What is Transformation

TRANSFORMATION DEFINITIONS
Let us look at seven definitions of Transformation as used by different organizations

A definition given by Bryant Myers of World Vision International in his book Walking With the Poor:
“I use the term transformational development to reflect my concern for seeking positive change in the whole of human life materially, socially and spiritually . Changed people and just and peaceful relationships are the twin goals of transformation . . . Changed people are those who have discovered their true identity as children of God and who have recovered their true vocation as faithful and productive stewards of gifts from God for the well being of all” (Bryant Myers, Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development [Marynoll: Orbis Books, 1998]

The Opportunity International Network (OI) defines Transformational Development as:
“A deeply rooted change in people’s economic, social, political, spiritual and behavioral conditions resulting in their enjoyment of wholeness of life under God’s ordinances.”(Opportunity International: Transformation Indicators Paper [unpublished document: 2000]).

World Vision uses the following:
Transformation is radical change in worldview toward acting on the belief that Jesus frees me from all forms of bondage, and that in that freedom my purpose in life is to love God and neighbor in practical ways. From a transformation perspective, whatever changes occur in the community’s circumstances (access to food and water, health issues, income level, etc.) are less important than how people in the community view their circumstances.

Transform World Working Definition
Transformation is the progressive, ongoing, measurable, and supernatural impact of the presence and power of God working in, through, and apart from the body of Christ on human society and its structures. It involves seeking positive change in the whole of human life materially, socially, and spiritually as we recover our true identity as human beings created in the image of God and discover our true vocation as productive stewards, faithfully caring for our world and its people. Deep and profound change is possible in human beings and is equally possible for the social organisms that we call communities, cities, and nations.

Transformation as Seen By CRWRC
The “transformation” we seek in communities is as deep as the human heart and as broad as the whole range of the human experience in the world God made. We want our approach to faithfully declare that our God reigns; Jesus is Lord over every inch of creation. “From him and through him and to him are all things”(Rom 11:36). We want to do community development that reflects the depth and breadth of the Kingdom. God works in us and through us to transform beliefs and actions, reflected in redeemed community, and focused on peace, justice, and righteousness.”

We in Collaborative for Neighborhood Transformation use the following:
A permanent change in one’s attitude, belief, and behavior in all areas of an individual’s life (physical, spiritual, emotional, social) who then facilitate the same changes in others; who as an aggregate, change their neighborhood from the inside out.

How Transformation is Different Then Measuring change or Social Impact
1. Transformation is a change in all areas of an individual’s knowledge, attitudes,
beliefs and behavior in all areas of their life; physical, spiritual, emotional, social
and intellectual.
2. God is actively involved in this change which is the underlying factor for long
term transformation to take place.
3. Because of the changes in individuals as they come together they begin to
transform their neighborhood from the inside out.
4. Identify bisecting interests – where the dreams of the community meet the
calling and capacity of the church, in harmony with God’s mandates
5. Recognize “common grace” of God’s work outside of church
6. Learn from goals & methods of good secular initiatives
7. Align agendas around common ground of the church and neighborhood
8. Relationships (horizontal) and prayer (vertical) are key to fruitful
intersection between community’s dreams and kingdom goals
9. Every person has opportunity to make an informed decision about Christ
10. Measure Christ-likeness in unbelievers

The heart and soul of is transformation as is stated in CNT, Vision and Mission Statements and How we go about our ministry

Vision
To see as many cities across North America transformed, neighborhood by neighborhood, in all areas of life. These cities are networked together so eventually the North America is transformed as a whole from the inside out.

Mission
CNT exist to expand transformational ministries across North America cities by creating a collaborative of partner organizations that will mutually encourage, motivate, and innovate on behalf of underserved communities. They will focus on transforming neighborhoods and then networking the neighborhoods in a city to transform the city from the inside out. In addition there is a collaborative at each city level and at the national level to see this take place

How we Go about Ministry
We Connect People, Create Community, Transform Communities and then Connect them into Collaboratives that transform large geographical areas.

What Learned from Churches, Part Two

Reaching not only Urban Poor Neighborhoods But also Middle Class Neighborhoods

Getting church members to work in urban poor neighborhoods makes it harder to raise up local trainers. The churches focus more easily on nearby neighborhoods which most frequently are middle class. Doing projects in the church’s neighborhood makes it easier to motivate the members. However, when working in middle-class neighborhoods, the church members are asked to focus on enhancing assets rather than supplying needs since middle-class neighbors are likely to be of the opinion that they have few needs.

