What are the simularities and differences to this quote and Livingroom?

Emerging Leaders in Missions: Characteristics of the next generation of ministry leadership and how they’re changing the face of missions.
Peter Greer, HOPE International

The differences with today’s ministry leaders go deeper than the casual dress, occasional body piercings or long hair. There is an emerging group of leaders who are beginning to influence and shape how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is seen in the West and they often do not look or act like the previous generation. Sometimes they’re feared, sometimes criticized, sometimes embraced. What do these individuals mean for the world’s missions movement? What will be their influence?

In some ways, these leaders bear similarities to the early church, the Jesus movement, and the post-modern culture in which they live. The following characteristics are generalizations and will not fit any one leader or organization. However, they represent trends from a growing number of young ministry leaders as noticed at a recent gathering.

1. