Developing Our World has had an incredible year. Contacts were made, partnerships formed, service locations found, and donations received. But most importantly, we achieved our goal to send teams and training leaders to communities in Guatemala. We are thankful to inform you that we have 15 established places where our partners can serve domestically or abroad with a focus on the USA and Guatemala.

Holistic community development is our niche. Through our approach, we are making disciples, training leaders, and developing communities without creating dependency because we are helping the individuals to depend on God. We believe that holistic community development allows us to focus on the whole Gospel just as Jesus preached and taught God's Word and demonstrated good works. He always proclaimed and demonstrated the Gospel to his followers. Both were equally important to Jesus.

Another positive thing about holistic community development is that we at Developing Our World are able to navigate in both secular and religious worlds with respect. We are able to work in a secular world with openness and acceptance of all people, cultures, and other systems. For we are in the world, but we are not of this world. Therefore, we must dialogue, interact, and get in touch with all the systems - economic, social, religious, and political of our society in order to be salt and light to every human being.

Holistic Community Development also encourages us to live outside of our comfort zones and rely on our partners with care and respect so we can complement their efforts in their communities without hurting them.The short-term teams and individuals we send are trained to listen and respect the locals as they serve among and with them.

Finally, we are committed to reestablish the broken relationships as a result of our "poverty" - poverty of Spiritual intimacy, poverty of being, poverty of community and poverty of stawardship. "Jesus brings reconciliation to every last speck of the universe, including both our foundational relationships and the systems that emanate from them. Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, so the solution to poverty is rooted in the power of Jesus' death and resurrection to put all things into right relationships again" (Corbett & Fikkert, page. 77). In everything we've done this year, Developing Our world has been committed to these principles.

The following articles show how Developing Our World is implementing Holistic Community Development and achieving Global Goals.