Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Hebrews 10:23-24

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We love to celebrate stories of self-reliant people who pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Hardworking men and women who grow up with nothing but somehow find a way to build a successful business and live a prosperous life. This is the American dream. 

However, is this dream possible for most people living in extreme poverty? Is going it alone the best way forward when you are trying to survive on less than $2 per day? For families living in these circumstances, every day is filled with exceedingly difficult decisions, such as, “Which of my children should I send to school? Which child needs to stay home and help our family business stay afloat?” Or, “Should I buy groceries for dinner this week or inventory for my store?” Or, “Should I buy medicine for my sick husband, or pay the rent we owe to our landlord?” 

How do you pull yourself up by your boot straps when you feel trapped, and you can’t meet your own basic needs? The pathway out of a life of desperation is not easy to walk alone. The loving community of a local church and having people with you in the fight is what often makes the difference between staying trapped and finding hope and a future. 

For more than 10 years, Willow Creek and HOPE International have been partnering together in Chitipa, Malawi with a network of over 300 churches to train small groups to take care of and support one another. Just like the early church, these groups meet together weekly in one another’s homes to pray, read the Bible, worship together, save money together and invest in one another’s businesses so that everyone can succeed. Success is achieved by communities working together, not everyone working on their own. 

No longer trapped by impossible choices, God is doing a miracle through His Church in Chitipa, Malawi, to empower the people to spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Our church is filled with thousands of people just like those in Malawi. We may not be living in the same extreme material poverty, but we need Christ-centered community just as badly, perhaps even more. Would you be willing to take a risk in this season and invest in our church community? 

Next Steps

• Do you have family, friends or neighbors that you could take a risk on and invest in their lives? 
• Who in our Willow community are you meeting with regularly to pray with, read the Bible, and invest in their lives?
• Who has invested in you? A teacher? A boss? A parent? Who has believed in you and helped you succeed when no one else did?