Understanding the Holistic Child: A Transformative Process Towards Shalom for Communities and Cultures

This project focuses on the way shalom leadership can provide an emphasis and understanding of the theology of the child, the human developmental domains of the child, the understanding of the children as the agents of change in the communities they live, and a comparative process to recognize, create and design effective models of global community development that are strategically linked and informed by this holistic understanding of children. The research for this project is embedded in the author’s original design called “Domain Analysis,” which provides a framework of reconciliation. In this reconciliation framework, a better understanding of the child through holistic human developmental domains and the way community development models are then informed by this understanding presents a new way of doing community development that is restorative, redemptive, and brings a generational wholeness, wellness, and abundance of human flourishing to societies, communities, and neighborhoods around the world. This framework, as initiated in two global communities, resulted in the collection of essential data so that shalom leaders and community stakeholders were able to begin effective partnerships of change for the holistic well-being of children.