The Transformational Communities Network, formerly known as Transformational Communities of Praxis, begins its 5th year bringing together a cohort of four church / community teams: Chapel Hill UMC - San Antonio, Emanuel UMC - San Antonio, Schertz UMC, and Universal City UMC.

The program is designed for a church and community resident team to engage in the process and application of asset-based community development tools with the end goal of effecting measurable transformation within a given community. It is hoped that through this program, models of ministries applying community development principles and processes will emerge to serve as reference points and even teaching centers of spiritual transformation within the church and community.

The program’s vision is to see transformational communities, made up of local churches and community residents and partners, actively seeking shalom through learning, relationship-building, community development, and mutual support. Its mission is to build a network of transformational communities by equipping locally imbedded leaders with training and ongoing support for the work of shalom. 

Seeking the shalom, holistic peace, well-being, abundance of the community is our Biblical mandate as described in Jeremiah 29:7 – “But seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its shalom you will find your shalom.” Therefore, as the church engages its community, the ministries are called to be relational, mutual, and shared.  

The program works with the assumptions that: churches have a charge to seek the well-being their geographic communities, every person has gifts, talents, knowledge, and dreams to contribute and is of sacred worth, community change is complex and requires multi-sector collaboration, and every community has within its bounds the requisite assets for transformation.

Since 2017, thirteen churches have been trained in the Transformational Communities Network process: First UMC / Mission Border: Hope – Eagle Pass, First UMC / HOPE Outreach – Brackettville, Pollard Memorial UMC – San Antonio, Parker Lane UMC – Austin, University UMC – San Antonio, El Valle District Ministry Center – McAllen, First UMC / Poteet Ministerial Alliance – Poteet, First UMC – Portland, Bethel UMC – San Antonio, Gruene UMC, Trinity UMC – San Antonio, Evans Chapel UMC – Gonzalez, and Henson Chapel UMC – Gonzalez. 

Now having lived through a year within the realities of a pandemic, the program has evolved to teaching in a flipped classroom model and meeting via ZOOM for cohort discussed of lessons learned. After May and throughout the rest of 2021, the TCN teams will begin the process of discovering their communities more deeply through existing and new ministries and relationships working mutually to seek the shalom of their communities.     

To begin a conversation on exploring how your church might connect to the Transformational Communities Network, contact Abel Vega, program coordinator at avega@riotexas.org.