For the past 15 years, LIMM has been actively involved with Community Health Education and Evangelism (CHE) projects, programs and trainings in the US and across the globe.
WHAT IS CHE?
CHE is Christ Centered Community Development
Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is a Christ-centered educational program that is being used by hundreds of Christian churches and organizations across the globe. CHE equips communities to identify issues and mobilize resources to achieve positive, sustainable change. Lives and communities are transformed as people come to Christ and work together to address local needs.
CHE is Integral Mission
CHE seamlessly integrates evangelism and discipleship with community health and development. Through CHE ministries, individuals become followers of Jesus and communities are lifted out of cycles of poverty and disease. Our purpose is a transformation in lives and communities that is as deep as the human heart, and as broad as the whole range of the human experience in the world God made. Through our work, Jesus is recognized as Lord over all creation, and our development activities bring glory to God by reflecting the depth and breadth of His Kingdom plan.
CHE is Adapted to Local Contexts
Different CHE models have emerged as a result of adapting the strategy to local contexts on every continent, and in every major religious and political environment. These include community based, church initiated, church based, family based, school based, clinic based, and government-initiated approaches. Local churches around the world can use any one of these models to engage with their communities.
CHE in North America
Among the poor in urban North America, CHE is being done under the banner of Neighborhood Transformation. CHE has been adapted for urban slums as well as rural villages.
As we bring CHE lessons to the world through our mission partners, LIMM works with the CHE Network and holds close the partnership principles of collaboration, impact focus, enabling, transforming and being synergistic. The goals of CHE include creating shared vision, local leadership, ownership and responsibility. Learning and skills are shared with others, so that what is learned is played forward to others in the church, family and community. There are many ways to describe CHE and we believe this is one of the best:
Go in search of your people. Love them. Learn from them. Serve them. Begin with what they have. Build on what they know. But with the best of leaders, when the task is accomplished, the people all remark “We have done it ourselves!”
To learn more, visit the CHE Network at https://www.chenetwork.org