Chris Forbes

Strategic Foresight for Faith-Based Nonprofit Leaders | APF Member | Incite Futures Labs | Founder, Future Commission 2050 | Exploring Moral Realism Futures

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

“We literally just have a dot.” I gave AI nothing, just a period as a prompt. What it produced shows how it fills silence with patterns, even when meaning isn’t actually there. https://t.co/Rqm7t28gkY

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

AI, Performance, and the Future of Human Formation
Simulated Companions and the Question of What It Means to Be Human https://t.co/DF1LM9ePQu

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

After the Bondi Beach attack, the story quickly turns to gun laws and public grief. What matters more is what goes unsaid. Deep social divisions and hostile belief systems are colliding inside shared cities. When leaders avoid naming causes, communities fracture further. This pattern points to rising instability, not isolated tragedy. A future that cannot name evil cannot prevent it.

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

@Forbes “Not if you know who you are.” -another Forbes quote.

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

Read it here https://t.co/jTcXhT8dvK

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

@MaryJoSharp of Search Ministries joins us on the Signal Café podcast to explore the emerging metamodern moment reshaping faith, trust, and spiritual openness. This cultural shift is changing how younger generations seek meaning and how ministry must respond. Hear why it may redefine formation, apologetics, and discipleship. https://t.co/tlG8bezqOQ

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

A campus conflict shows how fragile identity based systems have become. Small disputes trigger large reactions because institutions fear backlash, identity claims collide, and language expectations become unmanageable. This is expressive individualism eating itself. Expressive individualism becomes unmanageable at scale. That is a hallmark signal of an impending paradigm shift. Both sides, the student and the instructors, are arguing from accepted late modern frameworks: “Validate my identity,” “I was harmed,” “I deserve institutional protection,” “You owe me affirmation.” Future systems may move past fragile identity rules toward stable shared meaning. https://t.co/i7rwSOYmXp

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

As Christians experiment with AI in ministry, the appeal is understandable. Machines promise efficiency, scale, and order. Yet this fascination raises a deeper question. Are we being tempted to outsource the work God intends to use to shape Christ in us? A tool can generate a worship song, draft a sermon, or automate outreach, but it cannot repent, believe, love, or surrender. The Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18:18-23 wanted righteousness without surrender. Today, we risk using machines to shape discipleship without involvement. As AI grows more capable, the church must discern where it assists ministry and where it replaces the Christian formation that cannot be automated. The more AI imitates humans, the more we must ask what makes us creatures made in God’s image, authentically human followers of Christ. To paraphrase 2 Samuel 24:24, let us not offer to the Lord offerings that cost us nothing.

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

What if churches in the Global South, where the church is in revival, sent us Christmas boxes instead? What would they put in the box? They probably would not send plastic trinkets, disposable toys, or Christian-themed novelty items. It's a convicting thought. Here are a few ideas:

• A handwritten prayer letter urging freedom from dependence on possessions
• Scripture cards on contentment and storing treasure in heaven
• A small handmade cross that points to sacrifice over comfort
• A testimony describing joy in Christ during economic hardship
• A USB with testimonies, worship songs, or digital resources they produced
• A photo of believers sharing limited resources in community
• A simple devotional guide on fasting, generosity, and resisting materialism

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

Stripe froze a church’s giving account after automated rules opposed its Cuba missions language. This may be an early sign that digital tools can interrupt ministry work when platform systems treat normal mission activity as a risk. It is not a confirmed trend, but it is a signal to watch as online giving tightens.

[Bart Barber @bartbarber]

This is interesting and unexpected.

@fbcfarmersville uses @PlanningCenter as our church management software. Planning Center, in turn uses @stripe for processing online giving.

Stripe has shut us down, basically for being an SBC church.

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

New podcast episode! Spot emerging signals and navigate ministry change with foresight expert Dennis Draeger.

https://t.co/6fbnZIeOOf

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

Read here https://t.co/Sg5SVJpQF5

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

This is what a global south-driven revival could look like in the Western church. Gen Z in France is finding new life in evangelical faith. Social media, African diaspora influence, and a hunger for truth are driving a fresh movement in a culture long defined by secularism, hinting at a spiritual and social shift ahead. https://t.co/wwThS0S8id

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

For foresight-minded ministry leaders, this is more than a curious season. It is the fall of the current adaptive system. https://t.co/bskexp0jBP

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

Listening to The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon. It explores how societies rise, fall, and renew through cycles of complexity and adaptation. His idea of catagenesis aligns closely with panarchy theory, showing how breakdown leads to renewal. Especially helpful in the crisis-era days ahead, faith-based leaders should read or listen to this thoughtful study of resilience, crisis, and creative transformation as part of their scenario planning.

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

The Christian faith loses its humility when it is shaped by performance and presentation. https://t.co/YfCgiIZjb0

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

Whenever something occurs in the Middle East, some people on your social media timeline invariably claim they know exactly what’s happening and what might happen next, even though their statements are often so vague that they can be changed later for plausible deniability. But we’re called to something simpler: stay alert like the wise virgins in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, tend your own life and walk in Christ, don’t chase every headline or peace-deal hot take with a confirmation-biased frame, and stay faithful as you wait for His return. No eschatology side-hustle required.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matt. 25:1–13)

Image Credit: https://t.co/0B2WpM0Dhl

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

See: https://t.co/A36ddzOBnM

[Chris Forbes @InciteFutures]

https://t.co/qFlqNte8Ya