Jesus’ loving concern extends just as surely into middle and upper class neighborhoods. He cares for all. Poverty is more than physical and financial lack. Emotional and spiritual poverty are crippling. There is no place that cannot use the reconciliation and touch of Jesus.

Change Summary:
• Focus the church on its own extended neighborhood with the intent of establishing relationships with and being a blessing to those neighbors.
• Get to know the neighbors. Begin walking the neighborhood regularly, greeting and meeting people.
• See “Starting Outreach in the Neighborhood” below.

Relationships – The Starting Point
Relationships are critical in rural CHE programs but even more so urban neighborhood settings. Very few people know each others names, let alone anything about each other. Trust and willingness to help are very limited. Neighbors are isolated from each other partially out of choice, partially from lack of opportunity. What is more, they feel powerless to overcome the isolation.

Motivating people in church to reach out to the neighborhood where they live is a challenge which few churches have considered since the concept of transforming a middle-class neighborhood is a novel one. Building relationships – neighbors knowing neighbors – is the place to start.

Change Summary:
• Recognize that this approach can work in a variety of ways with the result that neighbors become aware of and learn to trust the neighboring church down the street.
• First the church needs to map all church members and define neighborhoods around groups of people who live near to each other.
• Have a desert meeting for all the church people in a given neighborhood, challenging them to get to know their neighbors
• For next step see Starting Outreach in Your Neighborhood below

Starting Outreach in the Neighborhood
Because most people do not know their neighbors, the first step is getting to know their neighbors in their block on both sides of the street.

Here are some key ways to accomplish this:
• Start walking your neighborhood and greet people when you see them, introducing yourself. Learn their names and what house they live in. Make notes later.
• When you see people outside, go greet them.
• Start barbequing on the driveway in front of your house and invite a few nearby to come.
• Invite all the people to come to a neighborhood barbeque. If they offer to bring something, let them but don’t assign things.
• Do block a party, closing off street on the “Local Night Out” which many cities have.
• Ask two questions: ” What do you like about this block?” and “What one thing would you change?”
• If there is an elderly family on the street or a family in need , organize people who are willing to help them.
• As you do these activities learn as much as you can about each person, sharing details about yourself as well.
• Eventually do full Asset Mapping

Starting with the Local Elementary School
Many churches have approached the problem of becoming known in the neighborhood by beginning NT through the local elementary school. This is especially effective in areas where most of the children walk to school.

Here are approaches to the schools which have been effective:
• Set up a meeting with the school principal asking how the neighborhood church members can serve the school. With budget cut backs most principals are willing to accept some help.
• Normally it can start with a school grounds beautification or painting a room. This kind of project allows Group 2 level church members to participate.
• It could involve supplying backpacks at start of the year. If so this it is great opportunity to ask that a parent help in the school once for 2 hours. Principals have found that if a parent comes to school there is an immediate increase in attention span in their child. Therefore, just getting the parents into the school is a positive.
• If Christmas gifts are provided for needy children put them in a school Christmas store where parents choose the gift they want for their child and pay some small amount. If the parents do not have the cash they can substitute a couple of hours as a volunteer in the store.
• Find out if the schools need volunteers to help and then provide members from Group 3 to come to help as volunteers.
• Some churches have done a “Love the Teacher Day” where they provide small gifts for them and perhaps a Starbuck coffee card.
• At some point send the nine-question Asset Mapping Questionnaire home with students. The class with most number of returned questionnaires wins a pizza party. In addition, the children who return their questionnaires get into a drawing for a nice gift.
• In the questionnaire look for what parents want to learn and set up different short classes at the schools taught by neighborhood people of local trainers from the church.

Hope this gives you some idea how to get started doing Neighborhood Transformation. Ways that are simpler and easier to get church members involved.

