I did my graduate work at Johns Hopkins University at the School of Public Health in 2003/4. It was the only school I had applied for, mostly because I had my sights set on going to the mission field, and also because I had decided that the only reason I would delay going overseas was to get my Masters in Public Health at the #1 school in the world. ha. Surprisingly, at the best school in the world for public health, among the top achievers in the field, I found the bottom line of all my coursework was this: It is hopeless, we can do everything we can to try to save lives, but people are people, and they will not just change to make healthy choices. Many many of our programs will never make a difference and will fail. People will always eat unhealthy diets, they will always smoke, they will always have sex outside of marriage. We can’t change people. It is the fallenness of the world without the salvation and transformation through Christ.
Utterly hopeless.
I went to a conference during my studies and one of the plenary speakers was Florence Muindi (http://www.liaint.org). She introduced me to Community Health Evangelism (CHE, pronounced chay). As opposed to what I learned in school, it seemed like every single one of the ministries she started succeeded. Not just in breaking the poverty cycle, not just improvements in health, not just in planting churches. Those things happened too. What made my heart dance with joy was hearing stories of lives that were transformed. The kingdom of God was expanding. God was at work to transform beliefs and change behaviors and entire communities—His peace, justice, compassion and love were being reflected in the communities she described. I was so struck by her talk that I went to Africa to see the work firsthand.
Utter joy.
CHE was initially started in Africa more than 20 years ago as an evangelism and church planting tool, designed to disciple villages communities for three or more years. Now, CHE has champions/success stories in 105 countries worldwide, including urban areas in the US. The materials and trainings are also available worldwide. Visit the CHE Global Network Site for more information.
Years ago, Christian World News did a segment on CHE in the Congo, and I thought it was pretty good. The Congo is one of the places that has the oldest CHE initiatives. If you wonder about sustainability: Congo is where to look. I recently heard at a conference that one community (#1) was trained decades ago, it trained a neighboring community (#2), which trained a neighboring community (#3), and on until it reach more than 13 iterations of trained communities, numbering about 540 communities in total! Along with the training was church planting and discipleship. The integrity of CHE remained intact.
Unbelievable sustainability.
Below are listed the core values of CHE, maybe some of them resonate with your view of ministry. Empowerment and cooperation and asset-based work are also woven throughout the work, which I believe sets CHE apart.
- Integration and Wholism: We are personally committed to complete obedience to all that Jesus commanded, including compassion for the physical needs of people as well as evangelism and discipleship. We recognize an integral relationship between the physical, mental, social, and spiritual. Our programs seek the total development of the whole person and community.
- Commitment to the Poor and Marginalized: Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. As His ambassadors we are committed to the poor and marginalized. We affirm their worth, call them to be children of God through faith in Christ, and seek to release them from brokenness and despair.
- Long-Term Solutions: We concentrate our efforts on long-term solutions that break the cycle of poverty and disease. We train, equip, and empower people to do for themselves. We focus on development rather than relief, and disease prevention rather than cure.
- Local Ownership and Initiative: Sustainable programs are owned by the people and built on local initiative. Ownership and initiative is demonstrated through volunteerism and strengthened through capacity building. We take time in communities to participate with the people in assessing their needs, identifying resources, and assisting them in organizing for action through training and consultation.
- Participatory Learning: We believe people must be active participants in their own development. Therefore, we use methods for adult learning that engage participants in a process of reflection and action. We also believe people learn by doing, and that modeling is essential.
- Multiplication and Movements: Our aim is not merely projects, but movements. This is facilitated by training people to train others using concepts that are transferable. We emphasize the use of local resources and appropriate technologies so that solutions can be passed along neighbor to neighbor. We build cooperation and vision at a community level. We work collaboratively with faith- and community-based organizations, local and international relief and development agencies, churches and missions, as well as governments to facilitate the transformation of communities and nations.
- Christian Servant Leadership: Jesus is our model. We seek to imitate him in humility and love. Jesus taught that the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all. Every leader in our organization is Christian, and each one a servant. We seek to model servant leadership in our organization and programs, and raise up leaders in every community who give sacrificially to serve the needs of the people.
- Contextualization: Our programs will be adapted to local needs and requirements as identified by the local community.
I’m organizing a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) Introductory Seminar at our NMSI headquarters down here in Fort Myers, FL. Here are the details:
- For: anyone interested in transformational wholistic ministry
- Friday, May 27, 9am to 4pm
- $20, includes lunch, register: http://www.atmlive.org/
- Q’s: Helen Kingery hkingery@nmsi.org 239.337.4336
Will you join me in prayer? For God to bring just the right people, for Him to speak, for Him to use this seminar the way He wills? Our work is empty without Him.
Cheers,
helen
About Helen
