Overview
Core Values
Some Basic Assumptions
The Process of Integrated Holistic Development

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7

For the past 12 years we have been struggling with the implications of the holistic mission of the church in Udon, Thailand. We are doing what we call "Integrated Holistic Development". It is development in that it seeks to transform people from what they are to what they are meant to be in Christ. It is holistic in the sense that it deals with the whole man and all areas of his life. It is integrated in that all aspects of the ministry are tied together and could not exist or function independently. I would like to share with you today our concept of Integrated Holistic Development and the World Mission of the Church.

AN OVERVIEW:

We began our Integrated Holistic Development ministry with the establishment, in 1977, of the Center for Church Planting and Church Growth in N.E. Thailand. It’s original purpose was to plant "contextualized dynamic equivalent" churches in N.E. Thailand, the poverty belt of Thailand. Since that time, the Center and its ministry have grown. It has given birth to over 100 churches and has started the Issaan Development Foundation to deal with the socio-economic needs of the people of N.E. Thailand. Today the Center and the Foundation are pioneering in the areas of the contextualization of the Gospel (theology, music, dance, & drama) (the Church - Faith, Practice, and Lifestyle), the integration of social and spiritual ministry, the development of local eco-systems or integrated farming systems, among other things. The basic goal of the Center and Foundation is to establish groups of people in the process of "being transformed" (churches who are integrated with their society, culture, and nature and are actively pursuing the task of holistic development in their own communities).

Both the Center and the Foundation are operated by the same staff. The Center focuses on the more directly church related ministries, such as Church Planting, Church Enablement, Music, Song, and Dance (see appendix #2). The Foundation is concerned with the social and economic ministries to the church, such as pig banks, rice banks, eco-system co-ops, community health, and welfare (see appendix #5). The foundation exists to give us an official organization recognized by the Thai government, which is capable of owning land and legally representing those with legal problems. It should be noted that we have 2 organizations set up out of legal necessity. We can not incorporate our spiritual work into the ,Foundation and be accepted by the government. In fact both the Center and the Foundation are integrated in the sense that the same goals, policies, and people govern both organizations. Functionally they are two arms of the same body.

An important part of the Foundation is our Udon Patina Farm. It is a 30 acre integrated farm system (see appendix #4 & #5) which integrates rice mill, fish, pigs, ducks, chickens, trees, and vegetables. The Farm exists for a number of very crucial reasons. It is the economic support base for all expenses of the Center & Foundation. It is the basic resource center for support, materials, and technology for all socio-economic development projects. It is the basic model for all eco-system cooperative projects done at the village level. It is an agricultural implementation center. Nothing is introduced at the village level before being tested at the Farm first.

The Center and Foundation (including the Farm) work together in an integrated way to establish new communities of "being transformed" people in N.E. society, and to help them grow in a new relationship with God, man, and nature, as well as to develop a dynamic new lifestyle in response to God’s Grace (see appendix #1).

CORE VALUES

In order to understand the process of Integrated Holistic Development as it exists for us, it is important to know’ the basic motives which permeate all areas of the process. Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr. in their important book on management, In Search of Excellence, have quoted Thomas Watson Jr. (President of IBM) concerning the importance of beliefs or values in the success of any organization. He writes:

"....I firmly believe that any organization in order to survive and achieve success must have a sound set of beliefs. on which it premises all its policies and actions. Next I believe that the most important single factor in corporate success is. faithful adherence to those beliefs. And, finally, I believe if an organization is to meet the challenge of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except those beliefs, as it moves through corporate life." (In Search of Excellence - pg. 280)

What Mr. Watson has said in the above quote about the management of business organizations applies just as well to the Christian Church. These are 3 basic values which are at the core of our whole ministry in N.E. Thailand, which reinforce the tenets of Mr. Watson’s statements on management:

Value #1 (Authority)

Central to all of our activities is a firm belief in the authority of the Word of God. Stemming from this is a belief in and commitment to the Grace of God in Jesus Christ, which is the heart of the Gospel. Religion for us is GRACE and GRACE alone. As Moffatt has so rightly said, "The Bible is a religion of Grace or it is nothing at all..... .no grace, no Gospel."

Value #2 (Integration)

All of the policies and actions of the Center and the Foundation are based on the Grace of God. Every aspect of our ministry is tied together (integrated) by the Grace of God. We manage our organization and our lives by Grace. We plan, implement, evaluate, and correct problems, always referring to the principle of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ as our model and guide, and always depending on the "Power" of Grace to do the work. Our belief in God’s Grace is applied to every area of organizational and personal life. This ties all aspects of our work together. There are no spiritual and secular areas to our work as all are tied together by the Grace of God into - one ministry of Integrated Holistic Development.

