a savings account, purchased insurance, or received training to help break the cycle of poverty. More than $1 billion was loaned to entrepreneurs around the world—90 percent of them women. A food vendor in Colombia received training, updated her kitchen, and improved sales. She hired four neighbors, raising her sales further and making a positive impact on 20 people. That’s efficient development.