As the third millennium begins, we are looking to the resurrected Christ for insight and wisdom to help renew and lead the church into the future. Despite the apocalyptic anxiety of so many followers of Jesus, I believe we have embarked upon a journey toward hope.

I like to say that my interest in the future goes way back. In 1954, I was born 6 weeks premature! Then in grade school, I recall eagerly skipping school to watch the Mercury space capsules being hurdled into orbit. By late-'60s, I remember the fascination of society with the wonders of science and technology and the arrival of year 2000, then 30 years away.

I rushed off to engineering school at Georgia Tech and began to prepare myself for this future. This was at the height of the counter-culture movement -- and the Jesus movement. It was in that mileu as a college freshman that I rediscovered my personal faith in Christ. In the years that followed, I became very active in the Christian student movement, and upon graduation became a college chaplain.

By 1980, my interest in the world mission of the church led me to help start the Perspectives study program, popular today among evangelicals worldwide. By the mid-'80s, I began a term of service for the Lausanne movement, a network of Christian leaders which Billy Graham founded. I helped develop the national younger leaders strategy, culminating in Leadership '88. At that time a great anticipation of A.D. 2000 swept over the church. I remember Dr. David Barrett, editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, telling me that this millennial enthusiasm had no promise apart from futures research. I joined the World Future Society soon after.

I began to ask what the turn of the millennium might authentically mean to the church and the world. I ended up writing The Star of 2000 (1994). That launched me into my work consultant to denominations or ministries that were seeking to commemorate Christ's 2,000th jubilee. During that time, I also edited the leading turn of the millennium bulletin marking 2000 as an anniversary of time, called "Let's Talk 2000."

Since the fall of 1995, I have had the privilege of being active with the World Future Society. In the summer of 1996, Dr. Todd Johnson and I agreed that within a multi-faith scholarly context, Christians needed a distinct special group where: 1) they could encourage one another in their faith and professional development, and 2) provide a distinct Trinitarian and Christology voice back to the larger religious futures movement.

In February of 1997, we launched the Christian Futurist electronic conference. Since then we have enlisted various scholars to serve as mentors to this network: including Dr. David Barrett, editor, World Christian Encyclopedia, Dr. Tom Sine, author of The Mustard Seed Conspiracy and Dr. Bill O'Brien, author of Choosing a Future for U.S. Missions, Dr. Ted Peters, author of God-the World's Future, and Dr. Robert Clouse, author of The Meaning of the Millennium.

Where do we go from here?

If you have written an essay or given a speech which addresses the future of the gospel, please post a notice about it on our Forum topic page. Or if you have written a book on the church of the 21st century, please drop me a review copy, with a news release. We will add it to our Top News category.

If you have a masters degree and would like to help us, we could use your service as a web context provider. We need to post bibliographies, FAQs and reviews of Christian futurist books and articles. If you would like to help us with that, and have two hours a week to be a cyberspace volunteer, please get in touch with me. We need to collect articles relating to the future of theology, ecclesiology, ecumenism, missiology and Christian education. We also are building up our members area with audio talks and powerpoints by authors and futurists.

Beyond our online Future-Proof workshops, we have been hosting regional issues oriented conferences. Our first one was on the "Future of World Mission" in a post-modern age. Our latest one was on "Ministry Foresight."

These regional consultations have now given way to an annual futures conference for Christian leaders hosted each year at Regent University. Consider joining us at Foresight 2006, next September 20-22: see http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/publications/conference_proceedings/foresight/home.htm  

We are more than eager to develop a custom training program or weekend conference for your your ministry staff or congregation. If so, please email or call me. Our aim is to see "foresight" skills regularly taught at pastor's conferences or at interdenominational conventions, such as NAE, NRB, CMA, EPA, EFMA, etc. Our speaker's bureau can handle any kind of request. We can even conduct virtual workshops for smaller teams.

Thank you for visiting with us in cyberspace. Let me leave you with this thought: you might be a "Christian futurist" at heart like I was for so many years, but have yet to recognize it. If that is you, then you have great deal to offer our network -- and the church worldwide! I encourage you to become active as a Christian futurist with us.

Jay Gary
Christian Futures Network
Email Me