Are You Interested in Discipleship

If so discipleship is central to what happens in Neighborhood Transformation.

A disciple is a learner with the intent to learn from the master and then pass on what he has learned onto others as he puts it into practice in his own life. It focuses on making obedient disciples. It is not just focused on making  converts. It is also builds  multiplying disciples whose impact  expands Jesus’ kingdom. It is discipleship where people practice their following of Jesus Christ in every act of their daily life. It is where word and deed are  intertwined, not parallel tracks of life. It is a strategy that occurs when a disciple is following God’s direction. It does needs right principles to be applied. It is ongoing, unstoppable and out of control. It is not hierarchical, systematic, or highly structured and tightly managed.

It’s a rapid multiplication of groups and churches. It is not slow, sequential, methodical addition. It’s simply about churches rapidly planting new churches. It is not primarily about expansion of denominations, or growth of organizations. It thrives in an environment of persecution and chaos. It is messy. Disciple making does not do well in a peaceful environment of significant controls, policies, and procedures.

Discipleship focuses on replication. It is not about growing large, highly programmatic, organizations but rapidly multiplying small groups that have a core value of discovering where God is at work by finding a person of peace. It is not about starting church services and inviting people to come. It is about the church emerging from within the culture of the people. It is not about calling the people out of their culture to form a new organization. It’s locally led. While often started by outsiders, it is not led by outsiders who intend someday to turn over the ministry to the people of the community.

It is family-based. It does not seek to extract individual respondents from their families and communities, re-acculturating them and then sending them as semi-outsiders back to their communities, which is powered by ordinary people; unschooled and non-credentialed. It is not driven by highly trained and credentialed professionals. It’s counter-intuitive. It does not fit management theory or organizational development. It’s about developing independent leaders. It is not about building a mass of followers.

It is about simple men and women with the simple gospel for simple people. It is not sophisticated and complex. It’s inexpensive. Once begun, discipleship expands without outside resources at all, which is making disciple-makers of every member. It is not about the few reaching the multitudes. It does not make buildings a priority. The church meets within the community of the people. It places a high level of commitment on the health and welfare of the people; people caring for one another. It is not a strategy of hiring professionals to care for the needs of the people.

Churches never emerge without a heavy commitment to prayer. It has a saturation commitment. It believes in a church for every people. Nor is it about planting a denominational church in every community. The goal is a rapidly expand movement under God’s direction through the people in the neighborhood who want to see God’s kingdom established in their neighborhood.

The goal is a rapidly expanding movement that is growing exponentially neighborhood by neighborhood until it transforms the city. A movement is a group of committed people embracing a common purpose moving towards well-defined goals and who are committed to the spread and multiplication of these objectives. It is based on winning, building, and sending people.

Are you interested in getting a free 10 lesson workshop on Making disciples email me at stan@neighborhoodtransformation.net to get it.

Why Cities

In 1900 less then 5% of the worlds population lived in cities. By 2010 50% of the world’s population live in cities. By 2010 by there were 25 cities with each having more then 10 million population. By 2050 25 cities will have grown to over 16 million each. By 2030 we will have moved from a world of 200 cities to a world of 400 cities with over 1 million population which will grow to over 1450 such cities.

Cities are valued by God. The word cities is mentioned 1250 times in the Bible. Cities are strategic to God in working out his plans.

The early Christian movement was primarily urban. All ambitious missionary movement are or soon become urban Any study of how Christians converted an empire by targeting major trade centers found in key cities.

Cities are the main purveyors of cultures, values and belief. They are the center of education, arts, music, literature, film, television and other media. Cities tend to stimulate the gifts, talents capacities and deep potential of human hearts and minds.

Every city is and always has been a magnet for young people to move from rural areas. The climate is found in cities for constant change and innovation. 45% of all people 18 to 34 years of age would like to live in a city,  while only 14% over 34 years old want to live in a city. While only 8$ of people over 65 are drawn to the city. Cities are also places where schools and universities are therefore they are filled with students.

The cultural elite also live there. People who have a disproportionate influence on life live in cities because this is where business, publishing media academics and government are located.

Unreached people groups are gathered in cities in North America. Every large city is a portal for reaching the world for Christ because the USA is a land of immigrants and immigrants are still coming to the USA in large numbers.

