As one fascinated by the future and its possibilities, I find scenario planning — creating stories of possible futures, and watching for signs as to how the future is unfolding — to be a stimulating framework for observation. Peter Schwartz, in The Art of the Long View, and his consulting firm, GBN Global Business Network, popularized this planning technique that is used in for-profit as well as non-profit and governmental organizations. I like to think that my passion for scenario planning both honors and invokes the tradition of the Bible’s visionaries and dreamers, whose own scenarios of what God’s future would hold were awakened by the touch of the Spirit in their respective contexts and cultures.
Several recent experiences have caused me to wonder whether the radical newness I have been observing across the church is a predictor of something far greater. And what I have observed gives me hope.
Author and scholar Diana Butler Bass opened a January 2008 lecture with the story of a 65-member congregation in Santa Barbara, Calif., which was miraculously prayed back to life by an unconventional priest and a faithful congregation. Four years after embarking upon extensive renovation efforts, the historic church building was reopened. At the dedication, the sanctuary was filled with more than 600 people. That transformation, and the question posed by the man sitting next to her — “What’s happening here?” — set Bass on a quest to discover the keys to vitality of mainline congregations. Her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, captures the stories and observations she drew from a study of vibrant congregations across mainline denominations.
In the course of her research, Bass entered into conversation with the author and pastor, Brian McLaren. Together they discovered that her observations about vibrant moderate to liberal congregations and his about, as she referred to them, “post-evangelical emerging congregations” reveal commonalities. Bass added that she had also been engaged in conversations with Synagogue 3000, a group of Jews making similar observations within Judaism. Bass believes that another Reformation on the scale of the Protestant Reformation is underway.
Days before, I read the paper presented by Bill Young, executive director of Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, at the PC(USA) Mission Consultation held in Dallas. In his paper, Young cited Paul Pierson: “The changes in the worldwide church today are probably greater than those that took place during the sixteenth century Reformation.”
The Mission Consultation demonstrated a profound expression of unity and commitment to God’s mission by a group of Presbyterians who had never come together before. Prompted by a Commissioners’ Resolution from the last General Assembly, 65 people representing a broad range of theology, mission interests, bodies and organizations were called together, in a sense to respond to the very question, “What’s happening here,” as we see a proliferation of mission endeavors around the church. On the last day of the consultation, the writing team presented An Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God’s Mission. Signed and embraced unanimously, the invitation calls all Presbyterians to new cooperation and partnerships within the PC(USA).
So, what’s happening here? And does it point to reformation? Those are intriguing questions not just for futurists, but for all of God’s people. On this 25th anniversary of denominational reunion, let’s keep our eyes and minds and hearts open — with hopeful imagination — to see how the Holy Spirit is moving us into the future.
Linda Bryant Valentine is executive director of the General Assembly Council, Louisville, Ky.
