What is Transformational Church?
You may have read or heard about Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer's book, Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations. The book presents the research and stories of churches across North America who are experiencing transformation—transformational churches. For the purpose of this discussion, however; think of Transformational Church as a process, not a book. 

Transformational Church is not another program. It is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. It is not a formula for immediate results. It is a guide to assist churches to examine where God is working and identify the possibilities for today and the future.  It is characterized by:

·         People becoming more like Christ

·         Congregations acting more like His Body

·         Communities reflecting more of His Kingdom

In essence, a Transformational Church is seeing transformation in people's lives, the church and community. The subtitle of the book is “Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations.”

Through the assessment of thousands of churches during the research, seven elements in three categories surfaced as common in transformational churches.

The three categories are:
DISCERN - Where are we? Discover and understand a church’s unique context. Who lives here? What are their hurts? What are their dreams? Where do they spend their time? How do they relate to one another? Missionary Mentality is the element within  this category.
EMBRACE – Who are we? What do we value? Vibrant Leadership, Relational Intentionality, and Prayerful Dependence are the elements within this category.
 ENGAGE – What do we do? Worship, Community, and Mission are the elements within this category.

You can see the categories move from context to values to actions. Bruce Raley (Lifeway) describes these seven elements as converging in many ways. You can differentiate them but you can’t separate them. He describes this convergence as similar to spiritual redwoods whose somewhat shallow roots are intertwined giving the entire forest its strength.

The South Carolina Baptist Church has invested in 29 consultants who are trained to walk alongside a church through this process. A church may use a consultant to study the book, but most will likely will do so with their own pastor or other key leaders. Churches are most likely to use a consultant for the Discovery Retreat and the recommendations developed from such. Consultants will also serve as a coach to the pastor for 3-6 months following the Discovery retreat. The pastor will determine how much or little a consultant is involved.  

If your church is interested in working through the Transformational Church process, ask your pastor to contact Belinda Jolley for more information. You may email Belinda or call her at 803-227-6161.