REVIEW ARTICLE                                                                                                                       

 

June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

A review of faith-based holistic health models: Mapping 

similarities and differences 

Ruth Dykstra a, Jason Paltzer b 

a Student, Grand Canyon University, United Sates of America 
b PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Baylor University, United States of 
America 

 

 

Abstract 
This review identified and determined core aspects of holistic health models often used 

in faith-based global development to integrate the spiritual determinant of health into 

a multiple determinants framework.  Understanding the similarities and differences of 

such models is essential when planning development opportunities.  Seven holistic 

health models were identified for review.  A similar feature among the models was the 

importance of the community’s worldview and health beliefs on discussing the spiritual 

aspects of health and behavior change.  Community engagement and cultivating 

relationships were two common themes motivating the models.  A primary difference 

among the models was the direction of engagement.  Some models intentionally focus 

on individual-level relationships and move toward larger community-level impact while 

others start at the community-level and move toward individual-level engagement.  

Both approaches are helpful depending on the context, community readiness, and 

available local leadership.  Based on the review, two diagrams or maps were created to 

help organizations determine which models or model components may be applicable 

to their situation. 

 

 

Introduction 
The relationship between faith-based 

organizations and community health and 

development has been the topic of much discussion 

within the past twenty years with focus on how a 

holistic model can lead to a more successful and 

sustainable outcome.1,2,3  Holistic health can be 

difficult to define and even more difficult to apply in 

practice.4  Public health and religion have at times 

been at odds with each other resulting in distrust and 

limited collaboration for the benefit of the 

community.5  Given this history, communities of 

faith and public health agencies have successfully 

worked together to improve health in faith-based 

partnerships.6  This history provides the significance 

for reviewing existing approaches not only to work 

together but to authentically combine faith with 

public health.  Faith-based health organizations often 



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

describe an integrated approach combining the 

physical and spiritual determinants of health in 

various community health programs.  However, this 

integration can range from staff with spiritual beliefs 

implementing health services, to a brief devotion or 

prayer prior to delivering services, to embedding 

scripture lessons into the service delivery.  Faith-

based holistic health models have been developed to 

assist organizations looking to emphasize the 

spiritual determinant of health alongside and within 

the physical, social, and emotional determinants 

when it comes to improving quality of life.  Such 

models contain several assumptions: 1) faith and 

beliefs drive behavior; 2) faith and beliefs determine 

the strength of relationships; and 3) faith and beliefs 

influence priorities. From these assumptions, holistic 

health models start from a place of faith to inform the 

other health determinants.  

In order to further understand what a holistic 

model is, it is necessary to explore the definition of 

poverty.  A typical explanation of poverty is simply 

a lack of resources, but when examined with a 

different lens, it is possible to see how authentic 

holistic community health and development can lead 

to communities that thrive.  A biblical view of 

poverty can be defined in terms of relationships.7 

When sin entered the world, it broke mankind’s 

relationship with God, each other, and the 

environment, creating a fractured system.  Holism 

has at its core a focus on the restoration of these 

relationships.  A holistic health model, therefore, 

seeks to complement existing health services by 

improving the relationships and addressing the 

conflicts hindering the living conditions and 

environment.  It also promotes health and works 

toward removing obstacles to freedom, while 

keeping a relationship with God at the center.  This 

differs from a secular multidimensional approach to 

community health and development, which takes 

into account various aspects of life such as genetics, 

environment, culture, or health beliefs but not 

necessarily on a foundation of faith and spirituality.8  

It is important to understand this difference 

between a faith-based holistic model and a more 

secular multidimensional approach to development.  

Within the world of multiple determinants of health, 

models exist that include components impacting a 

person’s health like the physical environment, 

genetics, and the social environment, but spirituality 

is minimally addressed or absent from discussions of 

“holistic” interventions.  The Health Field 

framework,9 the Social-Ecological Model,10 and the 

One Health model11 are three examples of multiple 

determinant models that imply spirituality as a 

determinant but do not consider it as an integral 

aspect of health.  For the purpose of this review, a 

holistic health model was defined as one that 

integrated faith and a belief system in other 

dimensions of health.  This integration is important 

and is what sets holistic health and development 

models apart from secular models.  

