This is a well-used phrase in the past decade or so. I'm reminded of Luis Bush, the primary leader of the AD2000 and Beyond movement in the 1990's. When that organization closed--by virtue of their preliminary pledge--he did a formal pole of Christian and mission leaders globally, about what they perceived to be the baseline of the new millennium's missio Dei. After asking many, and I remember being a small part of this inquiry while living in the Philippines, his summary seems to have been "transformation" was the key concept or governing principle that most leaders felt was going to govern what they were seeking, in light of the mission of God in this world. Many ministries, more than I could ever count, are pursuing some degree of transformation largely at the communal level.
And I have read many books which speak of this sort of transformation happening at the communal level. Invariably, somewhere near the end of this conversation, they will say something like "transformation occurring at the neighborhood, city, tribal and EVEN at the national level." My project, beginning this web-site, is to move us away from this heavy "even" statement and move us right away to the implications of biblical transformation immediately to national transformation.
​
Of course this will presume that much must happen at the individual and community level for nations to be transformed. But, I think we've had enough discussion of these earlier, small levels of transformation, and that we need, in obedience to the "great" commission, to think, plan and pray about what it will look like for whole nations to be transformed by truly missional people.