Our Mission
We activate people of faith to make a real difference where they live.
About Us
In 2018, a group of laypeople at Los Altos United Methodist Church in Silicon Valley asked a bold question:
what if a church's greatest asset for changing the world is its people?
They partnered with Ashoka and ran an experiment. Twenty-five people, ages 12 to 74, connected their faith to action and launched community projects. The congregation came alive in ways no one expected.
That experiment became The Changemaker Initiative. Grounded in the conviction that Jesus was a compassion-driven changemaker, TCI built the R.I.S.K. Framework, blending the depth of the gospel with the practical tools of design thinking. With support from the Lilly Endowment, it grew from one congregation into a national movement.
This is just a group of ordinary people doing amazing things. And there is room for you.
Ordinary people, making change.
Our Values
We start with
compassion.
Everything begins with seeing and caring about the people around us, just as Jesus did.
WE STAY
curious & creative.
We listen generously, question assumptions, and try fresh approaches rather than waiting for the perfect plan.
WE MAKE
change together.
No one changes the world alone, so we experiment, reflect, and grow side by side.
WE INVEST IN
people.
We trust that everyone has gifts, passions, and something worth building on.
We PURSUE
transformation,
INSIDE & OUT
We seek real change in communities and in ourselves along the way.
CALLED TO ACTION
Your congregation is already full of changemakers.
Our R.I.S.K. Framework walks a team through four sessions of listening, first to each other, then to the neighborhood. What they hear becomes something the church starts doing.