Within the current literature, there exists some 

gaps in knowledge regarding how holistic health 

models are implemented, where they are 

implemented, and whether models of holistic 

community development vary or are similar.1  A 

common criticism of faith-specific holistic health 

models is that they are not always sensitive to or 

inclusive of traditional or local beliefs and how these 

beliefs interact with the overall health of the 

community.  It can be easy for organizations to go 

into a community with a heavy focus on their 

definition of what faith is or should be and not 

address the existing belief structures.  Given this real 

possibility, it is important to explore various health 

models and determine strengths and limitations of 

each model to minimize division given the existing 

faith and belief system of each community.   

A successful holistic model will be able to 

address the community’s existing spiritual beliefs 

and either use them as motivators for health or 

introduce the community to a new way of thinking 

to promote health and development through 

reframing, reprioritizing, and reforming beliefs.12  



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

While a holistic methodology can be undertaken by 

a faith-based organization from any religion,13,14 the 

majority of the literature reviewed for this paper 

involved Christian faith-based organizations 

integrating a Christian worldview and beliefs.  

Although much literature exists describing examples 

of faith-based community health and development 

endeavors, the majority are focused on efforts in 

Africa15,16,17 and Southeast Asia.13,14 Individual 

models are identified, such as Community Health 

Evangelism18 and Umoja,19 but little to no 

comparison of the models exists.  This lack of side-

by-side evaluation leads to a need to examine the 

various components and driving factors behind the 

models.  Such components include how the model 

engages the community, how it incorporates and 

measures spirituality (both the community’s existing 

spirituality and that of the faith-based organization) 

and health, and its view of holism as a primary 

approach to the development mission or as a 

secondary priority. 

Evaluating the strategies behind holistic health 

models is an important factor that should be 

undertaken before implementation of any project.  

Currently, no decision matrix is available to help 

choose what holistic model may be appropriate for 

the community.  This paper will focus on providing 

a comparison of the components of various holistic 

models of community health and development and 

identify tools used to evaluate the community 

throughout the development process.  The goal is to 

provide a starting point for developing a resource 

with which to determine how to select a holistic 

model that fits the community of interest or pull 

together components of multiple models.  This will 

also help in measuring effectiveness of the models 

by identifying unique components important for the 

change process.  

 

Methods 
A review of the existing literature on 

transformational or holistic community health and 

development was conducted from September 2018 

to January 2019 to identify existing frameworks or 

models being used within the community 

development field.  The following databases were 

used: SciELO, Directory of Open Access Journals, 

ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, Social 

Sciences Citation Index, Academic Search 

Complete, ScienceDirect, CINAHL Complete, and 

JSTOR Journals.  Key words and search terms used 

to identify articles focused on combinations of 

community or transformational development, faith-

based development, wholistic framework for 

development, integral mission, holistic mission, and 

model of community development.  Search results 

yielded almost 2,000 articles.  From these results, 

special attention was given to those articles with a 

more holistic community development focus which 

could include addressing issues like clean water and 

agriculture which impact health rather than on those 

that dealt with individual diseases.  Approximately 

250 abstracts were read, and of these, 120 were 

chosen for in depth review.  Evaluation of whether 

the model presented was truly holistic or simply 

multidimensional further refined the study.  Articles 

discussing other helpful processes and methods and 

one-off programs that demonstrated integration and 

discipleship like the Salvation Army diffusion 

model15 and Missao Integral20 were excluded from 

discussion in this paper due to their lack of an 

organized developmental focus.  Resources 

pertaining to these methods are included in the 

annotated bibliography available upon request.  The 

review focused mainly on international development 

as this was a trend in the majority of the literature; 

however, some models were discussed within the 

context of the United States.  Users of the models 

were contacted by email to provide input into the 

categorization of their models.  Input from those that 

responded were taken into consideration during the 

categorization process. 

