GO International hosts CHE training event

Published 10:44 am Thursday, January 31, 2019

Starting Friday, GO International in Wilmore will be hosting a Community Health Evangelism training event offering educational programs used by Christian churches and organizations across the globe to achieve sustainable change in underprivileged communities.

“Community Health Evangelism is a development strategy that has been used in more than 130 countries by more than 300 mission agencies and churches,” Dr. Larry Frick, director of medical missions for GO International said. “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.”

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The event will take place Feb. 1-10 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, located at 3100 Tates Creek Road.

During the 10-day event, participants learn key principals focusing on development rather than relief. These principals will integrate physical and spiritual ministry, developing local resources and multiplication and teach the process for beginning this work in communities’ where churches and organizations are helping abroad.

“Community Health Evangelism has been around in some form since the mid-1980s,” Frick said. “GO International has been using this strategy since 2010 and conducted the training in eight countries, but this will be our first training in the United States. Other organizations offer much more training (events) in the United States and around the world. The organizations using CHE work together through the Global CHE Network.”

Frick said, since its conception, he has seen individuals grow in their relationship with Christ, communities improve, churches strengthened and new churches planted.

He also reports preventable diseases have decreased, economic development increased and he has seen communities work together to solve their own problems.

“We are happy to provide this training in local churches. You can participate in one of our mission teams to a location using CHE. We plan to have additional training locally in the future,” Frick said.

The hope for CHE initiative this year is the success with the launch of programs in Honduras, Guatemala and Peru. Frick said the organization also hopes to see its current projects continue to make progress.

“GO is striving to incorporate CHE principles in all of our ministry teams and in all of our international partnerships,” Frick said. “We also hope to continue to offer this training locally for those from other churches and organizations who are interested in this approach to ministry. Additionally, we hope to encourage its use in local ministries in the region through the US version of CHE called Neighborhood Transformation.”

For more information, visit www.chenetwork.org.