Confronted with mounting global turmoil, many Christians are finding themselves increasingly disenchanted with the religious status quo. Program activities abound, but their lives and communities are strangely unaffected. They feel like they aren’t making a difference. Something is missing… but what?
Does this describe you?
Many wish to experience the transforming power of God in their communities but are stymied by their lack of knowledge about what, if anything, they can do to bring this blessed condition about.
If you knew there was a sure pathway to transforming revival… would you take it?
If someone told you this destination was reachable within months — if you altered your priorities…Would you do it?
We have courted revival in our minds, but we have not yet proposed. We have entertained thoughts, but we have not acted on our desires.
Beginning in the late 1990s, Sentinel Group researchers and film crews began to document powerful moves of God in cities that had long been considered irredeemable. The discoveries came slowly at first, but soon grew to well over eight hundred communities.
By 2005, the team had managed to identify a number of common threads running through these remarkable stories. It was an achievement that proved to be a significant tipping point.
Individual testimonies may be inspiring, but patterns are compelling because they signal the presence of reproducible principles.
Over the next ten years these observations were distilled into a guided revival support process known as The Journey to Transformation.
The journey explains and facilitates the three primary phases that all transformed communities pass through — invitation, visitation, and transformation. The process events are thorough, and based on principles that simply work.
THE DISCOVERY WEEKEND Envisioning the Process
Defining the pathway to transformation and counting the cost of the journey
THE COMMUNITY ENCOUNTER Welcoming God’s Presence
Kindling revival by making our hearts and communities irresistible to God
THE CHECKPOINT
Stewarding the Breakthrough
Sustaining and expanding the redemptive power of God’s transforming presence
Many Christians talk longingly about revival, but then get lost in the fog of doubt and uncertainty. They grieve over the condition of their community, but can’t seem to find the pathway to genuine change. They suspect that God is concerned about their plight, but are conflicted over his apparent reluctance to intervene. They do what they can in his absence, but it never seems to be enough.
The JTT process offers a powerful solution to people who are desperate for genuine results. Employing a com-bination of biblical teaching, inspiring examples, and clear action steps, it rebuilds godly expectancy that leads to health and wholeness.
The Discovery Weekend is a critical first step in the journey towards community transformation. It begins by estab-lishing the need for transforming revival, moves on to define what success looks like, and ends with a thorough discussion of both the process and cost of preparing for a divine visitation. It is all about migrating from hope to expectancy.
This introductory weekend sets forth the core consider-ations that a community must reflect on before committing to pursue the Journey to Transformation. The weekend includes 12 hours of instruction presented in a few alternative time formats.
While many Christians assume transforming revival is about growing congregations, it is actually a matter of renaming or re-identifying our cities. To quote the prophet Isaiah, we are to “give [ourselves] no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem (or London, New York, or Singapore) and makes her the praise of the earth (Isaiah 62:6-7). We are to “renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations” Isaiah 61:4). If we do this, Ezekiel promises, “the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE (Ezekiel 48:35).
Transforming revival is a communal restoration of the God-man relationship. It is a corporate return to first love. It is a conscious re-enthroning of the King, not only over the realm of religious expression (meaning our church life), but over every dimension of life. There can be no secular-sacred or public-private dichotomy. He must be invited — and expected — to assume control of everything from the sanctuaries of our hearts to the structures of our society.
Simply put, for the term transformation to be properly applied to a community, change must be evident not only in the lives of its inhabitants, but also in the fabric of its institutions. In the end, it is dramatic social, political, and even ecological renewal that sets these cases apart from common experience.
Revival is an umbrella term that describes the entire process of change, including
• Personal renewal (invitation/preparation)
• Divine intervention (visitation/awakening)
• Societal change (transformation/reformation)
The term “transformation” more accurately defines a specific result or destination. In most cases, this means the Holy Spirit will be doing his reviving work long before transformation becomes visible.
