ABSTRACT
MOVING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER TO THE ethnography itself, I now concentrate on faith and development as they intertwined for employees of World Vision and Christian Care. Faith framed NGO work in administrative offices where development was conceived and managed, and at rural project sites where development took place. Faith was such an important part of the work of the two NGOs that for some of the key actors involved, economic development was a religious act and a manifestation of Christian faith. The theological basis of Christian development1 for World Vision and Christian Care is distinguished by two concepts: holism and lifestyle evangelism. I document how faith was lived and critically theorized in terms of these concepts by employees of the two NGOs. My analysis focuses on faith at rural project sites where evangelism appeared as a unifying and hopeful social force, and faith in NGO offices where it disciplined, at times with divisive effects, the personal and institutional conduct of life.
