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As I contemplate where the church is, in this post-modern culture, and where it needs to be going, I feel a change in the air.<\/p>\n
I sense a new wind blowing through the church. \u00a0I am not smart enough to know what all that means, or to be able to predict the future, but the signs are there. \u00a0My spiritual senses tell me that\u00a0a change in the spiritual climate is coming.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not yet sure whether this is a storm, or the just the rains after a drought. \u00a0But I suspect that it may be\u00a0the wind of opportunity<\/strong>\u00a0that promises a new beginning that I hear blowing.<\/p>\n It may just be the fresh winds of the Spirit that will bring the \u201cshowers of blessing\u201d that people used to sing about.<\/p>\n Our world and our culture are changing rapidly all around us. \u00a0With new communication technology and increasing global interaction, we face a world that will be radically different from the one in which we have lived for so long. \u00a0And our own society is changing. \u00a0There are new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things.<\/p>\n The year 2016 was just a date on a calendar, yet that date caused us to take a long look at where we have been and where we are going. \u00a0And when we looked closely, the changes unfolding all around us have surprised us. \u00a0And in the years since those changes have continued at a rapidly increasing pace.<\/p>\n Of course, some want to see the changes, any changes, as threatening. \u00a0And so they move into a doomsday mode and adopt a negative view (Think the Jonah Syndrome). \u00a0They fight most any kind of change as a change for the worse.<\/p>\n There ARE things to be concerned about WITH some changes. \u00a0But where some people see only problems, others see opportunities.<\/p>\n Change can be threatening!<\/p>\n However, people who study such things tell us that times of change are the best opportunities for people to respond to God. \u00a0The uncertainty that any major change brings, opens the door to reevaluate one\u2019s life and ask questions of purpose and meaning.<\/p>\n If that is true in individuals, I suspect it is also true of society. \u00a0And it is true of the church.<\/p>\n Statistics show that there is more interest in religion and spirituality in the US now than there has been in the last half-century. \u00a0Of course, some of that spirituality is of the weird kind, and certainly not Christian. \u00a0But that also tells us that there are opportunities to proclaim the Gospel.<\/p>\n Frankly, I\u2019m not sure what all that means for the church. \u00a0I think that is probably the greatest challenge we face in the coming years as people of God, to find out how to proclaim our testimony to the grace of God in a rapidly changing world. \u00a0The message has not changed, and the truth has not changed. \u00a0But the world has. \u00a0And how we speak the truth will need to change in order to speak to that world.<\/p>\n New winds are blowing. \u00a0The spiritual climate is changing. \u00a0The smell of fresh breezes and fresh showers are in the air.<\/p>\n Yet there is risk. \u00a0For some, there is risk that the newness that God brings will also bring an ending to their way of doing things, an ending of the security of the past. \u00a0For others there is risk that they will be the ones called to forge into new territory in the power of the Spirit, to announce and help build the newness that God is bringing.<\/p>\n But one thing is certain. \u00a0There will be no status quo. \u00a0There will be no going on as usual. \u00a0The changes that are already in process in our culture and church will not allow it.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t do that just because we decide it should be so. \u00a0But we can do it as God calls to us and reveals to us where he is working in the world. \u00a0And we can do it as we listen, hear, and respond to that call, as God enables us.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m going to be watching closely for the changes in the spiritual weather. \u00a0And I will be listening carefully so I don\u2019t miss the voice of God in the darkness.<\/p>\n And if someone asks me about a voice they have heard calling their name in the night, I will be ready to tell them to say, \u201cSpeak, Lord, for your servant is listening.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord came and stood there and called as he had before, \u201cSamuel, Samuel!\u201d<\/em> As I contemplate where the church is, in this post-modern culture, and where it needs to be going, I feel a change in the air. I sense a new wind blowing through the church. \u00a0I am not smart enough to know what all that means, or to be able to predict the future, but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[773],"class_list":["post-9476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-prophecies","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t
\nSamuel said, \u201cSpeak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Samuel 3:10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"