Trauma Healing, Creation Care, and Community Transformation Yielding Shalom.

It has been said, a hurting heart will hurt people. Hurt people hurt others and everything within their reach. It is possible that a healed heart will share healing with people and that will result in a healthy community that seeks to restore everything to God’s intended state. A healthy environment results in a healthy community physically which contributes to peace in the community.

Trauma Separates people with self, community and God. Trauma destroys families, communities and the environment. Trauma robs people of their peace, joy and self identity. We see that there is a collaboration between suffering, and lack of peace.

I would like to share how people who have been trained in Trauma healing go and gather their communities for spiritual healing that results in forming groups to seek social, economic and political healing. I will be using examples from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. The community began to apply the gospel to whole areas of life as was before the fall that brought the pain in the world.

As a result they choose to farm together to produce food, help the elderly and disabled with some of their basic needs, disciple one another to grow in the image of Christ and be at peace with one another and God.

With food, people feel happy and desire to care for one another more. People learn to trust God more as the one who cares and provides for them so they can learn how to share responsibilities and fruits of their labour.

The communities see God's power in the individual, family, community and creation. People have the assurance that God can restore their environment and provide for them as they themselves have been restored.