Value #3 (Flexibility)

We are concerned to do everything possible to allow the Grace of God in Jesus Christ to be clearly communicated to the N.E. Thai. We are willing to change any and everything about our organization to clearly communicate the Grace of God which alone can transform man. In just about every area of our organization, we have changed both form and content of our ministry from traditional Thai Christianity. This is due to the fact that our basic goal to communicate the Gospel of Grace is priority, and all else, including traditional Christian culture is changed if it does not help us reach our objective. Traditional Thai Christianity is 150 years old and "rigid". We are 8 years old and striving to be "flexible".

SOME BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

There are a number of basic assumptions which act as a foundation to our concept of Integrated Holistic Development.

1. The whole of God’s creation is under the curse of sin and is suffering as a result of this sinful condition.

- On the one hand is man - This curse affects his whole life. He must labor to eat, he fights disease and decay every day of his life, and he lives a life governed by a self-centric nature which prompts him to take advantage of the rest of creation for his own selfish motives.

- On the other hand is nature - The curse affects nature the same way as man with disease, decay, and destruction dominating the scene.

2. This state of affairs has resulted from and results in a severing of relationships.

- It has resulted from the severing of relationships between God and His creation due to man’s self-centric desire to be like God.

- It has resulted in a severing of relationships between man and man, and between man and creation.

3. The universal need of all creation is:

- To be put back into right relationship with God (the creator), with man, and with nature.

4. The only way this is possible is through God’s reconciling act of Grace in Jesus Christ. By God’s Grace man is reconciled to God and creation. By God’s Grace man is transformed at the deepest level - his values and mindsets.

5. The Church of Jesus Christ is the agent for this reconciliation, which will reach fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the meantime, it is the Church’s responsibility to work toward this reconciliation and transformation, here and now, by the power of God’s Grace.

Integrated Holistic Development is the system we have been developing in N.E. Thailand for doing the Gospel, which alone can bring reconciliation. This includes a variety of things: Church Planting, Theological Education, Leadership Training, Biblical Study, Management Training, Agricultural Research and Training, Preventative Medicine, Health and Hygiene Training, Contextualized Music, Song & Dance Development, Socio-Economic Programs, Economic Support Base Development, etc. Integrated Holistic Development is our effort to speak to the basic problem and need of man and natural creation noted above. It is impossible for us to imagine doing the mission of the Church with any degree of success apart from such a holistic ministry.

THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATED HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Integrated Holistic Development is a process, by which I mean it is progressive in nature. It is a lifelong process and never really ends. It has a starting point in the response of man to the Gospel of Grace in Jesus Christ. It has a culmination point which is the coming of Jesus Christ for the Second time.

The focus of Integrated Holistic Development is the development of the "total man". It emphasizes the functional relationship between the various aspects of man which are the focus of true development (spiritual, physical, psychological, social, economical). The result of Integrated Holistic Development is the development (transformation of something from what it is to what it is meant to be in Jesus Christ) of the natural creation by people who have been and are being "transformed" by the renewal of their minds in Jesus Christ.

There are 3 premises to Integrated Holistic Development:

1. Only "being transformed" people can do comprehensive and consistent Integrated Holistic Development.

2. The best "being transformed" people to do Integrated Holistic Development in society, are local people. The best innovators are those within a community.

3. "Being transformed" people are only being transformed as they experience the process of Integrated Holistic Development first themselves.

The process of Integrated Holistic Development covers seven basic steps for us. There is a certain sequence necessary in the steps, but each of the seven steps are in continual process. There is never a sense in which any one of the steps is completed. Each of the steps is part of a vibrant and vital mix for us. These are not theoretical points, but rather practical points which are the essential ingredients of our organizational lifestyle in Udon. All 7 steps are presented here from the viewpoint of one doing Integrated Holistic Development in a local cultural setting.

STEP #1 - KNOW THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL

A clear and precise understanding of the message of the Gospel is critical. Understanding the Gospel clearly is the starting point of Integrated Holistic Development.

The Gospel is God’s power to salvation (Romans 1:10 & 17). Put another way, the Gospel is God’s power to transform people at the value and belief system level.

Our concept of Integrated Holistic Development is based on a belief in the renewal of the world from an outside force - God in Jesus Christ. The work of Integrated Holistic Development is God’s work from start. to finish. We have no concept of a superficial doctrine of progress through human achievement. That concept is bankrupt from the start (e.g. the idea that man is basically good and if we teach and fund him, he will progress).