 



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Results 
The existing literature and resources that were 

reviewed contained many different models of 

holistic development.  Figure 1 provides a list of the 

selected models reviewed and key components 

identified from the literature.  Some models did not 

have extensive support in the literature and may have 

components or characteristics not described in this 

review.  During the review, it was helpful to group 

the frameworks, tools, and networks according to 

their similarities and differences alongside their 

specific strengths.  

Tools like the Wholistic Worldview Analysis 

with the Ten Seed Technique21 as well as CCM-

Umoja with the Light Wheel22 allow for the 

community to categorize and measure their 

concerns, evaluate the agents that are causing the 

concerns, and then, as a whole, determine their 

priorities.  These tools can serve to measure the 

community’s starting point and create a baseline 

against which to evaluate future community growth 

throughout the development process.  Other models 

like the Holistic Health and Community 

Transformation Model and Community Health 

Evangelism (CHE) utilize health flip books as a 

method of explaining health ideas in an easy to grasp 

way.15,23  Community guidebooks and modules for 

the community to work through on specific topics 

also exist and are used by multiple models including 

Truth Centered Transformation.  For example, a 

module may focus on women and children’s issues, 

economic development, or agricultural skills. 

Assessment tools that can be used before, during, 

and after the community transformation also exist for 

the majority of the models reviewed.

   

Figure 1. Comparison table of predominant holistic models 

Name Organization 

or Group 

Primary 

Initiator of 

Change 

(can be adjusted 

to meet the 

situation) 

Spheres of 

Strength 

Benefits Assessment 

Tools 

Available 

 

Training 

Tools 

Exist   

Community 

Health 

Evangelism 

(CHE) 

Global CHE 

Network 

Individual Environmental 

Social 

Clinical 

Easily adaptable 

Has multiple learning 

tools and modules for 

specific populations 

 Yes 

Church-

Community 

Mobilization 

(Umoja) 

Tearfund Community Environmental 

Social 

Clinical  

Multiple tools and 

instructions on how 

to facilitate 

discussions; includes 

five stages of 

empowering the 

church. 

Yes 

 

Yes 

Transformational 

Development 

Frame 

World Vision Individual Social 

Economic 

Focuses on children 

and families, making 

them agents of 

change. 

Yes  

Wholistic 

Worldview 

Analysis 

Model/Tool 

developed by 

Ravi 

Jayakaran 

Community Environmental 

Social 

Clinical 

Economic 

Aides the community 

in identifying who 

they are and what 

their vision is 

Yes  



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

Holistic Health 

and Community 

Transformation 

Model 

Salvation 

Army 

Community Social 

Environmental 

Clinical 

Economic 

Political 

Strengthens 

community cohesion 

and addresses 

community needs 

 Yes 

Transformational 

Development 

Opportunity 

International 

Individual Economic but 

strives to 

address social, 

political, 

spiritual, and 

behavioral 

aspects 

Using micro-finance 

programs to raise 

quality of life and 

teach empowerment, 

character, and service 

Yes Yes 

Truth Centered 

Transformation 

Reconciled 

World 

Community  Economic 

Social 

Clinical 

Spiritual 

Environmental 

Strengthens the 

community and 

places focus on God 

empowering/helping 

them and not relying 

on organizations 

 Yes  

 

Although spiritual measures were identified as 

being important to measure, these specific 

measurements were not clearly defined and is an area 

for continued improvement.  After implementation, 

the impact of holistic development was measured in 

three core areas: physical health, spiritual life, and 

community cohesion (Figure 2).  A community 

going through holistic development will also have 

spiritual change.  Holistic models emphasize the soul 

and foster a relationship with God as foundational 

for understanding purpose and identity.  Spiritual life 

can be measured through local church activity or the 

influence of faith in daily decision-making and 

behavior.  For a truly holistic model, restoring a 

relationship with God is central7,20 ,24 as it determines 

the motivation for serving the larger community 

beyond the individual, a necessary component of 

development.  Improved community health can also 

be measured by direct interventions like vaccines, 

improved water/sanitation, and adequate nutrition.  

