DEVELOPING FAITH: THEOLOGIES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN ZIMBABWE' ERICA BORNSTEIN (University of CaliSornia, Herkelry) ABSTRACT This paper analyzrs the role of religious laith in the work ol' two Christian NGOs involved in economic development in Zi~nl~abwe, World Vision and Christian Care. While economir drvelopn~cnt is rarely analyzctl in rcrrns of' rrlig-ious idriis, chis essay explores thr rrligious asprrts of dcvcloprncnt for employees of Christian NGOs and recipients of their development assisl;incc. Unitin$ devclojlmsnt and c~,angelism, employees of Christian NGOs articulate faith rliro~~gh colirspts of 'holism', 'lifi:style evar~gslisrn', and praycr. Thcsc idcas and practices pcrmratr instirurional directives, the cxl~rriences ol' NGO workers, arid thc communirics tliry serve. The cssay compares what hith means to rommunitics bcitig 'tlrvrlopcd' at projrct siks in rural Zimhahwr wirh faith as it is cxcrcised alorrgsitlc administra- tive power in NGO oflicrs. Ir demonstrates how faith struclurrs rhe initiatives a ~ l d ir~tcrpre~atiot~ of economic dcvcloprnt~nr, a~ld trnrss what is rcli,+ous ahour dcvcl- opmrrit for NGO rmployecs and for rht rural comnn~nitirs they assist. Setting: Two Chrislian .N(;O.s in <imbabwe In the late 1990s, Caith-hased NGOs (non-governmental organizations) were at the forefront of providing economic devclopmcnt for Zimbabwe. Thc national economy during this timc was a contcxt of increasing disparity bctwecn thc few that benefited from ncoliberal cconomic restructuring and the majority of the population for whom structural adjustment policies meant daily economic hardship (Bond 1998; Potls 1998). It was in this setting that the work of NGOs in dcvclopment incrcascd in prominence. 'I'hc rolc of NGOs in proccsscs of 'democ- ratization' and in dobates surrounding thc strcngth of 'statcs' versus 'civil socicty' in Africa has bccn analyzcd extensively (Bratton 1989; Moyo 1991; Riddell and Robinson 1995; Sachikonyc 1995; Vivian 1994). How Christian organizations factor into such proccsscs, howevcr, is still a 0 Koriinklijkr Brill NV, Leidcr~. 2002