Cities creates a seedbed for creative thinking, providing access to new ideas and new ways of dealing with problems and challenges. Healthy cities have resources. More people can have a sustainable existence in a city, at a cheaper cost then in rural areas.

The city is has many poor who come with expectations of people doing things for them to help them.. We are called to love the poor therefore since cities are where they are congregated together the cities become a important place to minister to the poor.

The city is where all the action is. It is the place to have impact. Impact flows from cities to other cities and towns, but impact does not generally from small towns or rural areas. The city connects  people who are different then you so you must think differently. City living changes who people are and how they see themselves. People are attracted to cities because cities are a magnet for talent and ambition. If you transform a city you transform the province/state.

Stan

What is Transformation

TRANSFORMATION DEFINITIONS 

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]

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.  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                                                                                              

• 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.
• God is actively involved in this change which is the underlying factor for long term  transformation to take place.
• Because of the changes in individuals as they come together they begin to transform their neighborhood from the inside out.
• Identify bisecting interests – where the dreams of the community meet the calling & capacity of the church, in harmony with God’s mandates.
• Recognize “common grace” of God’s work outside of church
• Learn from goals & methods of good secular initiatives
• Align agendas around common ground of the church and neighborhood
• Relationships (horizontal) and prayer (vertical) are key to fruitful intersection between community’s dreams and kingdom goals
• Every person has opportunity to make an informed decision about Christ
• Measure Christ-likeness in unbelievers

Transformation Requires More Then Doing Things for People and Neighborhoods                                                                                             For transformation to take place people and neighborhoods must decide they want something different then what they currently have. Then they must care enough that they are willing to do something about it to see the change take place. If that desire and action are not there then no matter what we do for others might be good but generally transformation does not take place. Transformation comes from inside people themselves and neighborhoods.

But we as Western Christians are focused on doing things for others. People might say sure I would like that and gratefully accept whatever we do for them but does that transform them or their neighborhood? The answer is No.

An Approach that Fosters Transformation                                              

• It is a people-oriented, relationship building process.
• It is designed to identify assets within the neighborhood found in individuals, associations and institutions, and identifies which of those assets they are willing to share.
• Once the assets are identified, you begin to link the people you have been building relationships with, to the assets that would empower them.
• It is based on neighbors helping neighbors, not being dependent on professionals to do things for them.
• It is designed to build up internal and external abilities.
• It is designed to be sustainable.
• It is primarily a grass-root, bottom-up process which requires a person to act as a catalyst and facilitator.
• It is a gradual learning process progressing from the simple to the more complex and from the known to the unknown.
• It works primarily with individuals and households and then impacts the neighborhood as a whole.
• It is greater than the sum of its parts.
• It requires a moral and ethical focus for relationships to grow, which results from establishing trust.
• These ethical values are based on absolutes that do not change, but are the same year-after-year. This is based on God’s Word, the Bible.

Neighborhood Transformation 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.

Neighborhood Transformation Mission: We 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 under-served 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 Neighborhood Transformation Goes about Ministry: We Connect People, Create Community, Transform Communities and then Connect  them into a Collaborative  that transform large geographical areas.

 

What is Wholistic Ministry

I just attended a 3 day conference here in Phoenix, International Wholistic Mission Conference where 700 people came to talk about what was happening in wholistic ministry. Fantastic conference, you should plan to attend next year in 2015. It will be April 29^th through May 1.

Let’s talk about wholistic and what it means to us in the Global CHE Network and in Neighborhood Transformation.  It is all about bringing the whole gospel to help people become whole who working together create a whole neighborhood, which then brings about a a whole city and then a whole nation being transformed in all areas of life.

It is both the Great Commission and Great and the great Command together, it is not one or the other. Or I do one so that I can do the other.

We spell wholistic with a ‘W’ because it keeps ever in front of us the idea that we need to deal with the whole person, all aspects of their life, and the whole community or neighborhood, meaning all sectors in that place.

Some people and the Webster Dictionary spell it without the W and give it a spiritual meaning from holy. We agree with that BUT feel it is more important to concentrate on the whole, not just on the spiritual or holy aspect.

When we talk wholistically about a person’s life, we are dealing with all aspects: physical or health well-being, spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, and social well-being. When we do this, we are dealing with more than the different sectors such as education, job, medical, etc.

