The Future is Now

By Kent Hunter

Are you a ministry leader wondering what's next? Ever ask yourself, where have all the people gone? Think your ministry can do better at reaching more people? The Future is Now takes you through how God is moving and working in the church today and the key strategies needed to increase effectiveness in ministry and mission. The time is now for you to read this book, because God is moving now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kent Hunter
• Release date: Aug 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466142879

Kent Hunter

Church Doctor Ministries is a non-profit coaching, consulting, and teaching group with a mission to help others in Christian ministry become more effective. We provide tools, resources, ideas, and strategies to churches, pastors, ministry leaders and those looking to create a greater impact in the communities they are called to serve.

Book preview

The Future is Now: How God is Moving in the 21st Century

by Kent R. Hunter

Published by Church Doctor Ministries at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Church Doctor Ministries

Discover other titles by Kent R. Hunter at www.smashwords.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free e-book. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete, original form.

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Table of Contents

Dedication Page

Preface

Chapter 1 – Spiritual Roller Coaster

Chapter 2 – A Movement of God

Chapter 3 – Holy Discontent

Chapter 4 – A Relational Movement

Chapter 5 – Re: Generations

Chapter 6 – Flat Changes Everything

Chapter 7 – Church As a Movement

Chapter 8 – Focus on Health: Who You Are...And Become

Chapter 9 – Everyone Multiplies!

Chapter 10 – Spiritual Development for Missional Effectiveness

Chapter 11 – Mission at the Margin

Chapter 12 – All About Story: All About Networking

Chapter 13 – Getting Your Missional Act Together

Chapter 14 – Christian Impact Beyond Human Explanation

Chapter 15 – Church Staff: A Dysfunctional Business Plan

Chapter 16 – Snapshots of Tomorrow Today

About the Author

Dedication Page

Dedicated to:

Those who care enough about the church to change;

Jesus followers who will recapture the culture of the New Testament Church;

Servants who dare to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

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Preface

This document is not meant to be exhaustive. It recognizes the dynamic of the church, which is constantly changing – as is our world – and changing at an accelerating pace. Therefore, it can be considered only a snapshot at this time in history and should be seen as a fluid document that will require updating.

This was originally requested by two leaders and friends who are developing a plan for their church. Thank you, Mark and Roger, you are symbolic of church leaders everywhere, who sense God is at work in a new way, in a new chapter of history. You represent a good model for many others who persist in the belief that tomorrow is coming. In reality, it was yesterday!

~Kent R. Hunter, July 2011

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Chapter 1 – Spiritual Roller Coaster

The church exists in the context of culture. Presently, North America can be described as a post-Christian area of the world. Christianity, at one time, flourished at some higher level than it does now, with greater impact on the culture. To the best of our ability, those of us at Church Doctor Ministries have tracked the decline of Christianity since 1960, which was a benchmark year. Rapid decline of church effectiveness, lack of innovation, and limited reengineering characterized much of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. This generalization is not without exceptions, like The Jesus Movement and, later, the Vineyard Movement – as well as others – that reflected flashpoints of Christianity. These can be seen as emerging seeds of a church reinventing itself, a trend that began visibly in the 1990s.

Even the casual observer will remember Christian themes appearing on television (Touched By An Angel), the explosion of contemporary Christian music penetrating churches, the emergence of Promise Keepers, Women of Faith, Focus on the Family, the publishing of popular Christian books (the Left Behind series), and the spiritual themes increasing in films. Another sign of the last decades of the 20th century was the proliferation of new translations and paraphrases of the Bible. These and many other signs represent a turning, or hinge, point for a movement seeking to reinvent itself. Christianity, and particularly the church, had become irrelevant to those on the outside and a habit of religion to a great number of those inside. This journey is an incarnational rebirth of the Christian Movement – a phenomenon that was long overdue.

North America continued spiritual decline – toward secularization – throughout the ’90s and the first decade of the 21st century. The years 2000 to 2010 mark a challenging, discouraging, and disruptive climate, particularly in the U.S. The decade began with a significant terrorist attack, which momentarily grabbed the spiritual attention of many. It ended with a significant recession, which has had a long-term impact on the spiritual openness of those who live in this materialistic culture. The end result of this decade has provided a platform in which even non-Christians have reached a level of intolerance about the direction of the culture. Even those who are not believers are drawing a line in the sand saying, We can no longer continue this way, or this will not be a nice place for our grandchildren. A July 11, 2011, article in Time magazine summarizes the impact of the present discouragement. The article, based on a Time/Aspen Ideas Festival poll, is called The Pessimism Index. It describes a level of worry and doubt among Americans. The article describes the contrast this represents in historic American optimism and says, It is hard to overstate what a fundamental change this represents (p. 36).

The Canadian spiritual journey is a bit ahead of the U.S. Early signs of an awakening began during the last half of the first decade of the new century. During a visit in November 2010, Christian leaders in midwest Canada told me that new people are showing up at churches, and Bible schools and seminaries are stretched for space due to new, high levels of enrollment. Meanwhile, Mexico is paralyzed by crime and corruption, and Central America is trying desperately to overcome old-school, evangelical, colonialistic mission work that attempted to franchise American churches in uniquely distinct and different cultures. My missionary friend Steve, an expert in Latin-American missions, says, What the American church has developed in Central America is a pathetic disaster. The pattern of the fall – and pending rise – of Christianity in North America is a predictable and cyclical reality that has historical precedence.

The passages of 1 and 2 Kings