“Where do we go from here?”
Just as the industrial revolution introduced the Modern Era the information revolution is the transitional advance to the next era in history. We don’t yet know what will be post “post modern.” We can consider trends that emerged in the last decade of the second millennium. These trends seem to be gaining momentum and are emerging as contributing factors in a “New Third Millennium Era.”
There are social and cultural trends that will affect every future human enterprise whether it is business, government, education or missions. Those leaders who are able to recognize these trends and harness the human energy that will be released by them will more likely succeed in accomplishing their vision of the future.
Certainly as believers we know that God is orchestrating history and He expects us to consider the times in which we live. From a human perspective we should place our mission efforts in the currents of those times. But that is not enough; we must also seek wisdom from above. We must expect and anticipate what and where are the “Streams of God’s Mercy” that are flowing to lost in all the nations of the world. We must continually ask the question, “What are those ‘Streams of Mercy’ that will further the Missionary efforts in boarder ways than we could possibly imagine?” Where is God working and what difference will it make to our planning and allocation of God’s resources.
So as we consider the future of the missionary enterprise we must consider both the cultural and spiritual currents that will affect our prayer and work. Those mission leaders who recognize those currents and harness the human and divine energy that will be released by them will succeed in accomplishing a God given vision of the future. Those leaders who have their heads buried in their present realities and who are relying on past practices or models particularly models that are based on modernity may find themselves outside the streams of God’s redemptive power.
Just as the industrial revolution introduced the Modern Era the information revolution is the transitional advance to the next era in history. We don’t yet know what will be post “post modern.” We can consider trends that emerged in the last decade of the second millennium. These trends seem to be gaining momentum and are emerging as contributing factors in a “New Third Millennium Era.”
There are social and cultural trends that will affect every future human enterprise whether it is business, government, education or missions. Those leaders who are able to recognize these trends and harness the human energy that will be released by them will more likely succeed in accomplishing their vision of the future.
Certainly as believers we know that God is orchestrating history and He expects us to consider the times in which we live. From a human perspective we should place our mission efforts in the currents of those times. But that is not enough; we must also seek wisdom from above. We must expect and anticipate what and where are the “Streams of God’s Mercy” that are flowing to lost in all the nations of the world. We must continually ask the question, “What are those ‘Streams of Mercy’ that will further the Missionary efforts in boarder ways than we could possibly imagine?” Where is God working and what difference will it make to our planning and allocation of God’s resources.
So as we consider the future of the missionary enterprise we must consider both the cultural and spiritual currents that will affect our prayer and work. Those mission leaders who recognize those currents and harness the human and divine energy that will be released by them will succeed in accomplishing a God given vision of the future. Those leaders who have their heads buried in their present realities and who are relying on past practices or models particularly models that are based on modernity may find themselves outside the streams of God’s redemptive power.
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