Our concept of man is that he is basically weak and incapable of working for the good of others and of natural creation. He is basically self-centric and interested in what are ultimately selfish and self-gratifying goals in life. His values contrast completely with those of God. His lifestyle which springs from those self-centric values, denies the greatness of God and the importance of others and the natural creation.

Only the act of God in Jesus Christ can change man and turn him right side up. God has done in Jesus Christ what man can’t do for himself. In Jesus, God has fulfilled the demands of the law for man. In Jesus, God has paid the debt man has accrued through sin (death)! In Jesus, God has provided power for new life (power for value system change). The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus guarantees the out-come of our efforts in Integrated Holistic Development. The Gospel is God’s power which has the responsibility of converting man from his own value system or mindset, to God’s value system (Rom. 12:2).

Integrated Holistic Development is concerned with the confrontation of man’s value system with the "new" value system of God. It is concerned with the transformation which occurs in the mindset of man due to a power encounter with the value system of God. It is concerned with the new lifestyle which results from a transformation of the mindset of man. It is concerned with the results of this process of transformation for the larger community of mankind and the natural creation of the world.

The Gospel of God in Jesus Christ is the only source for the transformation of man. It is the Word of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ. It is the Word that God has done for man in Jesus Christ everything God demands of man. It is the Word that there is a way for man to be plugged back into the awesome power of God that initially created man and the natural creation. It is the Word that man can be what he was originally intended to be when God created him. It is the Word that all man has to do is to receive in faith and trust what God has done for him in Jesus Christ. The Gospel unleashes the power of God to transform man on the condition of the willing dependence of man on that power!

The problem faced by the World Mission of the Church today is that the above message is the hardest of all concepts to believe and act on. There. is a basic "false assumption" today that all Christians understand and teach the essence of the Gospel of Grace in Jesus Christ. For the past 14 years in Thailand. I have been experiencing the fact that this just is not true!

Most traditional Christians that I have dealt with in Thailand (nationals and missionaries) do not clearly understand the Gospel of God in Jesus Christ. There is a definite tendency to "fudge" away from the essence of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ. Again and again I have been told that the concept of God doing everything for man by His Grace is too easy or that it opens Christians up to freedom to sin. I have been told that the concept of God’s Grace does not make people "responsible". I have been called a heretic teaching and living the Grace of God.

I am deeply concerned about what I feel is a "crisis of faith" in the World Mission of the Church today. Law and man’s efforts to be good and acceptable to God are a powerful force in the value system of the Church of Jesus Christ. I have had national evangelical leaders from evangelical organizations throughout countries in Asia tell me that Law, not Grace, was the basis of their church’s belief and value system! I am concerned that the Church of Jesus Christ does not know the Gospel it so blithely espouses and as a result cannot possess the power of God’s Grace which is the basis of all transformation in this world.

I am convinced that there are at least two basic reasons for this crisis of faith in the Church of Jesus Christ today:

1. The Christian Church is "duped" by the value system of society at large. By this I mean that the value system of the Gospel has become prostituted to the value system of this world. The result is a quasi Christian culture which passes itself off as the essence of the Christian Church. At its heart is a commitment to a basically "religious" value -- man must be morally good in order to please God and find salvation. The overriding concern of this Christian subculture is morality, and the message is LAW. If God’s Grace is mentioned, it is fleetingly, as the focus of this non-Biblical Christian subculture is the Law, and the total efforts are aimed at making people be good.

The basic problem with this value system, which permeates most of the Church in Thailand today, is that it is not the Gospel message. God’s Word is that man is not and cannot be good enough to please God by obedience to the law.’ Religious efforts to please God by obedience to the law are bound to fail. There is no way man can be saved by obedience to the law (Romans 3:20). The basic role of the law is to drive man to despair and total dependence on the Grace of God which is God’s power for salvation and transformation. It is not enough to be Christian. Religion is powerless to help man, as its basic appeal is to man’s self-efforts at being morally acceptable to God, which is categorically impossible.

The Gospel message is that there is no one good but God (Luke 18:19). This goodness (righteousness) of God is free as a gift to all who believe and accept it (Eph. 2:8-9). This goodness of God is the power of God (Rom. 1:16-17) which will utterly transform man and enable him to become what God originally planned him to be. This is the ultimate goal of Integrated Holistic Development and the only way to realizing it is through the Gospel of Grace in Jesus Christ.

2. No one really studies the Word today. In Thailand the common notion among Bible School graduates is that once you have graduated there is no need to study further.. Attempts to get clergy to study the Bible are often met with state-ments that they have already finished their study and have a slip of paper to show it. If the leadership of the Church do not study the Word there is no hope for the Church today!

