Dr. Terry Tieman, Executive Director of Transforming Churches Network participated at the LCMS Convention in honoring two churches which have done outstanding work in revitalizing their mission to their respective communities using the TCN process, and in giving a devotion.  Click on the videos below to see these presentations.

*Be sure to take a moment and fill out the Covenant to Pray and Fast during January, 2010, by clicking here!

According to the Chinese calendar, 2010 will be known as the Year of the Tiger.   (How ironic is that, in light of the famous fall from grace of a certain athlete with that same moniker?)  Others are hailing 2010 as the Year of the Mac (the computer, not the burger), the Year of Living Dangerously, The Year of Online Shopping, and on it goes.  Compared to past years of the Rat and Pig, I suppose some of these new “years” wouldn’t be so bad.  Recently, one guy even wrote a book about his Year of Living Biblically, a fascinating account about his quest to live the ultimate biblical life. His goal was to follow every single rule in the Bible – as literally as possible.

by Roland Lovstad.

Originally printed in The Reporter, December 30, 2009.  View the original article here.

There is an unknown constituency in the midst of the Ablaze! goal to revitalize 2,000 congregations by 2017: they are the ones with no church home or those who don't yet know Jesus as their Savior.

Pastors Andy Nelson and Greg Prauner of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ridgewood, NJ, were excited by the interactions they had with people in the community when they tried prayer walking and community surveys as a consequence of their involvement in a Pastor's Learning Community.  After the congregation's consultation weekend, they organized members of the congregaiton to employ the same activities as part of their envisioning process.  More then 50 people participated in the surveys in Ridgewood and three neighboring communities, and prayer-walked in teams, meeting people and engaging them in conversations.  Everyone was apprehensive to start with, but when they reported back after the events they were very enthusiastic about their positive experiences out in the community.  A concerted effort was also made to survey community leaders, who were very helpful in pointing out needs in the community which the congregation could address.  A large amount of responses to the surveys was collated by two members who have a business and marketing background.  Now that the congregation is going forward with the envisioning process, they have first-hand information on their community as they pray about which mission targets to engage first.

One of the key principles of the TCN process is measurement.  By tracking our progress we can see what works and what doesn't, as well as our specific impact on church growth and health.  New statistics from the Mid-South District show an average growth rate of 13.9% for consulting churches six months after consultation, with numerical growth as high as 71 people.  Click here to download the full report.

We are asking those who are involved in the TCN process to share some stories of people coming to faith in Jesus through the witnessing or outreach of their congregation. Please e-mail your testimonies to Nicholas.Tieman@gmail.com.