Decreases in disease incidence, morbidity, and 

premature mortality are indicators of improved 

physical health.25 Community cohesion and the 

extent to which the holistic approach brought the 

community closer together is a third type of 

measurement used by models to measure growth.  

Sharing of resources and skills, social trust, and a 

greater sense of service can be measures of 

community cohesion.25 Reviewing the models 

together emphasizes the importance of measuring 

impact across these three areas throughout the 

development process and be used to determine how 

closely the community is staying accountable to its 

set priorities.

   



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      Figure 2. Measurement indicators

 

 

Similarities 

The holistic models discovered during the 

review are similar in a few key ways.  First, 

community “ownership” is an essential part of all 

successful development and is no exception when it 

comes to holistic health models.23,26 Ownership 

typically starts with the community defining what 

strengths, assets, issues, or needs exist and deciding 

on possible solutions.  Holistic models may differ in 

the approach, processes, or tools used to get to the 

decision because they start with the community’s 

worldview.  This leads to a focus on motivation and 

purpose for addressing change.  Basing ownership 

on this deeper sense of purpose rather than general 

input or advice takes more time but is also more 

sustainable as it switches the typical decision-

making paradigm.  The facilitating organization 

provides input but the community members have 

ultimate decision-making ability regarding 

development and use of their existing skills and 

resources used alongside any requested training or 

resources.  Maintaining the dignity of the community 

members is central in a self-sustainable community.  

Holistic health models differ regarding community 

ownership by emphasizing a deeper sense of purpose 

through faith in God and this manifests itself in 

communal unity through service and volunteerism.  

As change happens in the individual, there is a desire 

to help others find the same freedom.  This is 

achieved in part through service.  A model’s sphere 

of strength can be used to help identify an 

appropriate model depending on the community’s 

worldview, assets, and needs. 

A second similarity between the models is the 

practice of multiplicative capacity building or a 

training-the-trainer approach to learning.  In many 

communities, this is used to strengthen community 

cohesion by building trust.18,23,26 Often times, an 

organization is embraced if a trusting relationship 

between members of the community and the 

development organization exists.  An example of this 

concept is seen in the work of Dr. Regi George and 

Dr. Lalitha Regi who created the Tribal Health 

Initiative in the remote villages of India.  As doctors, 

they were able to train community members to be 

community health workers who could then provide 

maternal and child care.14 Building trust took a 

while, but eventually the whole community came to 

embrace the new health workers.  Community and 

health development training can take many forms, 

from medical training conferences27 to agricultural 

skills.16  

Differences 

A key difference among the models is in the 

flow or direction in transforming a community. 

Some start with individual change and then spread to 



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

community as seen in CHE and World Vision 

models23,28 while others start with the community 

and then trickle down to individuals as seen in 

Tearfund’s CCM-Umoja model.19,29  Each approach 

has its strengths based on the existing community 

politics, attitudes toward religion, and issues facing 

the community.  Whether a model starts with 

individual change or community level change can 

depend on the context of each site in which they are 

working.  Some of the models are adaptable and can 

operate at both levels simultaneously.  For the 

purpose of this paper, we assessed them on the 

approach most often represented in the literature. 

Some models, like Opportunity International’s 

transformational development, touch on specific 

determinants of health such as agriculture or 

economic development;25 others are more diverse 

and have manuals or resources that address a wide 

range of determinants including women’s health, 

sanitation, and education.  Another difference is how 

faith and worldview are integrated into the 

development process.  Some models specifically 

integrate scripture lessons into the training or lessons 

such as the CHE model, while others rely on the tool 

connected with the skill of the facilitator to integrate 

faith into the community discussions such as the 

Wholistic Worldview Analysis.  

Model Map 

The goal of this review was to evaluate the 

current models of holistic health and create a model 

map that would help communities and organizations 

determine which model might be best to use based 

on the specific needs of the community.  During this 

research, several large models were identified and a 

summary of each is included in Figure 3.

