The following is an early draft of a document I am working on with Luis Bush of Transform World: Indonesia 2005. The goal is to provide a coherent yet non-dogmatic understanding of what transformation is. Several of the events or dates in this draft are fictitious, for illustration purposes, but nevertheless illustrate the kinds of things God is actually doing around the world.

Draft 2, 7/14/2004 Ernest N. Prabhakar

March 4, 2003 — PACIFIC: A rich Filipino businessman finds Christ, and turns his motels from venues of prostitution into places of worship, where employees and guests meet in the bar on Sunday morning to praise the risen Lord.

June 20, 2003 — AUSTRALIA: Pastors in suburban Sidney, from previously rival denominations and traditions, come together in unity under a council of elders to work for revival of their city.

July 13, 2003 — ASIA: An indigenous movement in a Muslim country establishes a fish farm, which provides both employment and training for couples who want to sell fish and become fishers of men.

September 19, 2003 — EUROPE: Using the Alpha course, a hundred-year-old church turns itself inside out, becoming a church that ‘goes out’ to the community rather than one that expects the community to ‘come in’.

October 28, 2003 — LATIN AMERICA: The churches of Argentina gather together in the capital to dedicate their nation to God, and themselves to pastoring the government and individual cities

May 2, 2004 — AFRICA: An estimated 20 million people in 52 countries meet in more than 1,200 African stadiums for hours of united, fervent prayer.

June 4, 2004 — NORTH AMERICA: The pastor of a small church in Silicon Valley helps a young man overcome his addiction to Internet pornography, which unleashes God’s power to minister to his family, church, workplace, and community.

God is doing something extra-ordinary in the world. These activities are usually described using a variety of different labels:

* Revival
* Lay ministry
* City-reaching
* Saturation church planing
* Economic development
* Friendship evangelism
* Social justice
* Concerts of Prayer
* Inner healing

Yet in the last few years, without fanfare or coordination, for no discernible human reason, participants in a wide range of ministries all over the world have started describing all these and more using a single word:

Why? We don’t know.

Yet, we believe that this is not a coincidence. Rather, we take this as a sign of the Holy Spirit doing a new thing. A thing called Transformation. That operates at multiple levels: individuals, churches, and societies. That results in spiritual renewal, relational healing, and economic empowerment. That leads to a more holistic and expansive expression of the Kingdom of God than ever before seen on this earth. That will unleash the power of God, and enlist the full potential of human beings, to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind. That the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will finally cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

Inspired by this vision, we are beginning a quest: a quest to find out what God is doing, and discern what role we can play in helping Him bring about Transformation. We know that we have at best a small glimpse of all that God wants to do. Yet even that small glimpse makes us fall to our knees in worship and cry, “More, Lord, More!”

If this touches a chord in your heart, we invite you to join us. We are gathering Christian leaders from the four corners of the earth next May in Indonesia, for the first international conference on Transformation. Come join us, as we seek the transforming heart of God for our world, our churches, and ourselves.