Four Signs of the Times - major trends and what they mean for the future of the church

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Video of virtual keynote at Stronger Event on key trends and their impact on Christian mission / future of the church.

Read more: Four Signs of the Times - major trends and what they mean for the future of the church

Future of the Church - review of UK data and what it means for mission - presentation for Bishops and senior Anglican clergy in the UK

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Presentation on the future of the church in the UK for senior Anglican clergy including Bishops, Archdeacons, Area Deans and so on - based on: key trends including the huge growth of attendance at online services during Lockdown and in the year following, surveys showing increased interest in learning about the Christian faith, ongoing high demand by parents for places at Christian schools and the growing national desire to be a more compassionate, caring, kind and loving society.

Sources of Survey Data Include: Online metrics, Church attendance statistics, National Census plus many large national surveys.  Results may surprise you.

Read more: Future of the Church - review of UK data and what it means for mission - presentation for Bishops and senior Anglican clergy in the UK

50% of 18-34 year olds in London start attending church services online. 10 million new church attenders in the UK - Future of church online- hybrid church and what happened to virtual church attendance during lockdown. Future of the church and faith

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

How the UK church grew in Lockdown during the COVID pandemic. Interview with Hope Together.

Many UK surveys show the same things - huge numbers of people who don't normally have anything to do with church, attending online services.

12.5 million people attending church online - rather than usual 3-4 million

In May 2020, a Guardian / Tearfund survey showed that 25% of all adults had attended at least one virtual service since Lockdown began.  That's 12.5 million people, of which 1 in 5 had no previous church contact - 2.5 million.

The same survey showed 33% of all 18-34 year olds were attending virtual church services - 4 million young adults.  Many churches were reporting doubling of their previous weekly congregations.

In August, Durham University reported a survey in England showing that 25% of all Londoners had engaged in virtual church services in the prevous 6 weeks - a period after Lockdown effectively ended. 

This is the greatest opportunity and greatest missional crisis for the church in a generation - since most of these people are completely lacking in any personal contact with a local church.

Read more: 50% of 18-34 year olds in London start attending church services online. 10 million new church attenders in the UK - Future of church online- hybrid church and what happened to virtual church attendance during lockdown. Future of the church and faith

Take Hold of Your Future - Life Beyond Covid - lessons for church leaders - why virtual church services are reaching five times more people than were attending church before, in some nations. What is the future of Virtual church and hybrid forms of church

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Video in COVID lockdown for New Wine Leaders.  Lessons from life of St Paul who knew what it was to be locked up in prison, and how that experience led to his writing letters, which are part of the Bible today.  So Paul became the world's first time-warp Apostle, the first Virtual evangelist and church planter as direct result of being locked up, isolated for very long periods.

The same has happened to the church in lockdown in many nations.  For example in the UK, 12.5 million people participated in online church services, many regularly, most of whom had little or nothing to do with the church in the years before.  Churches forced to go online each week discovered that they were reaching a vast new audience as a direct result.

Read more: Take Hold of Your Future - Life Beyond Covid - lessons for church leaders - why virtual church services are reaching five times more people than were attending church before, in some nations. What is the future of Virtual church and hybrid forms of church

Impact of Coronavirus / COVID-19 on church life, services, home groups, worship, faith and mission. Hybrid church and church life after the pandemic - author of CyberChurch and Futurist Patrick Dixon

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Coronavirus CyberChurch - broadcast covers: Impact could be positive on church. What to expect. Virtual teaching, worship, fellowship, home groups, mission. Areas to watch out for incl older people. Practical steps and tools. Hope in Christ. Q+A.https://t.co/sDKwLifbZH

— Patrick Dixon - Futurist Keynote Speaker on FUTURE (@patrickdixon) March 20, 2020

Net impact of Coronavirus could be positive on Church Life

I am confident that most churches will find that the current crisis leads to strengthening church community, rather than weakening. Many churches are already seeing intense communications between church members, beyond anything ever seen before.

100 million tiny acts of human kindness expressed in church communities every day, and far beyond.  Phone calls, kind notes, practical offers for shopping etc, WhatsApp messages, Zoom homegroups, Periscope church addresses....

Read more: Impact of Coronavirus / COVID-19 on church life, services, home groups, worship, faith and mission. Hybrid church and church life after the pandemic - author of CyberChurch and Futurist Patrick Dixon

Take hold of your destiny - multimedia tour through outer space and into every human cell. Reasons for faith by a Futurist, scientist and physician. VIDEO keynote 3500 young people in Auckland, SHOUT event, part of ACTS global church movement - July 2019

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Video of message by Dr Patrick Dixon for 3500 people at SHOUT 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand, organised by ACTS.  Key global trends - what they mean for churches, for those who have faith, for business, governments and our wider world.

Take a multimedia tour across outer space, through galaxies and then right into the atoms of every cell in your own body to discover the mystery of life and of human existence. Why an assumption that God exists is a highly logical conclusion - personal faith journey of a Futurist who is also a scientist and a physician. What it all means for you and your ultimate destiny.

