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TRANSFORMATION

By Jack Dennison

DAWN Ministries
Colorado Springs, CO

INTRODUCTION

Community Transformation is not the Christianization of a nation or city, nor a state of societal sinlessness where evil and problems have been eradicated. Rather, when life in the city, at every level of society, has changed so dramatically as evidenced by contrasting current reality with what once was, the only language adequate to describe the level of change is transformational language.

When an individual has been changed so fundamentally and dramatically by the coming power and presence of Christ through the new birth we say they "have been transformed." Though the first transformation is the most dramatic followers of Jesus Christ seek additional personal and spiritual transformations over the course of their life, each of which represents dramatic levels of change as we press on to the fullness of the knowledge of Christ.

What is true of the human organism can, by the power of God, become true of social organisms too. They can be transformed not only once but time and time again as they press on to the fullness of God.

THEOLOGICAL/CONCEPTUAL

What is meant by community transformation?

• The increasing reality of Habakkuk 2:14 over time - "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
• The fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 24:14) - "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
• The completion of global evangelization (Revelation 7:9) - "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."
• The accomplishment of the Lausanne Committee's call for the whole Church to take the whole Gospel to the whole country/city. (state?) added by EK

The pursuit of community transformation is a holistic and comprehensive process engaging ALL that God wants to do in the city to bring His presence, love, care, truth, and power.

ASSESSMENT

How do we quantitatively and qualitatively assess the task and monitor progress?

• Identify ALL the peoples of the city. The Great Commission of Matthew 28: 18-20 requires that the Church make disciples of all the nations. The term ta ethna is not a reference to geo-political entities but rather to peoples or people groups. The Church's Great Commission task is to identify the people groups of the city, enter each one, and saturate each one with the living presence and witness of Christ so that the Lord, through the Church, can get to and disciple each group and every person. Identifying all of the peoples requires the Church to view the city's makeup through several criteria:
• Ethnicity - the Church of Portland, Oregon found 108 distinct ethnic groups in their backyard, the majority of which had no Gospel witness resident within the ethnic community.
• Linguistic - 98 language groups as spoken as a first language in the Dallas school system, 84 in Fresno, 45 in Denver, 38 in Chattanooga.
• Social/cultural - Percept Ministries http://www.elca-ses.org/Percept.htm

identifies 50 socio-cultural lifestyles in America resulting from the interplay between more than 100 independent variables.

• Demographic - men, women, children, seniors, youth, rich, poor, single, divorced, etc.
• Geographic - where people live in the city; north, south, inner city, suburbia, exurbia, etc.
• Generations - builders, boomers, Gen X, millennials. The generations are more distinct and diverse today than at any previous point in history. The time span that defines a generation continues to collapse while the differences between them widens.
• Worldview/Religion - there are more than 1,300 distinct religious groups living in the United States.

1. Identify points of societal pain and suffering. Knowing the love of God for all peoples and problems, and reviewing what Jesus did in His personal ministry, it is clear that God intends to minister to the hurts and pain of the city through the Church, the continuation of Christ's incarnation. In its effort to determine the status of these matters and their current impact on the city the Church must gather existing data describing the condition of the city and its people. This can be facilitated by seeking information from various agencies and leaders within the city, to include, but not be limited to:

• Government agencies
• Law Enforcement
• Social Services
• Health Services
• Education

The Church must then determine the degree to which it is aware of, involved in, and making progress toward, effective intervention in, and ministry for, the peoples experiencing this pain and these problems.

Reintegrating and balancing the Church's ministry of word and works (the evangelistic and cultural mandates of the Gospel) will return a great measure of its lost effectiveness.

• Assess the degree to which the major systems and structures of the city are successfully serving the city as ministers of God's righteousness to ALL people.
• Government - providing justice for all.
• Law Enforcement - providing protection for all.
• Social Services - empowering people toward independence rather than reinforcing dependence.
• Health Services - providing health care for all who need it.
• Education - providing quality accessible education for all.

The Church must assess the effectiveness of these systems as in administering righteousness for all and determine what steps can be taken from the inside out to better align these structures with God's purposes for the city and its societies.

OUTCOMES

"Transformation is about waging spiritual warfare with the enemy and seeing the Church of Jesus Christ used as an instrument to shift the balance of power in that war. It's about seeing the Church exercising influence and authority through its life of holiness, love and compassion for a lost and dying world.

Transformation is an inside-out and downside-up process. It is about reaching a critical mass of believers who are so empowered by the gospel of Christ that they change everything they touch - family, workplace, schools, business. As this critical mass is achieved, the power of the living God brings significant changes in the problems that plague our cities today - poverty, crime, addictions, gangs, divorce, violence - and a dramatic increase in things that characterize the kingdom of God - mercy, justice, prosperity (especially for the poor) and compassion." (City Reaching: On The Road to Community Transformation, page 106).

"The hope of city transformation is invigorating. None of us wakes up in the morning and says, "If I live in a run-down, mediocre place, that's OK by me." We all want to live in neighborhoods that are safe and free of discrimination. We want our schools to be places where real learning takes place. We want our justice system to serve everyone fairly. We want economic opportunity to be available - really available - to citizens of every class, kind and condition. And most of all, we want people to hear and respond to a call to radical discipleship - one that fills our cities with people through whom Jesus lives." (City Reaching: On The Road to Community Transformation, page 127).

There is recent hope that the institutions (social, political, philanthropic) that purpose to serve our deteriorating cities, are beginning to believe that the place of the Church and the success of faith-based ministry is absolutely critical in the transformation of our cities. As a nation we have recognized the detrimental effect of the welfare system that only addressed the economic issues ignoring the dignity of the whole man. Recent studies by the Ford and Lilly Foundations conclude that the presence of the Church's faith-based ministry that addresses the needs of the community holistically is a primary component to resolve the crisis in our cities.

This is our hope and what we pray towards, that the cities of our nation will experience a divine visitation that will transform the religious, social, economic and political structures of our culture and spark an awakening and response of unprecedented proportions among the unsaved. And that this transformation will be led by the Church and will be a model for the cities of the world.

Source: Joel News International, www.joelnews.org

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