About Us
In a time when many Christian visionaries are seeing the increasing irrelevance and eventual demise of American mainline denominations, there is one grassroots example in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that is working to nurture transformation one congregation at a time. Now in its fifth year of existence the Transformational Leaders Gathering was given birth through a Lilly Grant awarded to Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. The grant created the Transformation Leadership Initiative, a special internship program aimed at placing seminarians in dynamic congregations modeling new forms of ministry for the 21st Century. When the first 60 potential internship supervisors gathered, the dynamic that was created was immediately perceived to be powerful and unique.
A group of pastors from Florida suggested that a follow-up meeting would be helpful and after this first “official” gathering, the consensus was that the Holy Spirit was doing something with this group that was aimed beyond internship programs and at the larger church. Recognizing that creative transformational leaders are rare and often found on the denominational “fringes”, the commitment was made to create a gathering for likeminded and searching pastors to come together for support and to work for positive transformational change within the ELCA. With no formal budget or support from any churchwide organization, this grass roots gathering of pastors, planned and funded in its entirety by parish pastors, has continued to grow and is beginning to be recognized as a significant movement within the ELCA. A bishop, synodical staff, seminary faculty, and churchwide leaders have begun to participate, as well as more than 125 pastors from over 30 states.
Rather than focusing on keynote speakers, the Transformational Leaders Gathering has looked to it participants for presentation topics and breakout small groups for learning and mentoring. The result has been as wide ranging as materials on how to create a denominationally acceptable transformational constitution and bylaws to helping pastors build a transformational toolbox to creativity exercises with a Disney Imagineer! For many of the pastors involved, this has been one of the first times where they have found kindred spirits in the ELCA, the opportunity to speak directly with presenters and people actually doing transformational ministry, and resources aimed directly at the unique challenges of midsize congregations. Instead of feeling isolated and alone, pastors have left feeling renewed, refreshed, and with a support network that is as close as an email away.
Now equipped with a small grant from the ELCA, the Transformational Gathering is reaching out nationally to bring pastors doing and aiming for congregational transformation together in their unique setting in a new way. Working in cooperation in Community Church of Joy (ELCA) in Phoenix, AZ and the ELCA’s new Vital Congregations Network, the TLG hosted a dual site conference in 2004 live at CCOJ in Phoenix and simulcast at King of Kings Lutheran in Charlotte, NC. Tying in with CCOJ’s 17th Annual Evangelism Conference featuring Walt Kallestad, Tim Wright, and Leonard Sweet, the TLG used these presentations as springboards for their participants. Using their own breakout groups as well as their own meeting rooms and resource center, TLG reached an even larger number of pastors seeking new visions and models for the 21st Century.
The leaders and participants of TLG have high hopes and trust in the Holy Spirit that at this time and place in the life of the ELCA, their passionate vision for mission will transcend the more divisive and restrictive aspects that tend to dominate the mainline. While the ELCA can often be criticized for being disconnected from congregational life, the TLG aims for a new unity born out of a common Lutheran heritage and an uncommon mission in the mainline, equipping pastors and congregations to live the Great Commission in a 21st Century culture.