Why do you ask questions? Some ask questions because they are looking for answers. Others simply love the questioning and aren't so intent on getting to the answer. Still others ask to provoke and challenge.
In our day it can seem like questions are all we have. There are few answers. And so we approach 2023 full of questions to ask but unsure of what's next when they have been uttered.
In Matthew Niermann's Lausanne Movement article entitled "Ten Questions That Will Shape 2050," he uses questions to challenge the reader to think into the future rather than predictions. In the past I've created annual prediction resources highlighting trends. These are good for presenting a possible future and then asking people to consider what the world might look like if it comes about. But by focusing on questions there is a different affect. Instead of providing a specific future, a question challenges each reader to speak into that future in their answers.
As you work through Matthew's questions, you will wrestle with identity, sustainability, truth, trust, and so much more. But I think the question that encapsulates all the rest in his article is this one, "Will the church be prepared to speak to the fullness of a life in Christ when the Fourth Industrial Revolution allows for a seemingly fully customizable life at every turn?"
The reality is that the 21st Century is putting together a package of life solutions based on the latest cultural, technological and philosophical frameworks. That package (I'll call it the Ultimate Self) offers every person the ability to define their life on their own terms. Conversely, we as the Church are offering a package of solutions based on life in Christ. We are asking people to define their life on God's terms.
That has always been the tension, but never has an individual's ability to customize their life down to the biological level made the tension so stark. What were shades of intention are now chasms of difference.
Matthew's article provides us with a helpful blueprint to explore where the Ultimate Self will lead and where God is directing His Kingdom.
I'd encourage you to read his article and watch the video interview I recently did with Matthew about the 10 Questions.
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