In working in a community or neighborhood, we are looking into the above areas as well, but the different sectors found in a community come more into play. Therefore, when we talk about community, sometimes we will use the term sectors, and when dealing with the individual, we talk more in terms of physical, spiritual, emotional and social aspects.

Just concentrating on one area of life, such as just working with a person’s health or getting them a job, helps them in one way, but there needs to be assistance in multiple areas of life for real transformation to take place.

Let’s look at another aspect of being wholistic. Sometimes groups talk about being wholistic when they have different people deal with the different sectors or areas in a person’s or community’s life. But to us that is not wholistic. That is parallel track ministry, but all elements rarely come to play in a person or community. Instead, what needs to happen is that multiple elements must come into play in order to see transformation. The people working in their own track are specialists and generally only concentrate on their specialty

I use the illustration: Have you ever look down a straight line of railroad tracks? The tracks start out being in parallel but far down the line they seem to converge. However, as you walk down the tracks you see that they never do. This is what happens when we have specialists working on their track. They hope that all the people working together will bring convergence. But this does not happen.

For us to see wholistic transformation, all areas and sectors of life in individuals and a community must be done by one person who is looking for wholistic transformation to take place. This means we want to help people (in CHE or NT) to be generalists not specialists.

This means what is shared must be transferable to a person can share it with another who can share it with another, onward. To accomplish this you have to keep things simple and basic. We use the KISS principle, Keep It Short and Simple. In other words, we must decide what is the most important thing another person needs to understand, and forget sharing many of the “what-ifs”—the things people might need to know in the future or things that might be nice to know but others would never use.

So remember, it is best when we have generalists who deal with multiple areas in a community’s or person’s life, and who keep it simple. In another blog I will share with you how this is accomplished through our participatory teaching approach.

I am off to South Africa Sunday May 4th for two weeks to do a a five  day Training of Trainers  on Neighborhood Transformation, which we call overseas Urban CHE. The Healthcare Christian Fellowship equips medical professionals how to share their faith in the workplace is moving to incorporating NT and CHE into their 100 chapters around the world.

What is a Cause and What is Ours

An observation, most of my upcoming blogs come from lesson plans from our training therefore they are in bullet from. I hope that works for you

What is a Cause

• It is something that catches our attention and excites us
• It motivates one to accomplish what the cause spells out
• It is a dream that causes us to action and involvement
• It gives you reason to get out of bed and motivates you throughout the day
• It comes in small pieces
• It is seeing a need that resonated and then stepping forward to do something
• And all of a sudden you realize what it is

How Do You Find The Cause God Has for You

• Seek God for guidance
• Look at what excites you and motivates you to do something
• Look for opportunities to do things in order to see if it catches you
• Help others work on their cause
• See where God is doing things and become involved
• Look at your skills and knowledge that involves life
• There are no accidents therefore when something happens look for God’s guidance
• Look back at our life and what excited you at different times in your life
• Do things you normally don’t do. Be obedient when God puts something in your path
• Look for others like yourself and observe what they are doing as well as joining them in their activities
• Be willing to do on own even if no one else helped

NT’s Cause Statement

To see transformation in all areas of life, physical, spiritual, emotional, social and economic in individuals, neighborhoods and cities

Solution:  This is done by connecting people, creating sub communities within the neighborhood and then transforming the neighborhood. Then these transformed neighborhoods are connected to see their city transformed from the inside out.

What is your cause, what turns you on? Might it be Transformation? Are you willing to step forward in small steps to see if transformation is what turns you on?

Please leave a respond in the comments section concerning what your cause is?

If it is Transformation on individuals and neighborhoods please stay with us and we will give you opportunities to test this out where you are with the time, talent and resources you have.

Stan

Why It important to Look for Transformation

• so we can see how God is working and to what degree and in what areas of individual and neighborhood life.
• It  allows room for God to act.
• To better manage programs
• Motivation for leaders of transformation, committee members and people doing the work.
• Helps committee supervise the workers and direct the project.
• Is motivation for all stakeholders and neighborhood people.
• Demonstrates accountability
• Evaluate progress of different elements in the program.
• Others can see the validity of the program.
• To satisfy donor/investor requirements
• To raise public awareness of the issues being addressed
• To find areas where transformation is not taking place.
• Identifies needs and interests in the neighborhood which are not being met.
• To demonstrate effectiveness of the program.
• It informs others of good practices that could be used elsewhere.
• Helps looking for outside resources as the reports validity requests

Questions that Might be Asked So That We Can Look for Transformation

• What would the neighborhood look like where people lived the Golden Rule?
• What would the neighborhood look like where everyone could read?
• What would the neighborhood look like if every student graduated high-school?
• What would the neighborhood look like in regard to crime, abuse, and violence?
• What would the neighborhood look like if every orphan had a mentor?
• What would the neighborhood look like if the weak were empowered?
• What would the neighborhood look like if God’s Kingdom were operative?

Biblical Basis for Wholistic Transformational Ministry

Christians are commanded in Luke 10:27 to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love their neighbors as themselves. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will truly be concerned with their welfare, both physically and spiritually. We will want to help our neighbors live more abundant, meaningful lives here on earth and to share with others how they can have eternal life. Because of God’s love for us, we desire to share that love.

Jesus made a startling statement in Matthew 25:34-40. He asserted that as we give food and drink to those in need, take in strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and visit those in prisons, we are doing these things to Him. Most of us would find it easy to do these things for Christ and for our own family, but Jesus says we must even do them for the lowliest of people, including those we don’t know or may even dislike. We are called to serve all men.

The emphasis of Christ’s Great Commission is on the spiritual needs of man. He commands us in Matthew 28:19, 20 to go into all nations and make disciples of all. We will do this in the name of Jesus and under the authority of God. This command is not given as an option. Jesus promises to be with us in His full authority and power both now and always. Thus we go forth boldly in Christ’s strength made available through the Holy Spirit and not in our own power.

We are told in II Timothy 2:2 to train faithful men to teach others who, in turn, will teach others. The focus of this verse is multiplication. As we pour our lives into faithful men, they will catch the vision for teaching others who, in turn, will help others.

However, when Jesus walked this earth He ministered to the whole person. He healed the sick as He preached and taught. When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to minister to others, He commanded them to heal the sick, being concerned for the physical needs of others, as well as preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Today if we are to follow Christ’s example, one person must do both as did the disciples. As Christians, we too must be concerned for the well-being of the whole man. This involves meeting both physical and spiritual needs, and training others to do so also.

Traditionally, a number of churches and missions have been committed to caring for people’s physical and spiritual needs, but generally people specialize in meeting either the spiritual needs (pastor, evangelist, etc.) or physical needs (doctor, engineer, etc.). For many, this leads to conflict of interest between urgent physical concerns and the spiritual needs of the people. The tendency is to become drawn in to exclusive areas of focus, away from wholistic ministry.

What Wholistic Means

Let’s talk about wholistic and what it means to us. We spell wholistic with a ‘W’ because it keeps ever in front of us the idea that we need to deal with the whole person, all aspects of their life, and the whole community or neighborhood, meaning all sectors in that place.

Some people and the Webster Dictionary spell it without the W and give it a spiritual meaning from holy. We agree with that BUT feel it is more important to concentrate on the whole, not just on the spiritual or holy aspect.

Dela Adadevoh who was my director in Africa and who I spoke of last week wrote another book The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person  speaks about the Wholism from a Biblical basis.

Dela says the Gospel is a redemption and restoration story; it is restoration to a blessed spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social and material state. He goes on to list the Characteristics found in the Garden of Eden which include; goodness, beauty, order, purpose satisfaction and intimacy with God.  The phrase “Kingdom of God” is used frequently to explain God’s plan for the nations and people of Jesus Christ.  Knowledge and will are not enough to make people holy and spiritual.

The ultimate impact of the Gospel is the Hebrew concept of Shalom which is peace with God meaning there is no longer separation between man and God. The Gospel gives us the promise of entering God’s rest’ physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. Shalom also means we can now live in peace with the rest of creation. The blessing we leave as missionaries is the blessing of peace

The call to witness for God is not limited in its focus to individuals, God also expects communities and nations to be His witness. The Great Commission is a call to make disciples of all nations, not just make disciples in all nations. Making disciples of all nations is not only making individual disciples but also disciples of communities to ensure they build themselves on Godly principles. God’s blessings are wholistic and primarily seek to bring the people of a nation relationally closer to God.

Dela ends his book by saying ‘Christ honored transformation of society must begin with the church. A transforming Church is an effective agency in the hands of God for transforming society’

In working in a community or neighborhood, we are looking into the above areas as well, but the different sectors found in a community come more into play. Therefore, when we talk about community, sometimes we will use the term sectors, and when dealing with the individual, we talk more in terms of physical, spiritual, emotional and social aspects.