  

Figure 3. Table of model summaries 

Name Organizati

on or 

Group 

Brief Description 

Community 

Health 

Evangelism 

(CHE) 

Global 

CHE 

Network 

Community Health Evangelism, or CHE, is a strategy being used by hundreds of Christian 

churches and organizations across the globe. CHE integrates evangelism and discipleship 

with community health and development. Through CHE, communities learn to identify 

issues and mobilize resources to build up their own community. Community Health 

Evangelists, or CHEs, make home visits to share Christ and to share with families what 

they have learned about areas of local concern, such as health promotion, women’s issues, 

agriculture, economic development, working with children, and working with people with 

disabilities. It also has multiple tools and handouts to use with the community in various 

languages. CHE is adaptable to various situations and communities. It has a well-defined 

process and track record. 

Church-

Community 

Mobilization 

(Umoja) 

Tearfund The organization’s mission is to give the church a vision for their community by enthusing 

and empowering the church to go into the community and help identify and address needs 

with their own resources. Church community transformation also has multiple tools to 

help identify needs and evaluate along the way such as the LIGHT wheel. Uses facilitator 

guides that stress importance of community empowerment (as well as five stages of 

empowering the church) and offer solutions to potential disagreements or discord. 

Transformational 

Development 

Frame 

World 

Vision 

This framework is the preferred model of transformational development for world vision 

partnerships. A process and set of actions through which children, families and 

communities move toward wholeness of life with dignity, justice, peace, and hope as the 

Bible describes the Kingdom of God. The process emphasizes community ownership, 

sustainability, holism, and mutual transformation. There is a high focus on children and 

improving communities by improving the future of the children. 



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Wholistic 

Worldview 

Analysis 

Tool/model 

developed 

by Ravi 

Javakaran 

This model aides the community in identifying who they are and what their vision is for 

the future. It identifies 3 spheres of control wherein items of life fall:  1) outside control of 

the community or outsiders, 2) controlled by outsiders, and 3) controlled by community. 

The model uses tools like the 10 seed technique to identify items of importance for the 

community and focus of interventions, and can be used throughout development to 

identify new or changing priorities as well as provide baseline for community. 

Holistic Health 

and Community 

Transformation 

Model 

Salvation 

Army 

This model uses church members help develop skills for communities.  It is not just health 

focused but also development focused and is useful in difficult to access areas and very 

poor areas. It can be used in conjunction with the Community Reach model. 

Transformational 

Development 

Opportunity 

Internationa

l 

This model uses microfinance as a way to improve employment and income opportunities. 

It seeks to holistically transform lives not just financially and has a set of indicators in 4 

areas of life: abundance, empowerment, character, and service. As financial means 

improve, freedom should come in many various forms. 

Truth Centered 

Transformation 

Reconciled 

World 

This organization works with churches in poor, rural communities to help empower, grow, 

and strengthen the community. It has 10 modules that the community works through.  A 

module is taught and then the community begins to put the lessons learned into practice.  

Once they are successfully practicing the first module they move onto the next. Seeks to 

dispel lies and fatalistic beliefs and replace them with hope and a value through God. 

Success is seen not only in bettering of economic status, but also in spiritual growth and 

service. 

 

Discussion 
Each community comes with its own 

challenges and pre-existing foundational resources.  

Among the literature identifying holistic community 

health models, there are a few overarching themes 

that need to be addressed when looking to adapt the 

model to future communities.  Two themes guide the 

start of the process: individual versus the community 

and the availability of churches or spiritual leaders in 

the community.  The various models generally fall 

into two categories: those that start with change in 

the individual and then builds up to the community 

and those that start with the larger community and 

works down to the individual.  Moving in both 

directions is possible and the categorization in this 

review does not imply only one direction but the one 

commonly identified in the literature or mentioned 

by users that responded via email.  The presence or 

absence of a local church will influence the type of 

facilitation required in order to guide and integrate 

the values and faith of the holistic model into the 

community discussions and decision-making 

process. 

