I have been asked that question by several church members. They further stated, “You were really promoting it, but now we don’t here anything about it”. The answer is really pretty simple, as is usually the case: calendar interference and a lack of people participation. First, we were too close to Christmas to actually get our task completed. Second, and more important, too few of our church members participated in the study, hence slowing down our ability to move ahead. The secret to the Transformational Church process is open dialogue between church members—speaking our hearts while listening to others. Our church, like most churches, love to talk, but are really poor listeners. Our usual conversations are spent trying to convince others to see things our way. Which, by the way, appears to be sin according to Romans 15:1 & 2 when it states that we are to put the concern of others ahead of ourselves.

We did make a second attempt to engage more members in the Transformational Church process without them committing more time to “churchy” things, when Sunday School classes were given the opportunity to do the study. One of the classes that chose to do so is just now finishing the study. Also, several Transformational Church books are still available for individuals to read. Reading the book will give you the information, but without dialogue and application it will be mildly useful to you and of little value to the church process.

Also, I did talk about doing a Transformational Church Survey. That has not been done yet. There is a $200 dollar cost for the survey. The survey is completed by church members on computer and compiled by our Lifeway consultant. The survey will give us information about where our church is in relationship to possessing the seven characteristics of a Transformational Church. The decision to do the survey has not been decided.

Already, many that has been involved in the Transformational Church process see weaknesses that need strengthening. We need a real mission mentality that takes the church into our community deeper then we currently are. We need more leaders that are selflessly devoted to God. Our members need to become intentional about creating relationships with people that need Jesus. We need to see prayer not as a program, but being humbly dependent on God for the vitality of the church. Our worship must actively embrace Jesus. To create community, we must find more ways to connect people with people and we must show Jesus to the world by both Word and Action.