WHAT are the prospects and big trends ahead in the world of Christian charities, missions and outreaches during the year ahead? Whether you are a prayer partner, an active supporter of missions or a mission-minded leader, we all need to prepare for the storms ahead. Mission committees need to both invest more and “more carefully” in response to the coming judgments and circumstances.

We need to encourage prayer movements, seeking fresh wisdom from the Lord as we face these massive “sea changes” in 2008. These are not “scattered storms.” This is not going to be one of those “business as usual” years. It is time to watch and act most prayerfully.

I am not listing these changes in any particular order and they often play off each other and thus compound the effects. Here are the seven big changes this year: (1) costs are rising, (2) schism and heresy are creating fresh opportunities, (3) more persecutions are happening in more places, (4) boomers are being forced to pass the mantle, (5) new technologies and skills are in demand, (6) the evangelical grass roots is distracted, and (7) the gender crisis needs deep healing.

The rapid devaluation of the US dollar abroad and recession at home impacts our role in foreign missions many ways. Of course, it means that the funds we send overseas don’t have nearly the impact they had before.

First, to do the same work, we have to send more dollars as costs go up for everything—and right now mission budgets are not expanding.

Second, there will also be a lot less international travel and a dampening down of short term missions.

Third, indigenous missions on the ground must become more independent, resourceful and strong as they have to depend more on local sources of income.

All of this has the net effect of lessening the American voice in missions. Our overseas outreach is weaker as traditional missionaries from the Europe and the USA have less impact and importance. However, the capital funds we do send are being more wisely used and are still incredibly valuable. We are still God’s storehouse for missions and that is a heavy burden we need to take more seriously.

The solution is simple, we need to raise more missionary support and do so in more creative ways than ever before. This means we need to redirect tithes and offerings as well as promote Christian businesses.

The ordination of practicing homosexuals and women in the older churches, which are only the most dramatic symptoms of the revisionist cancer, are causing the great denominations to splinter.

As a result of the growing schism, there is a need for new church planters and church construction, new house church movements, schools and seminaries. I see tens of thousands of small, reactionary churches being created to counterbalance not only heresy in the old, mainline churches but also to counterbalance the mega church marketing techniques that have built massive, centralized congregations without missionary outreaches.

How we view Scripture and history is crucial to missions. Revisionism is also rewriting missionary history to make it less attractive. Heresy steals away the theological foundations of missions. This entire means we have to see a new, more militant defense of missions and evangelism. Never have we so needed a revival of sound doctrine and missions’ theology than right now.

There was a serious up tick in Hindu hate crimes against believers and persecution of Christians in India last year, as well as in all of south Asian and central Asian lands both Muslim and Hindu. In the former USSR, nationalism also spurs violence from pro-Orthodox thugs against evangelical Christians.

Unless something is done, I see a further decline in missions to Muslims for the short term—at least from the Anglo west. Of course, there are many new opportunities for Filipinos, Chinese and Africans to enter Muslim lands if they have the needed skills or business connections.

There are many implications of all this. For one thing, white Anglo-Saxon missionaries are able to go to fewer places now and are having less visible impact when they do. Those who do get into closed lands have to live and witness in new, innovative ways. Not all of this is bad for missions. However, it does mean that international missions must adapt and that at a time when we are retrenching.

In addition, immigration of indigenous Christians out of the Muslim world is on the increase. Believers who remain in Muslim lands face increase violence and the churches of the western nations seem unable to respond to the Islamic Jihad with an organized thrust of love.

Two things have to happen: (1) first we need a revival of all kinds of charities who are willing and ready to reach out to Muslims in need both in secular states and in Muslim lands; (2) ways have to be found to help Christian minorities and the so-called Muslim Background Believers (MBB’s) thrive and find safety inside Muslim lands.

The hotspots to watch for potential increased persecution in 2008 will be Afghanistan, China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

As a leading-edge boomer myself who will turn 61 this year, I am beginning to count the years left and I realize that I need to turn over my legacy to younger generations. That alone will cause missions to grow if the “Face Book” generation has the spiritual strength to respond. That is a big “if”. Boomers have polarized the culture and alienated their children and grandchildren to a large extent. We need spiritual healing here to bring us back together and make the transition.

Meanwhile, not all baby boomers are planning early retirement. Many will hang on out of necessity, especially poor missionaries who love the Lord and have no savings to retire on anyway. That also will cause young leaders to split off and start new works. The 2008 elections, while still dominated by boomer candidates, will probably be the last without a new crop of younger “Obamas” on hand to challenge their control and outlook.