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 a personal relationship with Christ. The greatest permanent development results are achieved when “born-again” Christians are taught to multiply their newly acquired values and skills.
• The concept of self-help is indispensable to the development process. Development must lead to self-reliance. Self-reliance must be rooted a t the local level, within the pr actices of the community, and must be under God’s direction.
• It is preferable to start a project in communities where local initiative has been previously demonstrated.
• Success in community development depends upon the participation of those who stand to benefit from it. This is best accomplished by using committees re presenting the people. However, if the committee members do not know their role, there will be little participation by the people. It is crucial that committees undergo o thorough, intensive training.
• Development must be people-centered, not project-centered or technically-oriented. Any program must start where the people are, not where we think they are, or where we would like them to be.
• Help people identify and then meet their interests. A program should be designed to meet the interests of the maximum number of people that can be served within the context of those participating.
• Focus on the assets that are found in the community not the needs for what is not found in the community.
• Development should be concerned with methods that are simple and cost effective and use local resources, whenever possible. Development must be economically sound to be permanent. Financing and supplies should come, to a major extent, from the community. Outside input should be minimal or on the basis of “seed” funds. Supplies and materials, when needed, should be available consistently from sources within the country.
• A major criteria for success should be: Will the results be ongoing in the lives of people after the change agents leave? Development must encourage and promote community leadership. It is vital to find a person who will champion the program within the local community. This person must have the time, vision, and influence to make the program his own. Without such a person, most projects will fail to be fully effective. We learned early that there must be an influential person in the community who will assume responsibility for the project and see it as his and the community’s.
• Change comes about best when there are good role models whom the people can observe and follow. These role models should be people who others respect and desire to copy.
• Home visitation by the leaders, trainers, and trainees is critical. Through visitation in homes, real life situations can be observed and meaningful mentoring can take place on the spot.
• The people of the community must recognize that they have a high priority interest and have a strong desire to deal with that interest. They must also have sufficient confidence in themselves to feel that they can deal with it. Development should be indigenous, coming from the heart of the society. It is good to encourage people and to help them star t individual projects which are important to them. We want them to be successful, because they gain confidence and credibility through success.
• Whenever possible, community development solutions should be transferable to other locations and people in a such a way that their effectiveness is multiplied.
• The role of any outside helper should be as an encourager, catalyst, advisor, trainer, vision-giver, and co-learner, but not a doer or leader. Helpers should be willing to receive as well as to give. That is, they must be equals, not just givers or receivers. A good developer is a helper, a servant to the community.
• Much time and patience is required for lasting development to take place and to continue after the excitement of a new program dies down. In the beginning, the outside change agent is the initiator and the community is the receiver. Over a period of time, these positions should be reversed until outside input is eliminated. Development is a series of many small tasks and factors which lead to self-reliance. No single thing creates a successful development project. We found that a period of 9 to 12 months is required, just to enter the community and gain the confidence of the people. Then the training can begin. We also found that time, time, and more time must be spent with the people–living with, eating with, and relating to them. This process cannot be rushed. If it is rushed, lasting change is less likely to take place.
• It takes a minimum of 5 years for a program to become lasting and ongoing after trainers leave an area. Continuous work need not be going on, but periodic visits and training need to be done throughout. Less and less input will be required by the trainers as the local people take over more and more of the responsibility.
• Development should deal wholistically with man and not compartmentalize him into isolated segments. Man is a physical, spiritual, mental, and social being.
• In most third-world countries, a person’s physical health has traditionally been believed to be influenced by spirits. Here there is no separation into compartments—the physical-self and the spiritual-self. Both are seen as one and part of the whole.

Meeting Learner Needs

As a follow on to my last blog about Participatory Training That Multiplies lets continue on and explore further how we practically do our training in CHE. The key is to meet learner needs therefore the following should be considered in meeting the adult learner’s needs, in order to affect true transfer of knowledge and application:
• Reaffirm the adult’s sense of self-worth by helping them to succeed in the learning process.
• Become partners in learning (not one dominating the other).This means we need to change the relationship between the learner and the teacher.
• Help the learner take more responsibility for his own learning
• Concentrate on what is life-changing versus transmission of knowledge only.
• Help the learners to develop their knowledge base in a logical sequence, allowing them to build on the circular process.
• Portray an example of desired change by modeling the anticipated result before the student
• Simplify material which is to be shared and make it practical.
• Carry out training at the lowest possible level. It’s unwise to
choose people to be trained as CHEs who have a high educational level and who may leave the village for a job in town. It is best to train people with an average education according to the level of their village, who will likely remain in the village.
• Train people to do a job. The materials used for training should be selected on a “need to know and use” basis, so trainees can accomplish an objective, rather than simply accumulate head knowledge.
• Focus on “doing”—role-plays, songs, demonstrations, and stories.
• Start where the people are in their understanding. Use small
group interaction to draw upon knowledge already possessed by the learners.
• Provide training first in subjects which are of highest priority to the trainees.
• Teach trainers to pass on everything they are teaching so their trainees will be equipped to train others who in turn will train others.
• Utilize locally available materials which can be understood and used by all. Guidebooks or training materials should be simple and involve as much learner participation as possible. The use of small picture booklets and other graphic aids is helpful.

