Things Fall Apart?: The Mission of God and the Third Decade

This book calls for a major paradigm shift in the churchs thinking and practice if the church is to engage with the upcoming generations of the third decade of this fast-changing twenty-first century. Just as the church has had to adapt to a changing context in the past it now needs to engage seriously with this post-enlightenment post-human techno-centric age of artificial intelligence. However the church also needs to recall its counter-cultural prophetic role following Elijah Jeremiah Amos Jesus and Paul challenging society as it faces complex dilemmas raised by technology-driven development in these unprecedented times. The church will have to acknowledge unaddressed weaknesses in the past: of identifying with established power rather than vulnerability and the marginalized; of depending on a hierarchical ministerial order at the expense of the ministry of every believer; of acquiescing to materialist anthropocentric and consumerist growth as an undisputable norm. This book develops the vision of a church engaged in the mission of God: of welcoming technological development but with an eye on kingdom values; of promoting innovation so long as it does not result in a growth of inequality or at the expense of the environment; of pointing towards a humanity that deepens its relationships with its Creator its fellow humans and its environment. The author calls on grassroots believers to reflect and act within their local communities as inspired and empowered daughters and sons of God in the knowledge that following Jesus Christ provides a radical new paradigm for living learning and leading in and through these times of epochal change.