Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Called to Transformation (CTT), an asset-based approach to ministry sponsored by the Episcopal Church and Episcopal Relief and Development, is centered around the belief that individuals, groups and communities have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them. The program offers a complete resource to engage churches and communities in a process to identify those gifts and begin the work they are called to do.

CTT helps churches and the communities in which they serve to:

• Discern their gifts from God and to consider the ways in which those gifts can be used to the benefit of all
• Engage and partner with one another as they work together
• Move from thinking that they do not have enough to make a difference to believing that they have what they need for the work they are called to do

The CTT Process

CTT helps equip congregations and their communities to map and mobilize assets in their neighborhoods and help build a more equitable, resilient society. Steps in the CTT process include:

• Define the CTT Team – your entire faith community or a group within it or a partnership within your broader community
• Build a Steering Team
• Craft a theologically-based purpose statement for the work you plan to do
• Develop a plan and process for the work
• Discern your gifts, beginning with individual team members and then moving outward to discover the gifts or assets of all kinds in the community
• Create a map of the assets found in your people, congregation and community
• Begin the work described in your purpose statement
• Celebrate and evaluate that work at intervals along the way

CTT Training

The CTT curriculum has been adapted by Learning, Faith, & Media to a hybrid model that can be convened locally. CTT Trainings are free and include a Facilitator Training, designed to prepare a facilitator to convene your project and Participant Training, where participants learn asset-based community development concepts online and gather in-person or on video chat for skills practice, project planning and a local site visit.

For more information contact info@calledtotransformation.org

Resources:

• Putting Our Buildings to Work by David Robinson, Vestry Papers, September 2019
• How We Gather ’Round the Table by Brian Prior, Vestry Papers, January 2019
• Connecting Churches to Diocesan and National Resources by Annette Buchanan, an ECF Vital Practices blog, April 30, 2018
• Building a Legacy by Demi Prentiss, Vestry Papers, September 2016