Just concentrating on one area of life, such as just working with a person’s health or getting them a job, helps them in one way, but there needs to be assistance in multiple areas of life for real transformation to take place.

Let’s look at another aspect of being wholistic. Sometimes agencies talk about being wholistic when they have different people deal with the different sectors or areas in a person’s or community’s life. But to us that is not wholistic. That is parallel track ministry, but all elements rarely come to play in a person or community. Instead, what needs to happen is that multiple elements must come into play in order to see transformation. The people working in their own track are specialists and generally only concentrate on their specialty

I use the illustration: Have you ever look down a straight line of railroad tracks? The tracks start out being in parallel but far down the line they seem to converge. However, as you walk down the tracks you see that they never do. This is what happens when we have specialists working on their track.

They hope that all the people working together will bring convergence. But this does not happen.

For us to see wholistic transformation, all areas and sectors of life in individuals and a community must be done by one person who is looking for wholistic transformation to take place. This means we want to help people (in CHE or NT) to be generalists not specialists.

This also means you also have to use the KISS, Keep It Short and Simple, principle when helping people. In other words, we must decide what is the most important thing another person needs to understand, and forget sharing many of the “what-ifs”—the things people might need to know in the future or things that might be nice to know but others would never use.

So remember, it is best when we have generalists who deal with multiple areas in a community’s or person’s life, and who keep it simple. In another blog I will share with you how this is accomplished through our participatory teaching approach.

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.

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 to be all they can be, by transforming individuals who transform their community from the inside out.

Individuals and rural villages were being transformed by this strategy; therefore it was felt that CHE had potential for use in working with under-resources neighborhoods in urban settings. Three years ago it was decided to see if we could adapt our International rural focused CHE ministry for use with the urban poor in the United States. To this end we began to look at what needed to be changed to adapt CHE for United States consumption.

Identifying and Entering the Urban Community
The biggest problem in doing any Urban CHE or Neighborhood Transformation program is identifying cohesive communities in urban settings that are not really a community as we describe in it rural CHE. The more people hold in common, the greater is their sense of unity. If you can enter their community there is more likelihood of change then in diverse populations. But most geographic neighborhoods do not hold much in common. The question becomes how we can begin to create communities that have something in common.

Mel King’s work in Boston defines creating community as “Where people can live and feel nurtured, sustained, involved and stimulated. Creating community is the continual process of getting to know people, caring and sharing responsibility for the physical and spiritual condition of the living space. He adds we need as individuals and as communities to be about getting people to deal with the fears that immobilize us and bar us from our basic instincts towards growth, change and harmony”

We were introduced to a system that had been developed by Northwestern University called Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) which really deals with the above problems in urban neighborhoods. All people and neighborhoods have assets, identify those assets, network them together, and then build on what is already in the neighborhood and what the people themselves want to do.

In reality, this is what CHE does in rural areas, but we use Participatory Rural Appraisal, (PRA) in entering the community. ABCD takes the place of PRA as it identifies assets in individuals even more than PRA.

ABCD became the main approach for entering the community in urban settings. When we find people who are interested in doing something, we provide small group training for them. This training might include how teenage mothers can have healthy pregnancies, how to get and keep a job, or parenting children.

Urban NT is About Creating Community Instead of Entering an Existing Community
We found in rural CHE that transformation occurs best working with groups of people that were not too large in number, in villages of 1500 to 2000 people. Most cities are much larger but are already divided into neighborhoods. We found the best size neighborhood is built around the catchment area of one elementary school. The elementary especially in poor neighborhoods many times is the geographic center for the neighborhood. In the US we moved from a focus on villages to small identifiable city neighborhoods.

Since there are very few identifiable geographic communities that hold many things in common, as noted above, urban NT is all about finding points of interests held by very small groups of people built their self interests.

In reality we are creating new sub-communities built around people’s interests and assets and then aggregating these small self interest groups into a larger group neighborhood group by doing Appreciative Inquiry which helps people identify the good things that have happened in the past and then coming to a consensus of individual dreams for their neighborhood. The neighborhood then develops a plan to accomplish the thing that the neighborhood wants to accomplish for their neighborhood.