Rogue Reverend

What Is To Come

What is to come we know not. But we know
That what has been was good—was good to show,
Better to hide, and best of all to bear.
We are the masters of the days that were;
We have lived, we have loved, we have suffered…even so.

Shall we not take the ebb who had the flow?
Life was our friend? Now, if it be our foe—
Dear, though it spoil and break us! —need we care
What is to come?

Let the great winds their worst and wildest blow,
Or the gold weather round us mellow slow;
We have fulfilled ourselves, and we can dare
And we can conquer, though we may not share
In the rich quiet of the afterglow
What is to come.
~William Ernest Henley (1892)

On October 5, 2009, a group of ministers, religious educators, theologians, church folk, and a Christian futurist will gather online to talk about What Is To Come. Predicated on the idea that the church is just now responding to issues that she should have responded to 35-40 years ago, I like to think about it as answering the question, “What will the Church have to apologize for in 40 years?”

Haven’t you noticed that the Church is struggling with issues that the “real world” settled years ago? Are you aware that while the church struggles with racism, academia is talking about class? While the church is hung up on issues around homosexuality, Time magazine says that polyamory is the new frontier of the sexual revolution? While the church is arguing about worship styles, people are actually approaching the world in a different way?

What Is To Come is a think tank where we’ll identify the real issues facing the church. We’re not going to teach you! This will be a conversation. You already know what’s happening in the Church and in the world, we’re just putting great minds together to discuss it.

Here are the details:

We’ll start October 5th and go for four weeks.
We’re limited to 20 people.
Most of the discussion will be done through Blackboard, graciously contributed by the Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond and the School of Christian Ministry.
We’ll identify the trends. Small groups will discuss each issue and create a handout about each one. Our product will be 1-5 pages in a .pdf format, discussing the trend, with key information and a bibliography.
We’ll focus more on trends in culture, not in church, and focus on how those trends will affect church.
It will be work, and we ask that you be willing to commit to it. We don’t know how long it will require each week, but we do think this will be a time commitment!
It’s FREE!

The trends we’ll discuss may include sexualities, economics, families, church and US politics, fundamentalism, and evangelicalism (worldwide). The actual list will be determined by the participants. You’ll be able to pick the trends you want to study and discuss.

If you would like to join What Is to Come, contact me as soon as you can. It’s going to be GREAT!