Religious Importance of Microfinance Bank: A Christian Perspective

Abstract

In the age of globalisation and increasing global disparity between the rich and poor, the world has seen the rise of a new and celebrated poverty-fighting strategy in the past decades. Microfinance banks provide financial services to poor entrepreneurs, most commonly small loans to help poor individuals start or grow small businesses. Previous studies on microfinance banks have majorly tilted towards its economic, sociological and psychological perspectives with insignificant attention paid to its religious importance. This research work is undertaken to examine the importance of religion to microfinance bank using Christian based microfinance banks as a model for the study. The work was intended to achieve the following objectives: to ascertain the extent to which microfinance bank has impacted the lives of the people that it is targeted towards which is the active poor and to determine the significance of religion to the operations of the bank. The study adopted Max Weber’s theory of religious economy, which hinges on the role of Christianity in the management of economic organisations. The basic research instruments used in this study were oral interview, participatory observation and the use of relevant literatures. The data was properly analysed and discussed. The study observes that microfinance bank has a religious influence based on operations or services on savings, deposit, loans and asset acquisitions. The research identifies the religious importance of the bank which is evident in manifestation of charity, premised on trust, biblical context of usury; it inculcates Christian teachings and inventiveness. However, the study identified some challenges with the bank in which some of the challenges are quite peculiar to the microfinance system of operation. These challenges include; limitation in scope, Central Bank directives, abuse, difficulty in monitoring and competition. Nevertheless, these have in no way reduced the efficiency of the bank in some areas. It is therefore evident that despite the challenges, microfinance bank has contributed immensely to national economic development and this has been achievable due to its religious importance. This work proves beyond measure that religion has not lost its relevance and it’s not only a spiritual reality but a social phenomenon. It is an important tool that helps various economic institutions in the society to function well. The study recommends more of religious teachings inculcated into microfinance banks in order to have a growing and sustainable microfinance industry and also brings to limelight the religious importance of microfinance bank which can serve as a spring board for further researches.