Read more: Take hold of your destiny - multimedia tour through outer space and into every human cell. Reasons for faith by a Futurist, scientist and physician. VIDEO keynote 3500 young people in Auckland, SHOUT event, part of ACTS global church movement - July 2019

Should we be afraid of robots and dangers of AI / Artificial Intelligence? Common sense view at an ethics conference organised by CARE, an influential organisation seeking to encourage debate on issues raised by science. VIDEO

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Keynote on robotics, artificial intelligence and ethical issues raised by digital advances - by Patrick Dixon, Futurist, at conference organised by CARE, an influential Christian group in the UK which seeks to encourage debate on ethical questions raised by scientific innovation. The London conference was over-subscribed, standing room only.

"My audience that day was an interesting one: composed of church leaders, theologians, philosophers and ethicists, together with digital innovators, experts in Artificial Intelligence etc. It was clear from discussions that many of the audience had obvious, profound reservations about automation, AI and robotics, and that I would need to navigate the discussion carefully. I was the final speaker, bringing to a close a whole day which had been somewhat dominated up until that point, in my view, by techno-sceptics. So how would my "pro-tech" message be received - seeking to take a common sense and balanced approach to these important issues."

Read more: Should we be afraid of robots and dangers of AI / Artificial Intelligence? Common sense view at an ethics conference organised by CARE, an influential organisation seeking to encourage debate on issues raised by science. VIDEO

Future of global faith, mission and organised religion: why personal spirituality and hunger for purpose will continue to shape and influence our world, and why over half of humankind will identify themselves as Christian or Muslim

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Video of keynote on global trends to over 1450 church leaders from 30 nations, part of the Elim church network.

Around 85% of people in the world today say that they recognise a spiritual dimension to life, which reflects an ancient pattern in place since the beginning of human history. While strident voices of humanistic atheism are likely to grow louder in some developed nations, they will almost certainly be drowned out globally over the next 50 years by the vast majority who remain convinced that there is more to life than atoms, molecules and bags of biodata. In developed nations, informal expressions of spirituality seem likely to multiply, as we see further decline in organised religion. Expect growth in personal systems for meditation, in self-help guides to spiritual enlightenment. So what will be the future of organised religion - Christianity, Islam and other global faith traditions?

Read more: Future of global faith, mission and organised religion: why personal spirituality and hunger for purpose will continue to shape and influence our world, and why over half of humankind will identify themselves as Christian or Muslim

One moment changed my life forever - meeting my first patient with AIDS, and how it led to an international church-based movement in 18 nations - ACET

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

I will never forget the first person I met with AIDS: a young student in London in 1987.   I can tell you the hour, the day, the month.

Just one person sick in a London hospital, out of 72 million who have been infected so far with HIV, of which half have already died, mainly in Africa. For the rest of my life, I will go on re-living that traumatic moment.  Let me explain why.  It led to a national and international people movement, mobilising churches to make a difference.

I had been asked to visit the AIDS ward, as a cancer doctor, to advise the medical team on how to relieve the symptoms of those who were very sick and dying.   I had no idea what I was going to find. I knew very little about AIDS, and I confess I was quite anxious about it all....

Read more: One moment changed my life forever - meeting my first patient with AIDS, and how it led to an international church-based movement in 18 nations - ACET

How People Movements Change our World - Future Trends impact on the Church and Christian mission - VIDEO

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Video of presentation by Patrick Dixon to 400 church leaders from every part of the world, representing the oversight of the Lausanne Movement, meeting in Bangalore in 2014.  Key global trends and what they mean for church leaders and for church growth.  Why people movements are so vital in the spread of faith globally.  How do we interpret what Jesus called "The signs of the times"?  Why new patterns of mission will be needed.

Read more: How People Movements Change our World - Future Trends impact on the Church and Christian mission - VIDEO

Future of Church and Society

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

The Future of the Church and Society.

Interview with Jordon Cooper - "The Ooze" online Christian magazine, which has 50,000 visitors a day.

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The Future of the Church and Society - interview

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

The Future of the Church and Society.

Interview with Dr Patrick Dixon in 2001 by Jordon Cooper - "The Ooze" online Christian magazine, which has 50,000 visitors a day.

Read more: The Future of the Church and Society - interview

Activists: How passion will change our world and impact of terrorism.

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Radical political forces, activism, terrorism and single issues. Carbon trading? Global warming? Environment? Discrimination and social justice? Democracy what kind of system is best? Are other systems of government more appropriate in some emerging economies? Different systems of democracy. How democracy could work for a global government based loosely around the UN / United Nations. Should the majority global population have power to alter how the global village is run on ...

Read more: Activists: How passion will change our world and impact of terrorism.

Cyberchurch - feature

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

Churches are grabbing cyberspace and using web pages to promote the Christian. The internet is perhaps the largest single library in the world of Christian resources with over six million references to Christianity plus thousands of hours of worship and ministry audio and video, not including many live Web TV broadcasts every week and continuous radio station feeds. And every few months the library doubles in size.

Read more: Cyberchurch - feature

Clash of Cultures

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Spirituality, World Religion, Christianity, Church

"Greatest force in nations, markets, business: TRIBALISM"

Full text of Lunchtime Plenary Speech by Dr Patrick Dixon, for Fortune event in New York November 7th 2001, close to Ground Zero.

Dr Dixon has been ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers50 - 2005 survey) and is author of Building a Better Business.

Read more: Clash of Cultures