Missions will get a boost, I hope, as the “Face Book” millennials take over and reformat everything we have done for their generation. Why shouldn’t we see internet-based, city-wide churches formed through web-based social communities? Will these hail a new era of unity in the Body of Christ or will they further divide us into scores of highly-specialized missions to minorities? Perhaps both will occur simultaneously.

Interactive media promises tremendous opportunities to all kinds of internet missions that want to reach out to every conceivable need, challenge and worldview.

Sadly, I expect to see a decline in the quality of our communication in the short term. At this moment, mission agencies have a desperate shortage of younger, spiritual, professional staff that understand web marketing and interactive internet communications and are qualified to be missionaries.

This is the time to recruit and search for committed Christian media professionals in the “Face book” generation. The tipping point has been reached, and the cost of communications is going up as a result. There is a fatal misconception that the electronic media is free and can be done by amateurs.

To recruit and support professionals, we have to change existing budgets of traditional agencies to include “new media” specialists and increase the overall communications budgets.

In 2007, especially in the run-up to the primary elections, I sensed that the new, electronic media is finally driving the information age—and Christian missions are falling behind in this area. We still need the print staff of course, because most of the financial support is still coming from the older people who remain live donors in the print publications audience. So don’t think I am saying it is either/or, but it is obvious that we need to increase our staff to handle the larger task of going online with our message.

The new war for the minds of our readers is being fought in the online trenches and so we need to recruit and train a new generation of media missionaries who were raised in that world—and know how to conduct guerilla warfare on the internet. This is harder than it sounds since most of our efforts and ministry are still involved in translating our message from print to media, not originating our message in the digital world. Until we do, we won’t be speaking the new media language.

Evangelicals seem distracted by the trivial this year. I am shocked at how much attention is being paid by conservative Christians to the presidential races this year. Evangelicals in particular seem to be squandering their funds and energies on campaign financing. This is happening at a time when we should probably be retreating a bit from partisan politics.

The bankruptcy of politics and lack of real change from the hollow evangelical and liberal victories of the last century should be a wake up call to us. Instead of throwing millions of dollars into political candidates who can do little or nothing to change the system, we should be revitalizing it through more home schooling movements, Christian schools and medical networks. We need outreaches that give old-fashioned Christian answers to social problems.

Where are the mission leaders who will rise to the opportunities we face today? Sadly, most Christians are paralyzed by the opportunities and all too often follow new political leaders who claim to be Christians but cannot or will not use their offices to promote independent, faith-based Christian choices and alternatives.

We need to be praying and working for revival. We must encourage Christian youth movements that are hungry for revival, holiness and a fresh move of the Holy Spirit. However, we also need to find those Christians who are ready to act on their faith and help resource them. This is where growth and development organizations like CIS come into play. We have to mobilize funds and volunteers.

Finally, there is a crisis among young people today. It begins with the young men who have been sidetracked. Where is the new generation of dedicated young preacher boys and family men we need to lead our missions into the new millennium? I am speaking to myself here and I want to do all I can to identify godly alpha qualities and encourage them in the younger men I mentor.

Women also need to be restored and rediscovered by missions. Older women, disillusioned by the false promises of radical feminism, must be helped to train the younger women in how to be successful wives and mothers.

The baby boomers have reaped what we have sown. By insisting on reinventing the role of women and the family according to the guidelines of Helen Gurley Brown, Hugh Hefner and Gloria Steinem we have failed to produce the “alpha male” leaders we need in missions today.

A revival of Christian families and intentional communities are needed throughout the world, but especially here in the United States and Europe. Without this kind of social change, we cannot create a new missionary movement to finish the task in our generation.

DR. BILL BRAY wants to hear your response to this article – and to pray for you as you seek to implement solutions into your life and ministry. May you have the grace you need to respond to this list of prospects, just as you pray for him and CIS to respond.

The Brays are looking for new friends, prayer partners and financial supporters to sponsor them in their full-time missionary efforts to extend Christ’s Kingdom this year – and they want to support you in your life of faith just as your support them in theirs.

Please contact Bill and Ivy at wtbray@hotmail.com. Tax-deductible contributions to their missionary work can be made payable to CIS, Inc. and may be sent to P.O. Box 6511, Charlottesville, VA 22906 (or) you can give online by clicking the "Donate Now" button below. THANK YOU.