Building Capacities for Adaptive Leadership
Transfiguration Parish is excited to participate in EDOW’s Tending Our Soil (TOS) initiative, an extraordinary opportunity to work together to create a vital, sustainable church. We are particularly excited about the initiative’s focus on “building capacities for adaptive leadership through action and reflection for lasting impact.” Already, with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, we partnered with Good Shepherd in Silver Spring to adapt our worship and offer engaging online services to both our parishes and new worshipers as well.
Now, with the help of MissionInsite, a databank of rich demographic and market data, we are expanding our understanding of our communities. Transfiguration is centrally located within a region that is projected to grow steadily during the next 10 years in every age group and demographic represented. We are learning more about these local and hyperlocal communities – including their cares and concerns, religious beliefs, communication preferences, and household compositions. Our understanding of our neighborhoods is enhanced by our members whose extensive local knowledge adds a crucial perspective. Our members regularly contribute unique, valuable insights into cultural norms and community dynamics that provide crucial support for engaging, welcoming and connecting with God’s people.
We know we are just getting started, yet we are excited about these early steps and our growing sense of the initiative’s potential over time. We are especially encouraged that relationships and learning remain at the heart of the Tending Our Soil initiative. During this pandemic time we have learned so much about ourselves – our church, our members and other constituents, our communities – and we know that ongoing dialogue is fundamental to following Jesus faithfully and effectively.
We believe we have all we need, if we use our gifts and resources wisely. The next three years promise to be an intensive period of innovation and relationship-building. And we hope and pray that it will be a new season of church strengthening and community building as well.
The Rev. Kent Marcoux
Rector, Transfiguration Parish