Ensuing eagerness

“What do you think the church will look like in 20 years?”

People constantly ask me this question—in person, on Twitter, on Facebook. I am regularly invited to consult with companies and speak to denominational bodies about this question. I served as a chair of a national committee where we wrestled with this question. I host an open-space Unconference where we dream and make plans for the future (and you're all invited to come!). I love looking at generational trends, philosophical understandings and technological developments, while praying and imagining where God might lead us.   

Yet, I know that there are many who are not so enamored with thinking about what might be. Several months ago, Thomas Long wrote about having future fatigue. Rev. Long is tired of conferences trumpeting words like emergent, postmodern, or next. He pokes fun at a new generation of young, technologically savvy prophets who "paint apocalyptic scenarios of the coming wrath followed by visions of a wireless new Jerusalem rising from the ruins."