The Chalmers Center tests its models and curricula in pilot projects before training others to use them. And we constantly revise and update our training processes and tools in light of lessons we are learning from the field.

By God’s grace, the Chalmers Center’s models and training have proven to be highly effective, helping thousands of churches and missionaries to minister to the poor across the United States and around the world.  

You can see many examples of Chalmers’ impact by a) reading our educational newsletter, Mandate, b) reviewing our Chalmers Center working papers, or c) watching the Chalmers Center Africa video.  But here are two quick samples:

• After taking a Chalmers Center distance learning course—“Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry”—the Community Ministries Director at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lecanto, Florida transformed her church’s community outreach to be less paternalistic. As a result, the participants now feel like a welcomed part of the church. The course was an eye-opener for the Director and exactly what she needed to enable her to minister to the poor more effectively. She has been able to eliminate many ways she used to think she was serving the poor but had actually been enabling them to manage their poverty. The Director no longer focuses on rescue and on how many boxes of food she can hand out. Rather, she focuses on long-term empowerment. Read more about this in the article "Broken But Beautiful" found in Issue #1 of the 2007 edition of our Mandate e-newsletter.

• The Maasai Tribe of rural Kenya is a nomadic tribe that treats its women like cattle, sometimes using such horrific practices as female genital mutilation to allow husbands to continue to oppress their multiple wives. The Chalmers Center trained a consultant who then trained a Pentecostal denomination to reach out to the Maasai and other poor people across Kenya. The result is that Maasai women are being empowered to be productive, confident, and God-fearing, who are faithfully transforming their relationships with their husbands and are becoming role models to others in their communities. At the end of 2007, this denomination was ministering to 7,000 households and was ahead of its five-year goal of reaching 20,000. You can learn more about this in the article "Proverbs 31 Women in Tribal Dress" found in Issue #1 of the 2007 edition of Mandate.