As a direct result,. the preaching that is done in Thailand does not so much elucidate the Word as it lifts up the preacher. I was once told by a Thai clergyman that I would the opposite of what Christianity does.

There is no way possible for the power of God in the Gospel to speak out in a subcultural system that calls itself Christian, but takes the law as its basic message and never be famous in Thailand because I taught the Word and lifted God up which was does not study the Word seriously. It is no wonder the Church in Thailand is weak and anemic! It has emasculated the Gospel and has lost the power of God in Jesus Christ.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #1

The first principle, therefore, of Integrated Holistic Development is that those doing Integrated Holistic Develop-ment must understand and accept the essence of the Gospel (God’s Grace in Jesus Christ) and be experiencing the transforming power of God in their lives (a transformation of value systems)!

STEP #2 - KNOW THE PEOPLE AND THE LOCAL CULTURE

It is crucial to the concept of Integrated Holistic Development that those doing Integrated Holistic Development work, know the mindset and the values and belief systems of the people they wish to help. On a secular level I have seen development schemes ostensibly set up to help the N.E. Thai villagers, by well meaning organizations, fail due to a lack of understanding of the local people and culture on the part of the development organization. Westerners especially like to believe that all people think like they do. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The World Mission of the Church, in my experience, has had as much problem with this point as secular development organizations. To be sure, Western missionaries learn languages when they go to other countries. It is, however, not enough to know a language. Knowing what a person means by what he says is just as or even more crucial. It is very possible to understand the Thai language and yet not understand the mindset of a Thai or the values of a Thai.

There are several reasons why it is necessary to know the mindset and values of the local people:

1. It is essential to know the mindset and values of people in order to begin where they are! This sounds simple enough, but the fact is that much of Christian evangelism and propagation of the Gospel begins where the Christian communicator is and does not even try to understand where the local people are.

An example of this is efforts of well meaning Christians to help Thai who are part of a shame culture admit they are sinners. The effort generally meets with repudiation on the part of the Thai who, on the one hand is locked into a legalistic religious system of gaining merit by not sinning, and on the other hand knows that any admittance of sin would bring loss of face and eyes in society. The question is how to get the Thai to sense their bankruptcy and need of the help that only God can give. Our answer, after much study both of the Word and of the Thai value system, is to redefine sin. Instead of accepting (as do the above traditional Christians) that sin is doing bad things (which in itself is a very inadequate definition of sin), we have determined that sin is egocentrism and the selfish nature of man. Since a basic value of Thai culture is "I am the source of dependence for I myself" and two corollaries are, "to each his own" and "I can’t see anyone but myself as good", this definition of sin hits home. It is also responded to quite positively. Most Thai will admit to "hen kae tua" (look out only for self). When they have been helped. to think through the implications of that value system, their question is generally "What can I do?". The answer is the Gospel - only God can do anything to help you and He has in Jesus Christ.

2. It is important to know the people and local values and mindsets in order to know what must be confronted and transformed by the power of God. Such obviously counter Gospel values as "hen kae tua" (look out only for yourself) in Thailand must be understood clearly before they can be confronted with the value system of the Gospel, "love your neighbor as you love yourself"!

The ultimate authority in what must change is God’s Word - the Gospel. Knowing the Word (point #1) and then knowing the value system of the local culture provides both the foundation (the Word) and the focus (the culture) necessary for value system power encounter and change.

3. It is important to know the people and local culture and mindsets in order to evaluate the progress of transformation in the minds and attitudes of the people. It is easy to be duped into thinking everything is going well because people are doing things according to a project or program we have laid out. The deeper question is, have they actually begun to be transformed in the area of mindsets and values or are they merely parroting the Christian system in order to get personal gain?

The problem faced by the World Mission of the Church today, is that such understanding rarely takes place. It is much easier to assume that the local people think like us and get on with the job! It takes time and effort and a real capacity to pull oneself out of one’s own cultural grid; and put oneself into another cultural situation!

As a result we have developed a Christianity around the world which is basically Western in focus. We do not really speak to the people and the local culture. We develop local followers who are removed from the local culture and setting. and who have become "like us", which being interpreted means "Christian" vs. "Thai" or some other non-Christian culture. As the head of the Thai immigration department in Bangkok once told me in a discussion, "Missionaries never listen and never try to learn who we are and what we are. They are always trying to tell us something. I feel that missionaries are the most selfish people I know!".

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #2

The second basic principle is that Integrated Holistic Development requires a deep understanding of the people and local culture being addressed.

