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Leadership & Life
Church Can Change The Culture Of Cities
Mal Fletcher
How Churches Impact The Future
We live in a time of unprecedented change.
The sci-fi writer and futurist Arthur C. Clark noted that, "Only a century ago the poles were utterly unknown, much of Africa was still as mysterious as in the time of King Solomon, and no human being had descended 100 feet into the sea or risen more than a mile into the air."
Today, the knowledge in the world is doubling every two years -- and the rate is itself increasing.
Amazing new and emerging technologies, such as nanorobotics, biotech and gene technologies, offer unprecedented opportunities for progress on many fronts. Of course, every technology has a potential down-side, and we must be wary of how far we travel down the road of hi-tech, and how fast. On the whole, though, we live in exciting - if sometimes worrying - times.
Yet the future of human communities, cities and nations is not determined simply by technological advance. Neither will it be simply the product of what risk analysts call 'low probability - high consequence' events (such as earthquakes or tsunamis).
The future of cities and communities is determined by human responses to events. Human choices will shape the future, deciding among other things how technologies should be utilized and how we should interface with our natural environment.
However, human choices don't appear in a vacuum; they are products of our values, aspirations and fears. Because we are social beings, our values are heavily influenced by the cultures - the norms of behaviour and worldviews - of the various groups to which we belong.
These cultures are shaped to a significant degree by the actions (or, inaction) of leaders. Whether in the spheres of business, politics, economics, media, academia, religion or community organizations, leaders don't simply build structures, they are architects of culture.
In the end, it's the strength of a community's culture that determines how that community will respond to the major challenges and questions it will face.
Leaders can reshape the future of entire communities and cities, by creating positive, proactive cultures within their spheres of influence.
In fact, this is the core of the leadership call: to move organisations - and through them entire communities - forward in a positive direction. The major role of leadership is to equip people to shape the future proactively - for themselves and for the world.
If the next decade, with its fast moving technological advances and natural and ethical challenges, is to see the world become a better place for most, if not all, of its inhabitants, leaders of all stripes will need to take that role seriously and engage the future with hope and courage.
If its leaders think and act in the right way, the church has the opportunity to become a landmark for communities in constant change. We have the opportunity - indeed, the responsibility - to develop strategies that will move entire communities forward in a positive and godly direction. By building strategic, future-engaging cultures of hope in our churches, we can shape the direction of communities and entire cities.
Copyright Mal Fletcher 2009
(This is the focus of SLC09, Europe’s high-level think-tank summit for leaders of church networks and national ministries. For more, click here.)
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