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SCALING UP CHE. The East African Story. What Makes CHE Spread. Awareness Desire for Change Motivated Leaders Credibility of Positive Models Experienced Mentors Start Up Resources Accepted and Publicized Plan. Awareness. CHE started in East Africa in the 1980s
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SCALING UP CHE The East African Story
What Makes CHE Spread • Awareness • Desire for Change • Motivated Leaders • Credibility of Positive Models • Experienced Mentors • Start Up Resources • Accepted and Publicized Plan
Awareness • CHE started in East Africa in the 1980s • Many organizations have been trained
Desire for Change • Worsening poverty in spite of efforts • Missions frustrated by the persistence of preventable problems • Disappointing evangelism & discipleship • The expense of present approaches • Nationals who are restless under the leadership of expatriates • Perils of dependency widely recognized
Motivated Leaders • More national and mission leaders agree that a wholistic approach is effective for reaching the “unreached”, and maturing the already “reached”. • Local ownership appeals to nationals. • Sustainability appeals to all but the most dependent. • CHE offers hope for improved dignity for both nationals and missions.
Positive Models • Mbuji Mayi, DRC (LifeWind community-based) • Church of Uganda (Anglican church-based) • Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (SIM church-based)
Mbuji Mayi, DRC • Best Studied of the three examples • Started 1991 • Multiplied to 56 villages by 1997 • Survived Civil War 1997-2001 without expatriate supervision (but with outside funds) while multiplying to 113 villages • Planted 46 churches • May have cut malnutrition and infant mortality by 50 percent • In 2008 CHE serves about 500 villages
Church of Uganda • First Uganda CHE in 1980s • Early contributing groups included • Mission: Moving Mountains, and • Agape Movement of Campus Crusade • Success here inspired Stan Rowland to focus on CHE • Multiplication really did not explode until Chris and Jane Palacas joined forces with the Church of Uganda (Anglican).
Church of Uganda Cont. • Most of the growth of CHE in Uganda has taken place in the last seven years. • Now in 14 of 32 of the Dioceses of the Anglican church. (There are about 400-600 church congregations in each Diocese). • About 350 of the 25,000 Anglican Churches in Uganda have started CHE programs.
Church of Uganda Cont. • Churches doing CHE have increased attendance between 35 and 500%. • These churches rarely met their annual giving goals in the past. In 2007, most of those churches doing CHE had met their giving goals by the end of July. • Prayer and deliverance ministries have gone hand-in-hand with CHE.
Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church • Gedeo Zone program began January 2006. • At start they had no trained people and no programs • 82 programs have started so far. • Many more are schedule to start in February of 2009 • All 440 EKHC congregations in the this area of southern Ethiopia are hoping to be involved in CHE by 2012.
Southern Ethiopia continued • Programs and trainers have varied in strength, but those that started well are inspiring those that started with less enthusiasm. • 164 volunteer trainers and 12 paid master trainers are presently active. • The key to success so far has been the 1,600 people who are volunteering as committee members or CHEs.
Ethiopia Projects So Far • Latrines constructed or improved • Hand washing stations • Dish drying racks for solar disinfection • Water source cleaning and protection • Low-tech road and bridge construction • Nutrition and family planning training • Effects on health - not yet measured • Community pride is palpable
Ethiopia Spiritual Effects So Far • Thousands of new professions of faith in Jesus • About the same number have recommitted their lives to Christ • Many small group Bible study and prayer groups are starting. This is an area that is piloting new Bible Story telling methods. • Effects on church giving have not been measured.
Experienced Trainers • Uganda and DRC: • Long track records = many experienced trainers • Southern Ethiopia had no one in 2005. Many are growing well now. • Ideal is to choose master trainers from a list of effective volunteers • Developing strong trainers = high priority
Start Up Resources • CHE costs are low compared to most ministry options. • New Covenant Foundation runs a coffee processing plant in southern Ethiopia and helped with funding CHE trainings, transport, and master trainers’ salaries. • Costs have been reduced by heavy use of volunteers.
A Scale Up Plan • Southern Ethiopia as a model • Builds on more than 50 years of successful church planting by SIM • Rural, mountainous coffee-growing area • Poverty real but not as desperate as some other areas of Ethiopia • Strong, well-respected church leadership
More about the Gedeo Zone • A group of 440 local EKHC expressed interest in starting programs. • New Covenant Foundation (NCF) was willing to provide some financial support to allow more rapid start-up. • Experienced trainers were only available from other regions of Ethiopia.
CHE Staffing Assumptions • On average, each program needs a visit by two trainers two days per week in first year. • Then one day per week by two trainers in the second year. • One day every other week in year three. • Year four: Trainers visits as needed • Every volunteer trainer needs to backed up and encouraged by a locally available paid master trainer.
Bring New Trainers Up to Speed • New trainers should be paired with experienced (paid or volunteer) trainers in their first year. • Volunteer trainers work best in areas with many local CHE programs close together geographically. • Continuity in follow up by known trainers improves relationship building.
Options considered in Gedeo, Et • Option one: Multiplying paid trainers was too expensive. • Option two: Programs for some, but not all of the churches was unacceptable. • Option three: Use many volunteer trainers. This was the option chosen.
Plan for using volunteer trainers Every new church nominated at least 2 new volunteer trainers. After volunteer trainers had one year of experience in a successful program: • They both followed up their own church, • And helped start programs in neighboring churches within walking distance of their home church.
Do volunteer trainers eliminate the need for paid trainers? • Volunteer trainers need easy access to a local paid master trainer for encouragement and problem solving. • Paid persons are needed to start programs in new areas geographically distant from previous CHE sites.
Problems Experienced So Far • Modest turnover of trained personnel • Waning of volunteer trainer enthusiasm • Transportation difficulties • Competing priorities for volunteers • Balancing spiritual and physical training elements • Sustaining critical prayer support • Funding depreciation is a foreign concept • Too much optimism on transfer to local support both from LifeWind and from national leaders
What we are doing differently? • Start with even more focus on forming prayer support groups. • Consider more (at least 3 and 8-12 may be ideal) volunteer trainers from each church. • Plan better for transport of master trainers. • Motorcycyles were need in the Gedeo Zone. • Allow some churches more than one year before planting a new program, without stopping expansion early if desired.
Financial Lessons Learned • National churches may be reluctant to promise future support hoping outsiders will do it instead. • Site working models of local funding. • Recognize that cooperative leaders may believe “God will somehow provide,” and promise more future support than is realistic. • Accept slower growth to lower eventual program maintenance costs.