STEP #3 - CONTEXTUALIZE THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL

Once the message of the Gospel is clearly understood by the person doing Integrated Holistic Development and the people and local culture being addressed are understood, it is important that the message of the Gospel be contextualized (incarnated) into that local setting. What this means is to put the message of the Gospel into the forms and expressions of the local culture. Use the local cultural language and idioms and forms of transmission to communicate the Gospel.

The contextualizing of the Gospel message has one basic purpose - to clearly communicate the Gospel to the receptor culture. Those forms and expressions of the local culture not capable of clearly communicating the Gospel, are not used.

There are a number of culturally defined principles of communication which support the above point.

1. People can communicate clearly only to the extent that they share a common culture.

2. As a result communication takes place best when two participants (the source and the receptor) and the message (the Gospel) are part of the same culture.

3. Communication is what is heard, not what is said. It is dependent on how the receptor hears the message.

4. Communication can’t transfer meaning, only information. Meaning takes place in the mind of the receptor and conforms to his cultural grid.

5. Effective communication must be receptor oriented.

6. Communication is most effective when the receptor understands the message to relate to life as he lives and understands it.

Although contextualization is a popular word in the theoretical jargon of the study of the World Mission of the Church today, it is difficult indeed to find anyone actually practicing contextualization. Most mission and national Christian organizations are so locked into their Western forms of Christianity, that they would believe it tantamount to heresy to express the Gospel in culturally relevant forms and expressions. There is also an abiding false fear that expressing the Gospel in the forms and expressions of a local culture will create a syncretistic and, therefore, non-Christian movement. In fact, Christianity around the world. is largely Western in form and expression, and largely contains the value system of the local culture housed in those forms! What we currently have is a Christianity which is highly syncretistic and non-Christian in its values and belief system.

Integrated Holistic Development emphasizes what we have called "dynamic equivalence" versus the "formal correspondence" espoused by most of the worldwide Church today. Formal correspondence places emphasis on the formal aspects of Western Christianity. In the transmission of Christianity to other countries, the form and expressions. stay the same (to the benefit of the source who is comfortable with these forms). There is correspondence of form between both the sender and the receptor cultures. The problem is that in countries such as Thailand, Thai Christianity parrots the forms of Western Christianity and retains the values and beliefs of the local culture.

Dynamic equivalence places emphasis on the context or message to be communicated and seeks to use local forms and expressions which are capable of doing so, to clearly communicate this message. The goal is to do whatever is necessary to make sure the message as originally phrased in words, idioms, and forms of the source culture, is faithfully rephrased in functionally equivalent words, idioms, and forms of the receptor culture. In dynamic equivalence the form changes but the message stays the same. Dynamic equivalence focuses on equivalence of message rather than form and is based on several basic principles.

1. Each culture has its own unique character or distinctiveness. As a result, different cultures say the same thing in different ways.

2. To preserve the context of the message, the form must be changed. Since different cultures express similar concepts in different ways, and no concepts in exactly the same ways, good communication must alter the form of expression to fit the receptor culture.

3. The effective communicator is prepared to make any and all formal changes necessary to reproduce the message he wishes to transmit in the distinct cultural forms of the receptor culture.

We have immersed ourselves in the local culture and have attempted to allow the Gospel to speak out clearly in the N.E. Thai cultural forms and expressions. This paper does not provide the room necessary to go into detail concerning our attempts at. contextualizing the Gospel message. We have attempted to develop a N.E. Thai Christian community (church) which in its forms and expressions is completely identified with its context, and as a result formally out of sync with traditional Thai Christianity. Our language is Lao (heart language of the N.E.), our hymns are N.E. Thai tunes with Scripture, our ceremonies are N.E. Thai ceremonies impregnated with the Gospel, and our liturgy is drawn from the N.E. Thai social context and used to express glory to God. Our people dance in worship services to express glory to God. There is no preaching, but rather a discussion centered on the Word and led by elders asking questions on the passage. There are no church buildings, as we meet in houses. We have adopted many of the N.E. traditions into the lifestyle of the Church, such as tying strings in love and blessing.

The response on the part of the traditional Thai church has been everything from dismay to disbelief. We have been accused of being demonic by some fellow Christians and our salvation has been questioned by others. We are rocking the cultural "boat" of traditional Christianity in Thailand. Those who listen long enough to understand that what we are doing is "Contextualization", voice support. When questioned, however, about why they are not doing similar things, they shake their heads and say that although their organizations give lip service to contextualization, they would never dare actually do it.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #3

To be clearly understood, the message (Gospel) must be phrased in the local cultural forms, expressions, and idioms of the receptor culture.