Figure 4 shows how these two themes create 

four quadrants where models can be placed based on 

their characteristics found in the literature.  These 

themes can be seen within a few of the larger holistic 

models like CHE, CCM-Umoja, and the Wholistic 

Worldview Analysis.  As an organization approaches 

a community project, it can place itself on this matrix 

based on whether or not they will be primarily 

engaging a community that has a church in place 

(partnering with the church) or if there is no existing 

church and the organization will be taking on more 

of a church planting role.  Also, depending on the 

situation, they can consider focusing on 

implementing individual change first and then 

spreading to the community or starting at the 

community level and working down to individual 

impact.  This focus on either individual or 

community can be seen in several prominent public 

health theories.  For example, the Health Belief 

Model, Diffusion of Innovation, and Trans-



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

theoretical Model place emphasis on individual 

beliefs.  The Theory of Planned Behavior, Social 

Cognitive Theory, and Social Norms Theory seem to 

place an emphasis on the environment and 

community influences.30 Each direction of focus 

uses different tactics and approaches in interventions 

depending on the site and situation where one 

direction may be more appropriate to start with than 

the other.

 

Figure 4. Map of holistic health models based on the level of initiation and the presence of a local church. 

 

 
 

While reviewing the current literature, two 

dominant trends appear about who the initial focus 

of change is.  The first is the individual as the focus 

of change and the second is the community as the 

initial focus of change.  Models that follow the 

individual first approach focus on developing the 

individual’s skills, opportunities, and environment 

as well as their faith.  As the individual grows, they 

then reach out to others in the community and share 

what they have learned, hopefully serving as an 

example that motivates others in the community to 

change as well.  The second trend works the other 

way.  Change starts on a larger scale initiating 

community-level development projects through 

social consensus such as a well health education 

campaign or a school-based nutrition program, and 

then using facilitators to follow-up with families on 

an individual level.  Although most of the 

frameworks tended to fall into one or the other 

category, a few moved back and forth between the 

two depending on the context.  An example of this 

would be World Vision.28 Known for their child 

sponsorships, they manage to help improve an 

individual’s life in many ways and, through them, 

the life of their family and then, ultimately, the 

community.  They also work the opposite way, 



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

starting at the communal level with health care, 

access to churches, and schooling, which in turn 

touches the individual.  Both approaches can be 

effective depending on the community context, 

available resources, and the community’s readiness 

to change.  

Another theme identified during the review of 

the literature is the use of existing churches or 

community spiritual leaders in the development 

process.  Spirituality and worldview play a large part 

in how people behave and why they do what they do.  

Understanding this motivation is important in 

implementing change, therefore identifying current 

beliefs is essential.  Utilizing existing churches or 

leaders can be beneficial because they already have 

a relationship with the people and have their trust.  

Church buildings and resources can also be used for 

house training sessions or informational meetings 

while creating a natural environment to discuss 

issues related to faith, worldview, and God.  The 

church is often seen as a source of help and this belief 

can be utilized and reinforced during the 

transformational development process.31 True 

holistic development integrates the beliefs of the 

churches with the change and is not merely faith-

placed as many secular multidimensional health 

models.  

There may not always be an existing church in 

the community, and it is within these environments 

that many holistic health models work to plant 

churches.  One of the benefits of this, especially for 

those that move from an individual to community 

focus, is that the community’s faith can be 

strengthened as individuals now have a safe place to 

go for spiritual growth.  A church can also serve as a 

place of education for health and skills training.  

