Transformational Development Practices

Laura Hoy, resident of the Walnut Neighborhood and consultant through her business Travel Wholehearted at Home, has been facilitating a series of conversations with churches and community members around the question, “What makes for transformational development in our communities?” Laura brings her experience with the 8 key components of Christian Community Development into this conversation. These components include reconciliation with justice, redistribution, the theology of presence/place, listening to the community, churches doing life with the community, empowerment, leadership development, and a wholistic approach to development.

Last week, members of the class played the Bean Game, an exercise that helped the group look at how resources such as time, passions, money, education, finances, skills, etc. are distributed across our society. The leading questions in our time together was “How do we consider the resources we have? Are we owners with rights or stewards with responsibilities for the greater good?