Our faith, is much more than religion and even a relationship with Jesus. Our faith is a complete view of the world and humankind’s place in it.
Christianity is a faith that speaks to every aspect of life and its foundational doctrines define its content.
The universal Church is charged with the work of transforming the world – each individual contributing, collaborating, in affecting change in people around them through compassionate and loving acts of service.
Robert Greenleaf observed and noted in his thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.
He added: Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent, sometimes corrupt.
These institutions are present in the marketplace and they are the major institutions Greenleaf referred to in his essay The Institution as Servant.
In the beginning God established four foundational relationships for each person: a relationship with God, with self, with others and with the rest of creation.
Out of these relationships four systems emerged: political, economic, social and religious. Each of these four systems created their own institutions: Government, Businesses, Schools, Church.
But the Biblical account records that as a result of disobedience on the part of the first man, these four relationships were distorted, damaged.
The institutions that the four systems created are as damaged as the people who make them; people affect systems, and systems affect people.
How should we then go about restoring these relationships hence transforming the world?
For Transformation Sunnyside is to direct our work to the four major institutions, through preparation, equipping and creating opportunities to practice what we believe is needed to transform our region.
We are taking steps to develop leaders who serve first, later aspire to lead as a way to improve their service for the common good; we seek to motivate entrepreneurs to integrate a purpose which transcends material gains; we are working with educational institutions to help them foster community and raise the social skills of future scholars; we are raising the Church awareness on issues of service, leadership and development of strategies which are effective and in line with God’s love and compassion.
How will we accomplish the work of transforming our world?
For so many of us our world is right here in the Yakima Valley, in our own backyard, not thousands of miles across the globe. The faith entrusted to us demands that we, as believers in, and followers of a loving God who rules in our hearts, begin to transform the places in which we live to the best of our abilities. | 
