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Updated: Jan 18th, 2012 - 07:46:59 |
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Mike O'Rear: A Tribute to a Good Friend
Jan. 16, 2012
Mike O'Rear, president of GMI, age 57, died on January 14, 2012. His passion for people and technology will be remembered, along side his commitment to bring forth a church of tomorrow, that empowers the under-served. 
Outliers & Harbingers of Change Affecting the Church
Dec 20, 2011
How is change affecting the church in the U.S.? More importantly, how should church leaders anticipate change, and act on it? This article highlights three outliers, or harbingers of change that church leaders should keep in focus as they look forward.
Religious Demographer David Barrett Dies
Aug. 10, 2011
 Dr. David B. Barrett, founding editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, and former researcher with Southern Baptists, died Aug. 4 in Richmond, Va., after a brief illness. He was 83. He was known for his focus on the poor, and those under served by the church in other cultures. I will remember him also for his keen focus on the future of humanity.
Strategic Foresight: Looking to the future to plan today
Jun 15, 2010
Strategic foresight is a new name for a core practice that leadership teams use to learn about the shifting forces shaping their ministry landscape 3 to 10 years out. It engages them in critical thinking and 'what if' debates. It takes a team beyond budget or policy assessment to allow open learning and strategic conversations to craft a long-term adaptive strategy.
Faith 20/20 Formation Scenarios
July 5, 2010
What will Christian faith formation in churches look like in 2020? Can we begin now to envision the shape of faith formation in the year 2020? Can we prepare our churches for the future of faith formation? This new decade will demand new thinking and new models, practices, resources, and technologies to address the spiritual needs of all generations.
The Lesson of the Dinosaur
June 21, 2010
Paul McKaughan shares why executives of mission agencies must test their assumptions of environmental change, if they are going to keep their ministries focused on the needs of people.
Can't Christians be Questians?
Feb 19, 2010
Those who quickly dismiss McLaren's 'A New Kind of Christianity,' should be reminded that the church must always balance its mission by both tradition and innovation, or what scholars call contextualization.
McLaren Releases 'A New Kind of Christianity'
Feb 9, 2010
Brian McLaren's latest book offers readers 'ten questions that are transforming Christianity' as a conversation guide for any one who feels that we have messed up what Jesus started. The 11th question, I add is, 'Do we have the courage to continue the conversation that McLaren started?'
Futures Thinking and Kingdom Values
Feb 6, 2010
How does futures thinking relate to Christian hope and mission? A Hispanic mission leader considers the values that the futures community and the Christian community have in common.
The Post-Church Letters: Voices from 2020
Jan 1, 2010
In Church Executive Magazine, Dr. Jay Gary offers three letters from imaginary pastors, written as if it was 2020. They offer a retrospective look on what might be the prospects of the US Evangelical church looking forward. They are not projections, nor prophecies. But they can help us weigh how immigrants, women or emerging generations might shape the church in greater measure over the next decade.
The Future of Evangelicals via Rick Warren
Dec 15, 2009
The evangelical Christian movement historically has been defined by its distinctive doctrinal standards. Yet recently many Americans have seen a political, rather than religious side to evangelicals. The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life invited Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, to discuss what are most important concerns today for evangelicals, and how the movement is evolving.
Organized religion's 'management problem'
Nov 9, 2009
'What's wrong with organized religion?' That's the question that the dean of strategic management, Gary Hamel, put to America's largest churches. Claiming that religion needs a management reboot, his hypothesis was that the problem with organized religion isn't that it's too religious, but that it's too organized.
Forerunner Eschatology: Divine Revelation or Reckless Gamble?
Aug 20, 2009
In tracking the future of end-time thinking, mission strategist and author, Dr. Andrew Jackson has done the church a favor to question Mike Bickle's End Time gambit. The current issue of Christian Research Journal features his essay, Forerunner Eschatology: Mike Bickle's End-Time Teaching and the International House of Prayer.
The Christian Executive in 2035. . . A Peek into the Future
Jul 27, 2009
Merle Switzer offers a future narrative of 2035 about a young millennial executive living in San Francisco. Ben works for Multiplix, a global corporation based in Beijing, but works virtually to interact with global clients and colleagues. Catch this window into how Ben and his Chinese wife Ling live, work and worship as part of a global church.
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