In the last two years we have learned many things about attracting North American churches to Neighborhood Transformation (NT) and facilitating implementation. This has allowed us to make a number of changes in our approach. This will be a two part series. The following is some of what we have learned: Churches most interested in…
Tag: Neighborhood Transformation
Second installment of Using the School to Start Neighborhood Transformation
Written by Brynn Schmidt, Co-leader of the Neighborhood Transformation team at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado. At Flatiron we have also worked with the elementary school to establish a strong relationship with another organization that our church partners with, the Sister Carmen Community Center. We will begin to work on more projects together next…
Working Through an Elementary School to Start Neighborhood Transformation
Written by Brynn Schmidt, Co-leader of the Neighborhood Transformation team at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado. Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado has had a good relationship with one of our neighborhood elementary schools for several years. We have done backpack drives, school improvement days, given funds and assisted occasionally with teacher appreciation and…
From Rural CHE to Urban Neighborhood Transformation
As you hopefully already know, CHE or Neighborhood Transformation (NT) is a multi-faceted, community/neighborhood-based, development strategy that deals with the whole person which builds on the people and their community’s assets. CHE/NT trains people how to use those assets to solve their own problem. It is about neighbor helping neighbor. It releases individuals and communities…
Success Factors for Christian Community Development
A Christian doing community development should base their work on a Biblical world view. We propose the following development principles should be considered when Christians undertake development projects. • The main emphasis should be upon changed individual lives, rather than changed social structures. Changed lives produce a changed society. The basis of this change is…
Biblical Basis for Neighborhood Transformation
Neighborhood Transformation’s Cause Is: Equipping churches to assist neighborhoods out poverty and people to maturity in Christ. The Biblical Basis for our Cause Participate in God’s mission to restore all creation to wholeness by being faithful witnesses in Word and Deed through Gods redeeming love and work. • Luke 10:27 Love God totally in areas…
Ways to Help Heople and Neighborhoods Out of Poverty
In my last blog I discussed poverty and the five groups who are in poverty. Also awhile back in this blog I wrote about focusing on assets, not needs. This shift of focus is central to helping people and neighborhoods out of poverty. The objective is to transform neighborhoods from the inside by building on…
Organic Movement
Earlier this year I read the book Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers which compares the way a community can grow either by a master plan or organically. Master planning is what is done by most western organizations where it is top down every detailed planned out. While organic growth takes on a life of…
What is My Passion?
I want to share with you my passion, what has driven me for the last 30 years. It is the cause of: Lifting communities out of cycles of poverty and disease and facilitating people to faith and maturity in Christ. The Biblical Basis for my cause? Participate in God’s mission to restore all creation to…
Identifying Assets
As follow-on to a Blog I wrote a couple weeks ago on Assets we want to follow on with how to identify assets in a neighborhood. Communities can no longer be thought of as complex masses of needs and problems, but rather diverse and potent webs of gifts and assets. Each community has a unique…