Recently I was listening to Steve Moore talk about ‘reset moments’. What he meant by those is those times in life when the world around you is changing to a new paradigm. Now he was speaking primarily from the viewpoint of the changing face of world mission, but his line of thought comes from the fact that our whole worldview is being challenged right now:
The stability of the US as a world power is not sure anymore – they’re being replaced by the developing world as they spiral into the inevitable decay that comes from too much self-focus. Fear rides our emotions as we grapple with what a Chinese led economy might look like (one that takes sovereign responsibility seriously and that lets sovereign interests make decisions ahead of individual interests). Millions of foreclosed Americans are realizing that the American dream is someone’s else’s plot to greedily take their cash, not a path to material well-being.
The value of the dollar is not sure anymore – our Canadian currency is up and down wildly, and whether we’ll need our dollars or Euros or gold for future purchases is being openly debated. The trust we used to have in MBA’s and Harvard grads is hugely eroded by the errors, miscalculations and blatant untruths witnessed almost weekly on the stock market.
The value of education is not sure anymore – the wide availability of information means you can find differing opinions from your professor’s (or your textbook’s) straight away. That makes you question the validity of what’s being taught. And with the rapid changes in technology the reality is that most of what you’re taught is replaced with new information before you even get your degree. With an uncertain economic picture, university degrees are no longer a sure ticket to peace of mind from a vocational or financial stewardship perspective.
The same is even true of the church. The movement is toward ‘house chuch’, no church or mega-church. It’s away from denominational historic churches. Likewise the role of how mission is carried forward – from full time career international workers funded by others to short and mid-termers who will largely self-fund and seek the experience of mission as well as the spiritual impact. "Where should we worship?" is being replaced by "How should we worship?" which is being replaced by "Why should we worship?".
This is not change as our parents experienced it. They went from ‘the old way of doing things’ to ‘the new way of doing the same things’ – a change in method only, and they felt it was scary enough. We’re experiencing change in purpose as well as change in method. And the Scripture is full of warnings of not only change in purpose, but change in environment - dramatic, life-altering change.
Steve said something I think bears repeating as we consider these changes. He said, “Reset moments play out under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty…. They call for a both AND theology – yes it is crazy, yes God is in control, both of them are true. This is especially important for leaders to understand because in a reset moment all the data points a leader is analyzing will tell you that everything is spinning out of control. And all the natural instincts that rise up inside of you as a leader will cause you to believe “I have to do something, I have to make something happen”. And it is in that moment that leaders have to push back, take a deep breath and remind yourself that the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all, including this reset moment.” Amen.
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