STEP #4 - ENCOUNTER THE VALUE SYSTEM OF THE LOCAL CULTURE WITH THAT OF THE GOSPEL

Once the message of the Gospel is understood clearly by the person doing Integrated Holistic Development, and the people and the local culture are understood, and the Gospel is contextualized in the forms and expressions of the local culture, it is necessary to encounter the value system of the local culture with the value system of the Gospel. In order to do this, two things are essential. One is a thorough knowledge of the value system of the Gospel. The second is a thorough knowledge of the value system of the local culture.

Something that would be very helpful at this point would be a study on the value system of the Gospel. I have not been able to find a study which deals with the value system of the Word of God. I think that it is "assumed" that Christians know Biblical values and have them integrated into their lives by the very fact that they are Christians. This of course is not true. The true value system of the Gospel is constantly at loggerheads with the value system of society at large (all societies). One of the crucial tasks for the church itself today is to work at aligning the value system of the Church of Jesus Christ back up with the values of the Gospel. To the extent we are ourselves out of alignment with God’s value system, to that extent we will have absolutely nothing to say to the world today.

The first step, therefore, in confronting the value system of a local culture with the value system of the Gospel, is to study the value system of the Gospel. The uniqueness of the value system of the Gospel is immediately apparent.

- The Word says, if you want to be great - serve.
- The Word says, if you want to be first - be last.
- The Word says, if you want to live - die.
- The Word says, if you want to be strong - be weak.
- The Word says, if you want to be good - admit you’re bad.
- The Word says, don’t curse - bless.
- The Word says, don’t take - give.
- The Word says, don’t love self only - love your neighbor as you love yourself.

The Word of God reverses the value systems of most cultures. We must clearly and comprehensively develop the basic value system of the Word of God if we ever expect to know at which points we have to confront the value systems of the local culture! A lack of a clear understand-mg of the value system of the Word results in a helter skelter "shot gun" approach to other cultures, which usually ends up in the retention of the local value system under the guise of Christianity (formal correspondence Christianity).

The second step in confronting the value system of a local culture with the value system of the Word, is to study the value system of the local culture. We can no more assume we know the value system of a local culture than we can assume we know the value system of the Gospel! It takes study. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes discernment and insight. All of which come only by the Grace of God as we are willing to take the step.

There are a number of ways that the values of a local culture can be studied.

1. The easiest and perhaps the least helpful, is to study books written by foreign researchers (anthropologists and sociologists) on the value system of local cultures. This is good background material and serves to acquaint one with the mindset of the local culture. The weakness of studies done by Western social scientists, however, is their seeming inability to grapple honestly with the truth of the value systems of local cultures. Western social scientists are most often trying to prove or disprove certain theoretical assumptions of their own, which keeps them from seeing things that do not fit into their theoretical grid. Combined with this is the natural reticence of most Western social scientists to say anything negative about a given culture for fear of seeming to lose their objectivity. This reticence often leads to the neglect of very valid and import aspects of the value system of a given culture!

2. The second procedure which will help to understand the local cultural value system is to read studies done by nationals of the local culture and written in the language of the local culture. They tend to be more open and honest, in my experience. Valuable insights can be found in such writings.

3. The third way to gain insights into the value systems of the local culture is through personal observation and discussion with local people. I have found this to be the most productive. There is a large obstacle to be overcome, however, before this can be done. The trust of the local person must be won before he will ever open up and describe his context honestly.

In Udon we have been working steadily for years on understanding the value systems of both the Word of God and the local culture. It is slow work, but when it is done, contact is made between the Gospel message and the heart of the local culture which is never reached in the helter skelter evangelistic methodology of the Christian Church. We have identified numbers of confrontation points (see appendix #2 for a few of these) between the value system of N.E. Thailand and the Gospel. These are reinforced over and over again in all of our teaching and in our management system. We make it a point to focus teaching and all the work of both the Center and the Foundation on the encounter of value systems at every level of the work!

A number of points are crucial to the process.

1. Study of God’s Word is crucial. We place a lot of emphasis on exegetical study by all staff members and elders and deacons (3-4 different books of the Bible will be studied on a once weekly basis for each book).

2. Emphasis must be placed on the contrast of values as they appear in the study of the Word.

3. No preaching is permitted as it has little or no value in creating confrontation between values. "Interactive" teaching (based on questions and discussion) is used in place of preaching.

4. Regularity and consistency in teaching and confrontation are essential.

5. Understanding is a priority and not the compulsory completion of a certain passage. Hours are sometimes spent on the discussion of one verse.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #4

Every effort must be made to contrast the value system of the local culture with those of God’s Word.

STEP #5 - ESTABLISH DYNAMIC EQUIVALENT CHURCHES IN THE LOCAL CULTURE

In fact, once the message of the Gospel is allowed to impregnate the local cultural forms and expressions, and the value system of the Word of God is allowed to confront the value system of the local culture, dynamic equivalent churches seem to spontaneously spring into being. A dynamic equivalence church is a church which remains an integral part of its local culture and community (takes part in the local community life, uses local language and cultural forms and expressions, not segregated from the local scene, but integrated). A dynamic equivalence church is a church which is experiencing a transformation of its old value system and as a result is living out a new lifestyle in the local community and is countering the local cultural value system with the value system of the Gospel. These churches are the new community of the Gospel. They maintain their relationship to the old community and so become innovators from within.

To become a dynamic equivalent church, the church must have passed steps #1 - #4 in the above process. They are doing the Gospel of Grace in Jesus Christ in their own local cultural setting. They are expressing and living the Gospel in a way which would appear foreign to outsiders, but is clear to insiders. They are enabling the Gospel to impregnate their culture and confront values and mindsets in order that their people and culture may be transformed by the power of the Gospel. They are dynamically equivalent in belief and practice to all churches which are firmly based on God’s Word. They are formally different from all churches in other cultures!

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #5

Churches which live out the new value system of the Gospel in their own local communities and yet retain the local cultural forms and expressions (Dynamic Equivalence Churches), must be established.

STEP #6 - ESTABLISH SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROJECTS IN DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE CHURCHES

Once groups of people who are "being transformed" by the Grace of God are united as a dynamic equivalence church, the socio-economic aspect of our work is begun. There are a number of basic principles which are central to the socio-economic development aspect of Integrated Holistic Development.

1. The church alone is the focal point of all of our socio-economic development work. There are several reasons for this.

a. We believe it is impossible to do successful socio-economic work with non-Christians. Their value systems make it ultimately impossible to work with them to a successful end.

b. The Church of Jesus Christ is the new community of Christ in any cultural context. This church is the ideal agent of Integrated Holistic Development (including socio-economic development). There is no one better suited for doing this work in any culture (especially not Western relief and development organizations).

c. We are working to set the local church up as a "resource center" for Integrated Holistic Development in the local community. Integrated Holistic Development will take place in the local community at a more rapid pace and in a more comprehensive way when it is done by the local church.

d. We believe that socio-economic development projects done by Western organizations with non-Christians in the local culture are not only nonproductive, but destructive to the Church of Jesus Christ in the local culture!

e. We do not have the materials, facilities or management capability to work with anyone else but the church. Our churches are growing so rapidly that we cannot even keep up with the socio-economic development needs of our own groups. Today we have projects in only 25 out of a total of 136 churches. It would be impossible for us to deal with the non-Christian element of the community as well. It is much more efficient to equip the local church to do it!

2. The socio-economic aspect of our ministry is not a separate operation from the rest of the work, which has an evangelist or two thrown in to make it appear to be Christian. Instead, it is integrated totally with the other aspects of our work. If we did not have the socio-economic area of our work we would be incapable of doing Integrated Holistic Development. There is no question as to its importance. That importance is not, however, a different importance than the importance of planting churches or training elders. Socio-economic development and training elders in Bible study or planting daughter churches in new villages are part of a holistic ministry. There is not a sense in which they can really be segregated and compared in terms of value or priority. They are all steps in the ministry of Integrated Holistic Development and as such each is valuable and each is an essential part of the holistic process. If one aspect of this process were to be deleted, the other aspects would be unable to function properly or effectively!

This, perhaps, can be seen more clearly by looking at 5 important roles that the socio-economic development projects play in the work of Integrated Holistic Development.

a. The socio-economic development projects enable the local church members to raise their standard of living. This, however, is not an end in itself, but rather a means to the end of good stewardship. Because the local. church members have experienced God’s Grace in the development project and are economically better off, they now have the means to tithe and give to God part of what He has given them. These offerings go directly to the local church and the church body is able to use these funds for the partial support of the church. One of the most difficult things for the Christian church to do in N.E. Thailand, traditionally, was to get churches to tithe. In Integrated Holistic Development, however, a person receives (by God’s Grace) and then is encouraged to give in a response of gratitude to God.

b. In all the socio-economic projects, the church has one share (equal to one family) of all profits. The tithe and gifts of the members are over and above this share. For example, in the pig bank project, each member has 2 pigs. The church also has 2 pigs. If anyone quits the project before its completion, his share (both profits and capital funds) go to the church. These funds are used by the members to support the expenses of the local church (helping sick and poor, travel to meetings and seminars, or supporting elders/pastors in the future if they choose to do so).