Faith-based organizations use holistic health models 

to come alongside the community and serve as a 

facilitator for change.  The facilitator helps to guide 

the community in recognizing where growth can 

occur through the model.  The CHE model identifies 

members of the community as Community Health 

Evangelists and trains them about disease prevention 

and healthy living and the biblical motivation for 

changing behavior.  This integration of the spiritual 

and the physical can be traced throughout the whole 

development process.  The CHE is tasked with 

meeting 10–15 households within the community 

and sharing what they learned with their neighbors.23  

By working in small groups like this, not only do the 

trainers develop trust but, many times, small 

churches grow out of this.  CCM-Umoja follows a 

similar process, but the facilitator works with small 

community groups to train community members and 

develop a plan for change.  Other models like 

Opportunity International’s transformational 

development utilize one-on-one relationships 

between the facilitator and the community 

member.25 

Facilitation not only means training the 

community, but it also means encouraging 

discussion, managing conflict, and allowing 

community members to feel like their voices are 

being heard and are important.  This facilitation often 

involves helping communities define their 

worldview and assess their current situation to 

measure change.  For example, the Light Wheel tool 

used in CCM-Umoja or the Ten Seed Technique 

used by various groups help the community identify 

who they are and measure where they want to go 

based on recognition of their worldview.  In order to 

reach the community on certain issues, worldviews 

may need to be reframed, reprioritized, or reformed.  

The 3R model explains what this may look like as 

beliefs can be reframed to provide alternatives 

without negating the belief, reprioritized to introduce 

a new belief that corresponds with the behavior 

wanted, or reformed (directly confronting a belief 

about its flaws).12  This revision of world view is also 

seen in the Truth Centered Transformation model.24  

Beliefs like “we were born poor, we will always be 

poor” and other fatalistic views are addressed head 

on and communities are presented with God’s vision 



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June 2020. Christian Journal for Global Health 7(2)           
 
 

of the community and the value that God places on 

people. 

 

 Limitations and Strengths 
Although there is much value from the existing 

literature, some limitations must be acknowledged.  

Attempts were made to gather as many resources as 

possible from non-Christian faith-based 

organizations as possible; however, there is still 

significantly less non-Christian representation 

among the articles reviewed.  Future consideration 

could be given to how non-Christian models differ in 

scope and practice.  Multiple databases were used for 

this review, and some models may have been 

misinterpreted, missed, or reported in languages 

other than English, which were not included in the 

search.   

There was also a lack of interviews with 

multiple key leadership within the faith-based 

organizations regarding the use of the models. This 

seems to be the case with much of the existing 

literature as well.  Although informal discussions 

were conducted with a couple of leaders, future 

research may benefit from in-depth discussion with 

developers of holistic health models.  Providing 

research support to faith-based organizations using 

these models will increase the available evidence of 

holistic health models and allow for a more accurate 

and thorough review of the models. 

In reviewing the literature, it was also noticed 

that not much was written about advocacy or policy 

in holistic development.  More emphasis was placed 

on personal relationships and work among the 

community than on taking on larger changes at a 

local or national level.  This gap presents an 

opportunity for future developers and researchers to 

evaluate how faith-based organizations can act as 

advocates for the population that they serve and 

encourage participation from the community to fight 

for change. 

This review identified and gathered many of 

the models that exist into a concise compilation, 

which can be found in the annotated bibliography 

available upon request.  The annotated bibliography 

also contains information about networks and 

resources available to faith-based organizations. 

 

Conclusion 
Within the scope of holistic community health 

and development, many models exist.  By reviewing 

and discussing the similarities, differences, and 

important themes among them, a model map was 

created, pointing to several important decision points 

in selecting a model or components that would best 

fit the community.  Several of the larger models were 

identified and examples given.  The goal of creating 

communities that know who they are (and whose 

they are), where they are going, and their purpose, is 

essential to the success of holistic community 

development.   

 

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Peer Reviewed: Submitted 19 June 2019, accepted 18 Dec 2019, published June 2020 
 
Competing Interests: None declared.     
 
Correspondence: Ruth Dykstra, Grand Canyon University, United States of America. 
ruth.dykstra@gmail.com             

 
Cite this article as:  Dykstra A, Paltzer J. A review of faith-based holistic health models: Mapping 
similarities and differences. Christian Journal for Global Health. June 2020; 7(2):120-132. 
https://doi.org/10.15566/cjgh.v7i2.311  
 
© Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, 
provided the original author and source are properly cited. To view a copy of the license, visit 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

 

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