Transforming
Neighborhoods
Envisioning
Transforming Neighborhoods is
is Built on Relationships
 Person
to person relationships
 Person to neighborhood relationships
 Neighborhood to city relationships
Transforming of Neighborhoods
and Cities By
Equipping Churches to Facilitate
Transformed Neighborhoods and
People to Maturity in Christ
Built on Luke 10:27
 Love
God with all your mind, body, soul and
strength
AND
 Love
your neighbor as yourself
What is Kingdom Transformation?
 Gods
Kingdom come, His will be done….
 Health and wholeness spiritually, physically,
emotionally, and socially.
 Restoration of right relationships with God, self,
others, and creation.
 Transformation is radical change that starts on the
inside. As beliefs and values change, behaviors and
the resulting effects are also altered. Communities
change as individuals change. Transformation
comes one person at a time.” (adapted from Miller 1998)
Cities Today

In 2010, more people live in urban areas than in rural
areas.

By 2020, 70% of the world will be living in cities of over
1 million.

There are 200 cities today with over 1 million people.
By 2020, there will be 1450.
Urban Neighborhoods
 People
from all over, generally
transient
 No sense of community because
they do not know and trust their
neighbors
 More isolated, dependent on
professionals
 No safety net when people
need help
 City is not a community, too big
therefore must break into smaller
neighborhoods
Neighborhoods
 Smaller
in size (8-12) blocks
 Centers around an elementary school area (since
most kids still walk to school)


Parents are more involved with kids at this age
Parents can be connected to other activities
The Approach
I.
Build a Village in the City
II.
Focus on Assets
III.
Gain Participation
I. Build a Village in the City
 We
know each other and look out for each
other by starting with fun activities and built on
self interest
 Surrounded by a social network, which is not kin
or tribe
 Realize all people have intrinsic value
 Build trust so help each other
 Aggregate neighbors into transforming their
neighborhood
To Build a Village We Must Find
Out About Each Other
 Since
most people do not even know the neighbor’s
names we need way to find out about people,
groups and organizations in the neighborhood.
 Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)
identifies assets found in individuals and groups in the
neighborhood.
 Asset mapping been done for 25 years in USA and a
powerful tool for beginning to create sub
communities
II. Focus on Assets
 Everyone
has assets (skills, knowledge, passions)
which may be unknown
 All people want to be of value to others and not
just be a receivers
 Builds on what is in the neighborhood already,
work can be on-going by people in it.
 Needs focus on problems, assets on solutions
III. Gain Participation at People’s
Level

Expose (Compassion)





Engage (Betterment)





Easy Entry
One Time
No Commitment
Little Relationship
Several Times
Heart is Changing
Some Commitment
Builds New Relationships
Own (Development)



Deeper Engagement
Recruiting Others
High Relationship
Compassion
Betterment
Development
The Strategy
 Find
churches that are externally focused and
want to reach their neighborhoods in a wholistic
way.
 Create new sub-communities and villages.
 Find assets and interests of people and equips
them to accomplish activities built on their selfinterest.
 Connect small interest groups to neighborhood
interests.
Major Players in Transforming a
Neighborhood

A Facilitation/Training Team (launch team) of lay people
from the church, and eventually the community, initiates
the program--creating awareness and training the next
two groups.

A Committee, or Neighborhood Association of local
leaders from the neighborhood who are trained by
launch team & then direct the outreach in their area.

Neighborhood Agents of Change (NAC) are local
volunteers who learn how to help their neighbors & then
visit neighbors to share what they have learned.
Activities to Start
 Launch
team from the church begins work on
several fronts to raise awareness and participation.





Church identifies where members live and group into
neighborhoods challenging people to know their neighbors
Members begin walking the two square blocks where they
live to meet and get to know their neighbors
Hold bar-b-ques, block parties etc to begin to develop
relationships
Begin to do acts of service to elementary school for the
designated large neighborhoods.
Do asset mapping and begin simple classes based on what
people in the neighborhood want to learn
Training Local Volunteer
Facilitators




Facilitators are volunteers therefore only have limited
time each week
Start with 10 hour Weekend Training for volunteer
facilitators by Master Trainer
Train multiple churches together each applying in their
neighborhood.
Churches decide which modules they want additional
training on from 10 modules (4 to 7 hours each).
Training Is Built On Turning
Learning into Action






Starts with what people already know
and builds.
Focuses on the learner not the teacher.
People are involved in their own learning
instead of being lectured to. They
participate in small groups, discussions,
role plays, creating stories and songs.
All learning is turned into action and not
left as head knowledge.
The teaching is under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit.
There are over 2000 participatory lesson
plans to be used by the trained on many
different topics.
Impact Statement
 Neighborhoods
throughout city doing wholistic
transformational ministry are networked together
to learn from and encourage each other.
 As
the teams come together they find common
interests which begin to transform the city as a
whole thereby changing it from the inside out.
Observable Indicators
 Transformed
neighborhoods from the inside.
 People know neighbors and helping each other.
 People knowing and growing in Christ.
 People taking responsibility for their own lives.
 Healthy growing churches.
 Improvement in employment and living conditions.
 Reduction in disease, crime, drug and alcohol
addiction.
 Other Neighborhoods throughout the city begin to
implement Neighborhood Transformation.
Resources
www.neighborhoodtransformation.net
http://facebook.com/pages/Neighborhoo
d-Transformation/178206349129
http://urbancheguy.wordpress.com
Helping Transform Neighborhoods
and People To Maturity In Christ
A Ministry of Alliance for Transformational Ministry
Stan Rowland & Jeff Bisgrove
www.neighborhoodtransformation.net