c. The socio-economic development projects are also "labs" for spiritual development. They provide the context in which the members of the local church members can grow spiritually. All of the development projects are cooperatives (communally oriented). They each require people to work together and share the work and the profits. For N.E. Thai who very rarely cooperate, this is a very difficult system. The normal reaction of groups about a month into the project is "we can’t do this at all." The response is to say that they are absolutely right, and the only one who can do it is God. This again drops the group back to the spiritual foundation of God’s Grace and the enabling power that comes from it. The development projects are problem starters. We find, however, that these very problems are the actual points of spiritual growth as long as they. are dealt with in a way consistent with the Grace of God in Jesus Christ.

d. The socio-economic projects become resource centers for the spontaneous expansion of the church into society. The church itself can reach out and touch its community in the Spirit of Jesus only if it has the resources to do so. Churches which are part of the Integrated Holistic Development process have these resources ( a transformed value system, an ability to study, understand, and apply the Word, ducks, fish, pigs, trees, funds, etc.). They also have the desire to reach out and minister to their own communities in a holistic way. The important thing is that their communities will respond positively to such a holistic movement from within the community when they would no doubt reject a spiritually oriented evangelistic effort from without.

e. The development projects provide the local church with a tangible way to show the agape love of Jesus Christ, which is the lifestyle of the "being transformed" church (based on the new value system of the Gospel). To tell someone that God loves him, and to be unable to meet his felt needs, appears to be a bit ridiculous in the eyes of those who are scraping the bottom and have nothing.

3. The socio-economic development projects strive to help the members understand the natural creation (which they have raped all of their lives) and their relationship to it and responsibility for it.

We use an eco-system approach to doing integrated farming. We are trying to bring as many aspects of agriculture in N.E. Thailand together as possible into one eco-system model. This approach does a number of things.

a. It provides an efficient and productive integrated farming system, which is more likely to provide a good support base than a "one type" only farming set up such as rice (see appendix #4).

b. It shows the relationship within the natural creation! All of the various aspects of our integrated farming system are tied together. As the members learn this, they begin to understand the relatedness of all of God’s creation, including themselves.

c. It shows that we can manage nature and can help better it through good management and a sound understanding of how it works.

d. It provides the knowledge and motivation for helping the members reverse their old value system and reach out through the power of God’s Grace to restore the land of the N.E. (robbed for countless years by the exploitation and manipulation of man) to what it should be in God’s plan.

There is much more which could be said at this point. Time and space, however, are in short order. I have summarized our socio-economic development projects in appendix #5. I have also put a map of our integrated farm, the Udon Patina Farm, in appendix #3. The integratedness of our farm system can be seen in the notes in appendix #4.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #6

Socio-economic projects which provide the church with an economic support base, a lab for spiritual development, a resource center for doing Integrated Holistic Development in the community, and a tangible means of expressing the Grace of God in Jesus Christ to their community, must be set up.

STEP #7 - ENABLE THE CHURCH TO DO INTEGRATED HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT IN ITS OWN COMMUNITY

At this point the church has the potential of moving out into its community to do Integrated Holistic Development at the local level. It has become what we call a "resource center" for Integrated Holistic Development. It has received input from all areas of our holistic ministry and has resource people being trained in all of these areas. The church is equipped to reach out and into its local culture and to allow the Grace of God to begin to do the work of transforming people, society, and nature into what they are each meant to be in Jesus Christ.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLE #7

The end result of Integrated Holistic Development is the spontaneous movement of the church out into its community to do Integrated Holistic Development by the Grace of God.

The above 7 steps are being carried out constantly in our Integrated Holistic Development work in Udon, Thailand. The result has been the spontaneous growth of the church. The process of Integrated Holistic Development is by no means simple (even though I have simplified it greatly for this paper). It is by no means easy, either. It cannot be programmed to fit a time flow chart or an annual report period. It deals with "people" development and as a result it cannot be made to fit any static time frame.

We are still wrestling day by day with the implications of the process of Integrated Holistic Development, not only in terms of what it means for the churches, but in terms of what it means for us on the staff of the Center and Foundation. We are people in process who are daily "being transformed" by the Grace of God in Jesus Christ.

It is our conviction and experience that if the Church of Jesus Christ can understand the Gospel, understand the local people and the culture it addresses, contextualize the Gospel message into the forms and expressions of the local culture, encounter the local value system with the value system of the Gospel, establish dynamic equivalence churches, establish socio-economic development projects in the local churches, and enable the local church to do Integrated Holistic Development in its own community, the World Mission of the Church will begin to turn people and culture and the natural creation right side up (as they are meant to be) by the Grace of God in Jesus Christ!

APPENDICES

At this time the appendices referenced in this article are not included. They are available on request to those who are interested.