10 Years From Now
The Bible Will Still Need Explanation
Let’s be honest, sometimes the Bible is hard to understand. It’s an ancient text written thousands of years ago in a Middle Eastern agricultural society. Modern society is increasingly urban and more distant from the cultural context in the Bible. We’re going to continue to need clear and compelling explanations of the Bible and its relevance for us today. Our task is to make it understandable for today and the future!
People Will Be Self-Obsessed
We’re all selfish and, at the core, that is the problem with humanity. We choose our own path rather than the path that helps others. We are most interested in ourselves and our problems. Our churches will continue to need to deal with this reality. Often people come to church for “selfish” reasons — they’re looking to gain spiritual insights or wanting to make friends, etc. Our goal is to help people move beyond that. How are we working to build a ministry that helps people look beyond themselves?
The Poor Will Be Among Us
Poverty is a persistent global problem. The church is called to be the agent of change to help poor people. It’s been central to what the church “does” since our inception … and we’ll still be called to do that 10 years from now. How are you working to build a ministry that actually tackles poverty in a measured and systematic way?
Gathering Together Will Still Matter
Even in an increasingly “digital world” where we spend more time connecting with each other through computers, we will still crave being together. Humans are made to connect with each other and in the future we will continue to have an impulse to gather together. The value of gathered events will shift from being primarily information dispensing to inspiration generating. How are you investing in your gathered experiences to improve their effectiveness with your community?
You’ll Be Stressed About Stuff
Leadership is stressful. Always has been … always will be. You’ll have more to do on your list than you can do. There won’t be enough time at the end of the week for what is left on the list. You’ll be tempted to self-medicate with food, brain-numbing media or some other more destructive tool. Your body will be 10 years older and you’ll be more physically limited than you are today. What positive rhythms are you picking up now to help you serve over the long haul?
The World Will Be Smaller
Technology is shrinking the world. Skype is just over 10 years old and has revolutionized global communication by making it easy and cheap. People work on global teams where they manage (or are managed by) people from all over the world. It used to be that only “missionaries” needed to deal with cross-cultural communication realities, but it has become the norm and will become even more prevalent in the future. How can we develop ministries that help people live with this global reality? Our churches are local, but what we are doing to help people live a global life?
This article on 10 years from now originally appeared here, and is used by the author’s kind permission.
