History
The concept of transformation was birthed out of an apparently uncoordinated series of city-wide revivals which took place around the world in the 1990s. These were documented by several individuals, notably: George Otis, Jr. and his popular (if controversial) Transformations film which claims drug arrests (see Cali Cartel) were connected to revival in the Colombian city. Jack Dennison also wrote a book, City Reaching. This led to an upswell of global interest in both city reaching and marketplace ministry. Argentinian evangelist Ed Silvoso popularized the latter approach in his book Anointed for Business, which introduced the term Marketplace Transformation. This combined with the concept of community transformation to develop a more general focus on transformation.
The term 'Transformationalism' was apparently first used in conjunction with groups such as Pray the Bay in early 2004, reflecting a more general view of transformation as a key (if not defining) attribute of the Christian life. This coincided with a possibly unrelated increase in the use of the term 'transformation' by a wide range of different churches and organizations during 2004.
Transformation conferences in 2005 (Indonesia) and 2007 (Seoul, Korea) focused on five "streams": saturation church planting; revival; reaching cities; marketplace ministry and economic development for the poor. The goal was, among other things, to develop a transformational covenant, to provide further definition to this movement.
Read more about this topic: Christian Transformationalism
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