Faith in 2057

There’s a pretty cool new show on TV called 2057. This number, of course, represents a time 50 years in the future. The premise of the show is to imagine, based on what various thinkers envision, what the world will be like fifty years from now. Led my theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku (who has written some pretty thought-provoking books, by the way), the show is an effort to imagine all of the changes that might occur in the not-too-distant future.

This led me to wonder what the church might be like at that time. What will the reigning paradigm be is 2057? How will technology affect education, evangelism, and apologetics. Where will societal change take us? Will the church adapt or simply react? What possibilities await us? What dangers? In what ways will discoveries cause theologians to adapt their current perspectives.

While it may be impossible to know many things with certainty, I do think believers must learn to not only predict but actually help shape the future. Many will continue to fight old battles, and others will get stuck in the mud of current debate. But a better way, perhaps, would be to learn from and appreciate the past, while living in the present and anticipating (even creating?) a God-honoring future. “Lord, help us to be a part of a fruit-bearing future, a faith that can thrive in 2057 and beyond.”