"You have to see the future to deal with the present."

-- Faith Popcorn

 

"No one lights a lamp and then hides it... Your eyes are the lamp for your body...

When your eyes are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark.

So be sure that your light isn't darkness."

-- Luke 11:33-35

  

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Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place? I have. It's not easy. Congregations are caught between the times and in both places we have the Solid Rock as a cornerstone for our community life.

This chapter looks at some of the changes in our world as challenges to really see with the eyes of Christ; to make sure our "light isn't darkness." We read, "How religious communities respond to these shifts will determine their future and the level of humanity in the new emerging world." (p.24) Let's look!

1) Put the sixteen shifts in your own words (pp 25-33):

Shift 1: ______________________

Shift 2: ______________________

Shift 3: ______________________

Shift 4: ______________________

Shift 4: _______________________

Shift 5: _______________________

Shift 6: _______________________

Shift 7: _______________________

Shift 8: _______________________

Shift 9: _______________________

Shift 10: ______________________

Shift 11: ______________________

Shift 12: ______________________

Shift 13: ______________________

Shift 14: ______________________

Shift 15: ______________________

Shift 16: ______________________

2) Which of the shifts seem most on target to you? (Mark them with a star and note beside them why you think that way.)

3) Which of the shifts are hardest for you to accept? (Mark them with a question mark and note beside them why you think that way.)

4) Bill Easum speaks of a "Window of Opportunity" on page 33. What opportunities do you see at the crossroads of these sixteen shifts, our area and our congregation? Note them.

OTHER NOTES:

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This is an online Study Guide for use in the local church, compiled and produced by David P. Harris of Ephrata, PA