Future Search

In a couple of weeks, a whole bunch of us is going to search the future. It’s going to be fun, exciting, reassuring, and inspiring. That’s my forecast (See? I’m already predicting the future!).

Most of the wisdom about how World Vision should operate exists in the minds and experience of ourselves. This process is designed to reveal that wisdom to ourselves.

As I have moved around the organisation in events such as the alignment process and the Board retreat, I have discovered a lot of exciting ideas about our future. I also discover some frustration. Often people think they are the only one thinking “we ought to . . .”

We’ll be dreaming, for sure. But we’ll also be grounding our dreams in some tough-minded and practical plans of action. I am praying for a special release of the Holy Spirit through this Future Search process, to make World Vision more effective as we participate in God’s mission in the world.

Wearing the Brand With Pride

Country Road. Judy gave me a “Country Road” denim shirt for my birthday. I now have one “Country Road” shirt. And I wear it as a statement, along with my R.M. Williams moleskins.

I love the idea of the Australian bush. I love to wear the clothes. I like to visit the Australian bush. Just so long as I can continue to live in the city.

My choice of casual clothes, at least, reflects my beliefs.

In the same way, Vision For A Better World, is a brand we can wear with pride. It reminds us that we have glimpsed the Kingdom of God, and that we want our work to bear witness to it.

Our vision for a better world is (as I said on the TV special in words not written for me by a script-writer) “a world in which kids don’t die from preventable diseases. It’s a world of God’s peace and love. A world of fairness and justice. It’s a vision of the hungry with enough food, and meaningful jobs for people who want to work to support their families. It’s our vision for a better world.”

Of course, there is much more to say about our mission. There are important ideas like empowerment, transformation, holism. No one statement is intended to say it all.

But Vision For A Better World (what the marketers call a “branding” statement) is a pretty fine statement about what makes World Vision unique.

Graeme Irvine, our international president, has adopted this phrase for the book he is currently writing about World Vision.

I Believe

At the Latin America Director’s Conference I was asked to make “a summary closing speech.” A Big Ask. Forty people had been talking for a week, and I was supposed to say something meaningful and “a bit inspirational” in ten minutes.

I don’t know if anyone was inspired, but I decided to share some of my beliefs. Here they are.

I Believe:























































