Microloans, Wells and a Rebuilt Hospital: A New York Pastor-Businessman Brings His Model of Ministry to Kingston

• Pastor Joe Persaud of Liberty Bible Fellowship was to headline a Christian leadership summit in New Kingston
• His ministry runs microfinance projects in Haiti, Nigeria and India
• It recently helped rebuild a hospital in Haiti and is paying for wells in Indian villages
• Family businesses and congregations fund the ministry’s work

A New York pastor whose ministry combines church and business was set to headline a Christian leadership summit at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, the Jamaica Observer reported. The conference aimed to bring together Christian leaders from across society under the theme “Bridging the Gap Through Transformational Leadership”.

Pastor Joe Persaud heads Liberty Bible Fellowship in New York, which he founded with his father, with whom he now co-pastors. The newspaper said he would bring “a wide range of financial, developmental and ministry experience”. For nearly 40 years, through his ministry and business interests, he has started and run poverty alleviation and development programmes in struggling countries, mainly in Asia and Africa.

His ministry has launched and kept running microfinance projects in Haiti, Nigeria and India. Most recently it helped rebuild a hospital in Haiti. In India it bought and delivered cattle to vulnerable families as a business start-up to break the cycle of poverty, and it is now paying for wells in several villages to supply drinking water. The Persaud family, its business enterprises, the congregations and teams around the world all support the ministry’s work. Persaud has done postgraduate study in theology and international affairs.

The summit was organised jointly by Liberty Bible Fellowship and International Ministries, MTM TV Network and Freedom Come Ministries International, and was scheduled for a Saturday morning.

Persaud’s approach is to use productive assets rather than handouts: a microloan, a cow, a well or a rebuilt hospital, each able to keep producing after the donor leaves. Jamaican churches thinking about economic ministry can take that seriously. A church with land could back small farming, a church with a hall could rent it to a start-up, and a congregation could pool savings into a credit union or revolving loan fund. The discipline Persaud’s model depends on is business discipline: clear accounts, repayment and follow-up. That is where most church development projects succeed or fail.

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