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ACTS: Authentic Community Transformation Systems
Strong communities are not built for people. They are built with them.
ACTS: Authentic Community Transformation Systems is a practical guide for leaders, organizations, funders, institutions, faith communities, and community builders who want to move beyond transactional engagement and create meaningful, sustainable change alongside the people they serve.
At the heart of the book is the ACTS Framework:
- ASK instead of assuming.
- CONNECT through authentic relationships.
- TRANSLATE what you hear into visible action.
- SUSTAIN the relationships, trust, and progress that have been built.
Rooted in the principles of Acts 2:42–47, the book combines practical community engagement strategies with asset-based thinking, reflection exercises, real-world scenarios, and tools that help readers recognize what already exists within a community and mobilize those strengths toward shared goals.
Throughout the book, ACTS takes on multiple meanings intentionally. ACTS reminds us of action, because transformation requires more than conversation and good intentions. It also reflects the acts of a story. Every community has a story already in progress, shaped by its people, history, relationships, challenges, victories, and possibilities. The work of community transformation is not to take over that story, but to understand it, contribute to it, and help communities shape what happens next.
Published by POLIS Institute Publishing, ACTS challenges readers to reconsider what meaningful community engagement looks like and offers a framework for putting those ideas into practice.
Every community has a story. Every action shapes that story. Every ACT matters.
Serving with Dignity
What if serving others is not simply something our faith calls us to do, but one of the primary ways God transforms us?
In Serving with Dignity, Phil Hissom draws from decades of ministry, community work, research, and his own personal journey to explore what happens when we learn to serve people as God sees them. Through themes of desire, mercy, faith, dignity, compassion, assets, presence, grace, hope, love, relationships, and service, Phil challenges readers to move beyond helping people from a distance and toward relationships rooted in dignity.
The book grows out of principles Phil has spent years developing and teaching through Serving with Dignity, including an asset-based, place-focused, relational, holistic, and long-term approach to serving others.
At its heart, Serving with Dignity is about more than service. It is about surrender, spiritual formation, and discovering how following Jesus into the lives of others can change our understanding of God, our neighbors, and ourselves.
