Become a Changemaker Church
A 12-month program that helps your congregation discover what your people already care about, and turn it into action.
What Is Becoming a Changemaker Church?
This 12-month, train-the-trainer program equips a pastor and a lay partner to guide their congregation through our R.I.S.K. Framework. After completing the process together, they lead a team from their church through the same journey.
This process looks different in every context, because it grows out of what the people in your congregation already care about.
Instead of asking people to serve the church's priorities, a Changemaker Church supports what its people are already passionate about.
How Your Congregation Can Turn Listening Into Action
Becoming a Changemaker Church teaches your team how to listen and explore ideas before they become a part of your church’s ethos.
Changemaking doesn’t end with the cohort; it becomes woven into the life of your congregation.
A Pastor and a Lay Leader, Learning Together
Every congregational team is led by a pastor and a lay partner. This shared leadership model takes some of the weight off pastors and gives lay people a tangible way to lead. It also models what the program is centered on: leadership doesn't rest on one person.
Lay people are already doing the relationship-building work that churches often think they need a program to start. They go to work every day alongside people who have never set foot in a church. This program equips them to see that as ministry, and to carry their congregation's message into it with confidence.
"This model of pastoral leadership, emphasizing collaboration and shared leadership, is so refreshing and freeing."
— Rev. Debra Brady of Modesto, California
The Four Principles of Changemaking
Every module in the program is grounded in four principles:
Compassion
Everything begins with seeing and caring about the people around us, just as Jesus did.
Collaboration
Changemaking doesn't happen alone. It happens through working together.
Creativity
Teams embrace fresh approaches and the courage to try what hasn't been tried before.
Empowerment
Every person has gifts, passions, and a calling worth investing in.
Each time a changemaker team gathers, a layperson retells a story of Jesus from the Gospels in their own words, framing him as a compassion-driven changemaker.
What a Changemaker Church Looks Like
Six characteristics mark a congregation that has embraced this work:
- Deepens discipleship
- Empowers laity
- Reimagines leadership
- Balances tradition and imagination
- Lives by the principles of changemaking
- Learns and adapts
Changemaker Churches in Action
First UMC, Modesto, California After finishing the cohort, lay alumni adapted the framework and led their own course for a new group in the congregation. They started a monthly Changemaker group with members taking turns facilitating.
Projects that grew out of the work include an ESL program, a lunch program for lonely seniors run with local restaurants, a community garden on unused church land, and a training program that pairs an HVAC business owner's free services with job training for people experiencing homelessness.
El Paso UMC Churches and Lydia Patterson Institute
District Superintendent Rev. Pam Rowley saw Changemaker as a way to connect congregations that had grown disconnected from each other. With funding from the Texas Methodist Foundation, several El Paso churches joined a 10-month cohort alongside Lydia Patterson Institute, a cross-border high school. After a joint pilgrimage across the US-Mexico border, the churches and the school began sharing student art and storytelling, offering stories of hope at the border.
OUR IMPACT
In 2024, the Changemaker Church program reached:
21
congregations
508
individuals
7
states
16
community projects
Support That Continues After the Cohort
The work doesn't stop when the cohort ends. Ongoing support includes:
Monthly Clergy Cluster Meetings
A supportive space for clergy leading changemaking work in their congregations.
Quarterly Webinars
We cover topics such as shared leadership, the church's purpose, property use, and ministry metrics.
Momentum Gatherings
A biennial in-person event where lay and clergy changemakers from across the country share what they're learning.
Ready-to-use Resources
Including the Jesus the Changemaker small group study, the What Matters Workshop event kit, the Generation Gap Lab workshop, and more.
What Pastors and Lay Leaders Are Saying
"This model of pastoral leadership, emphasizing collaboration and shared leadership, is so refreshing and freeing."
Rev. Debra Brady First UMC, Modesto, California
"Lay people are a church's best asset. All the things churches think they have to do to build relationships in the community, your lay people are already doing. They go to work every day with people who aren't part of the church. This program empowers them to be the church in the things they already do."
Kathi McShaneCo-Founder, The Changemaker Initiative
Ready to Become a Changemaker Church?
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