Dr. Roy Shaffer of AMREF (Africa Medical Research and Education Foundation) pioneered an adult teaching technique called LePSA, which incorporates many of the techniques mentioned, but also uses small group discussion. LePSA is an acronym for this technique. We have added an additional S for spiritual input and we therefore use the LePSAS method of instruction. Using this acronym keeps reminding the facilitator things they should be doing to meet learner needs and keep our facilitation participatory.

Le stands for Learner Centered which means we focus on the learner not the teacher through many different ways starting with the classroom set up in a circle with all sitting including the facilitator. We use the term facilitator whose job it is to bring out answers from the group not give them the answers.

P stands for Problem Posing where we start each class posing a problem through the use of a short drama, story or picture without giving any answers.

S stands for Self Discovery in that the solutions to all problems and information comes from the participants not the facilitator. We do this in large group, 25 or so and small groups of 4 to 5 people.

A stands for Action Oriented which means all learning is turned into some action or application the sooner the better.

S stands for Spirit Guided as all learning is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are absolutes which need to come out which comes out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Hopefully these two blogs give you a better understanding of how we go about equipping others for implementation and multiplication of CHE.

Participatory Training That Multiplies

Our aim in education is to produce changed individuals, who will change others, who, in turn, will change others. These individual changed lives result in changed families, changed communities, and ultimately in changed societies. An inward change must precede the outward change which is based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

There are absolutes which need to be transmitted from generation- to-generation and people-to-people, by a guide. The Holy Spirit is our counselor, but the Word, prayer, fellowship, and witnessing form the environment in which He works.

Each student must be recognized as having infinite worth, because each was created by God. As such, it is essential that the student be an active participant in his own educational process. The use of open-ended dialogue is critical, however, there is right and wrong information which must be recognized and discussed.

Hands-on participation is a valuable learning tool, but intellectual stimulation is also important. Taking time to reflect on and process the information is also crucial, in order for full learning to take place.

Our training emphasizes joint learning and participation, involving both the trainer and learner. This method results in the CHE taking action on what he has learned and ensures the necessary skills and ability to do a good job. Our goal is for the learner to add the newly presented knowledge to his current knowledge base. Then he can reflect on and analyze this information, and decide to act on the knowledge. This decision leads to positive action by the learner.

The participatory process requires that the training be centered on the learner and helps them in the process of self-discovery, which leads to action. This process is fostered by posing problems to the learner, enabling them to draw out of his experience and then to build on it.

All methods and materials must be transferable from the trainer to the learner. Picture booklets are used to summarize what has been learned and then can be used by the learner to help them fully and accurately transfer his knowledge to others.

Meeting Learner Needs
The following points should be considered in meeting the adult learner’s needs, in order to affect true transfer of knowledge:
• Reaffirm the adult’s sense of self-worth by helping them to succeed in the learning process.
• Become partners in learning (not one dominating the other). This means we
need to change the relationship between the learner and the teacher.
• Help the learner take more responsibility for his own learning.
• Concentrate on what is life-changing versus transmission of knowledge only.
• Help the learners to develop their knowledge base in a logical sequence, allowing them to build on the
circular process.
• Portray an example of the desired change by modeling the anticipated result before the student.
• Simplify material which is to be shared and make it practical.
• Carry out training at the lowest possible level. It is best to train people with an average education
according to the level of their village, who will likely remain in the village.
• Train people to do a job. The materials used for training should be selected on a “need to know and
use” basis, so trainees can accomplish an objective, rather than simply accumulate head knowledge.
Focus on “doing” things such as role-plays, songs, demonstrations, and stories which build
retention.
• Start where the people are in their understanding. Use small group interaction to draw upon
knowledge already possessed by the learners.
• Provide training first in subjects which are of highest priority to the trainees.
• Teach trainers to pass on everything they are teaching so their trainees will be equipped to train
others who in turn will train others.
• Utilize locally available materials which can be understood and used by all. Guidebooks or training
materials should be simple and involve as much learner participation as possible.

What we are after is learners being able to immediately apply what they have just learned in a very practical way. This helps builds retention and leads to the content and skills being shared in such a way that others can also teach it.