be experts for specific tasks. Their role will be that of professionally qualified counsellors, facilitators, mediators, moderators, education officers or lecturers. As a rule, they will no longer be at the steering wheel themselves. What skills and competences does a missionary need in the 21st century? In the future, mission will continue to be carried out to a large extent by highly motivated people who are willing to serve, suffer and learn. God’s work requires people who deny and surrender themselves. In a changing world, skills such as adaptability and the ability to deal with uncertainty are becoming increasingly important. Contextualisation continues to be one of the key competencies. What makes you feel confident about the future? In the 21st century, mission is facing major changes in the midst of a dramatically We look into the future through the lens of God‘s promises. His mission will not perish. depends on prayer, because it is the birthplace of the mission, its motor and its goal. Furthermore, I am convinced that there will be no future without bold missionary innovation. The church must send, or it will end. The future of traditional mission organisations will also depend largely on their flexibility to adapt and their willingness to change. This also includes the willingness to experiment. How will the role of the missionary change? Sustainable mission work in the 21st century will always take place in the context of world Christianity. It will take place at local level and with domestic resources. In this partnership, the strategic priorities are developed more by the mission teams on the ground in collaboration with their partners and less by the head office or mission leadership in the West. In the process, the generalising job title “missionary” has also become more specialised. On the one hand, missionaries are and remain “envoys”. On the other hand, however, they now fulfil very specific tasks in a global context. They will increasingly changing world. The complexity of the current situation makes it difficult for Western Christians to take their future place in God’s mission. We cannot predict where the wind of the Holy Spirit will navigate the mission ship on the world’s ocean. We will encounter limits. There will be surprises. Challenges are part of it. But when viewed in the light of day, this has always been the background music of mission work. Therefore, there is no reason for resignation. We look into the future through the lens of God’s promises. His mission will not perish. Despite all the pressure to change, the essential things will remain the same. In 2010, the aged evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018) sent a greeting to the participants of the third Lausanne Congress for World Evangelisation in Cape Town. In it, he wrote the following lines: “What gives me hope for the next 25 or more years? That God is behind everything that is in line with his will. He is the founder and Lord of our mission.” The questions were asked by Claudius Schillinger. 22 Studying theology – now also at the ITA O Launch of the Intercultural Theological Academy (ITA), which enables students to quickly start working as missionaries. The great-great-grandson of the founder arrives O Hudson Taylor IV is a guest at the Pentecost Mission Festival. He is the greatgreat-grandson of the founder of the China Inland Mission, from whose German branch the Liebenzell Mission emerged. Coming to terms with a dark time O The book “The Liebenzell Mission and the National Socialist era” is published. In a public statement, the Liebenzell Mission Committee apologises for the fact that this dark period was dealt with so late 2014 2012 2015
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