They could never have imagined...
During the past week, the 75th anniversary of VE Day has been much in the news and I found myself wondering about how much the world has changed over those years in ways that survivors of WW2 would never have imagined.
The ability to travel around the world by jet aircraft would have been unimaginable, not to mention space exploration and satellite technology. Computers were more of a concept than a reality and were mechanical rather than electronic. So being able to carry a sophisticated computer in our pockets or handbags would have been thought to be fiction, even if it could have been imagined. Automated washing machines, domestic freezers, and microwave ovens would not emerge for many years.
TV broadcasting was embryonic when war broke out, so the idea of multi-channel colour TV would have been well beyond comprehension. Long after the end of the war most people still had to go out to a booth to make a phone call. Then there's artificial intelligence..... The list goes on and on.
The big dream after the war was for world peace, but millions have died in conflicts since then. That too would have been unimaginable.
Alongside these reflections, I have been pondering the significant cultural changes since I wrote my first book on rural evangelism in 1990. At that time there was still a marked contrast between suburban and rural life, though the population movement from towns and cities into the countryside had begun to drive change. Today, the boundaries between suburban living and rural lifestyle have been almost entirely eroded in some parts of the country, and to some degree in almost all the remainder.
Today, as we continue the struggle with a pandemic, we find ourselves wondering what kind of a world will we emerge into after lockdown. I live in a country town that has been growing over the past ten years. Through the past months I have benefitted from the kindness of neighbours who have helped with shopping and passed culinary delights over the garden fence. Meanwhile I have heard the daily chatter across gardens as people suddenly find they have time, and that it's good to talk.
Churches have risen to the challenge brought when we were not able to meet in buildings. Now, with many more people attending online services than used to come to church, we are wondering what the pattern after lockdown should look like. We need to ask some hard questions and do some imaginative thinking if we are to grasp the opportunities that societal change has brought.
Intriguingly, it makes rather prophetic, the piece I wrote several weeks ago about churches being fit for the future. Could we have imagined, even then, what church would look like today? So how are you and your church grasping those opportunities to share your faith? Have you told your neighbours about the online services in which you are sharing, and why you are watching and listening to them. Or is that meant to be a secret?
What the first Christians could never have imagined is how easy it is today to communicate with millions of people all over the world through the use of Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom, Emails, etc. The early Christians had the enthusiasm but not the technology. We have the technology but not the.......
That, they could never have imagined!
Barry
Rev Barry Osborne
CEO,Rural Mission Solutions
9the May 2020
During the past week, the 75th anniversary of VE Day has been much in the news and I found myself wondering about how much the world has changed over those years in ways that survivors of WW2 would never have imagined.
The ability to travel around the world by jet aircraft would have been unimaginable, not to mention space exploration and satellite technology. Computers were more of a concept than a reality and were mechanical rather than electronic. So being able to carry a sophisticated computer in our pockets or handbags would have been thought to be fiction, even if it could have been imagined. Automated washing machines, domestic freezers, and microwave ovens would not emerge for many years.
TV broadcasting was embryonic when war broke out, so the idea of multi-channel colour TV would have been well beyond comprehension. Long after the end of the war most people still had to go out to a booth to make a phone call. Then there's artificial intelligence..... The list goes on and on.
The big dream after the war was for world peace, but millions have died in conflicts since then. That too would have been unimaginable.
Alongside these reflections, I have been pondering the significant cultural changes since I wrote my first book on rural evangelism in 1990. At that time there was still a marked contrast between suburban and rural life, though the population movement from towns and cities into the countryside had begun to drive change. Today, the boundaries between suburban living and rural lifestyle have been almost entirely eroded in some parts of the country, and to some degree in almost all the remainder.
Today, as we continue the struggle with a pandemic, we find ourselves wondering what kind of a world will we emerge into after lockdown. I live in a country town that has been growing over the past ten years. Through the past months I have benefitted from the kindness of neighbours who have helped with shopping and passed culinary delights over the garden fence. Meanwhile I have heard the daily chatter across gardens as people suddenly find they have time, and that it's good to talk.
Churches have risen to the challenge brought when we were not able to meet in buildings. Now, with many more people attending online services than used to come to church, we are wondering what the pattern after lockdown should look like. We need to ask some hard questions and do some imaginative thinking if we are to grasp the opportunities that societal change has brought.
Intriguingly, it makes rather prophetic, the piece I wrote several weeks ago about churches being fit for the future. Could we have imagined, even then, what church would look like today? So how are you and your church grasping those opportunities to share your faith? Have you told your neighbours about the online services in which you are sharing, and why you are watching and listening to them. Or is that meant to be a secret?
What the first Christians could never have imagined is how easy it is today to communicate with millions of people all over the world through the use of Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom, Emails, etc. The early Christians had the enthusiasm but not the technology. We have the technology but not the.......
That, they could never have imagined!
Barry
Rev Barry Osborne
CEO,Rural Mission Solutions
9the May 2020
