Dreams, Hopes, Concerns, Fears: Working Together to Shape the New Millennium: EFMA

by Paul McKaughan

The following response is from Paul Paul McKaughan of EFMA: Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies

Every three years for more than three decades an important mission gathering has taken place. The theme for the upcoming EFMA/IFMA Triennial Conference is "Working Together to Shape the New Millenium." As a preparation for this event, EMQ has invited the CEOs or their designees of the five currently cosponsoring bodies to share something of their dreams, hopes, fears and concerns regarding this great challenge.

The following response is from Paul Paul McKaughan of EFMA: Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies

Some say that the 21st century will be the age of technology. Others, such as I, predict that the first 20 years of the new millennium will be the age of the network. Connections, not computers, will be the dominant metaphor. Little of great value will be a “stand-alone”; connectedness will confer value.

A dominant theme will be the organic growth of systems, against the present metaphor of the scientific factory, where all the variables are controlled and inevitable human progress is produced. Chaos theory seems to have overwhelmed the predictability of Newtonian physics.

Paradox will be the dominant motif
One such paradox estimates that at least 85 percent of what will exist 25 years from now is here today. The overwhelming preponderance of the people, places, technologies, and structures is already generally known. The remaining 15 percent, however, could reconfigure our world in ways that almost defy imagination.

In the face of this paradox, most mission leaders are postulating an organizational future little different from the present—only bigger and better.

Dreams
Dreams which draw us into the future must be captivating, compelling. We must be able to see, smell, and almost touch them. My dream for the millennium is framed in the words of the apostle John in the book of Revelation. At the throne of God, men and women of every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship the Lamb, who has won for himself a holy people. In this scene justice flows over the universe like a mighty river—with no more pain or sorrow. The divine Lamb of God is the center of all attention and the focus of all worship.

Dreams become the navigational star by which we fix our present position. They are how we plot future direction. This Revelation dream draws me into the future. I will one day experience my dream, but not here and not now.

Hopes
My hope, on the other hand, is more current. I can see us moving confidently into the next millennium without our man-centered Enlightenment paradigm, exchanged for a more God-centered and biblically organic view of our life together as the Great Commission community.

The Revelation scene will be our archetype. I hope that we will advance toward caring for and cultivating our divinely ordered ecosphere. I hope that this spreads like leaven and wheat throughout the world, occupying all the good soil the Master has prepared. I hope that we will recognize the awesome privilege of being colaborers with Almighty God. We must also become adept soil testers. Our priority must be to know him and those with whom he has connected us. The truth of the metaphors of the vine and the body is that we need one another to demonstrate the winsomeness of Christ and the fearsome presence of Almighty God throughout the land.

Fears and concerns
What, then, is my fear? It is that, in the face of change and confusion, we will retreat to our organizational havens for security. I fear that we will grasp our distinctiveness and our unique gifts and callings and, like the biblical farmer who was condemned, build bigger and better barns as a hedge against bad times to guarantee future prosperity. I am concerned that, just like the world’s threatened masses, we will revert to evangelical tribalism to retain individual or corporate identity. We must recognize that our ecological connectedness is the only way to transform our biblical dream into reality.

Here is a paradox. My contravening fear is that we evangelicals will sacrifice our commitment to biblical truth to create a sense of unity and togetherness which does not reflect Christ at all but rather is a tragic caricature of our own flawed projections.

Conclusion
As leaders in the Pauline tradition, we have the privilege of watering and sowing the good soil. We must also farm the field planted with good seed, even though a few weeds sown by the enemy remain. Having done all God commands, we must rest secure. The Lord of the universe, in his time, will cause the seed to grow into fruit forhis glory and honor. Our dream is his reality.

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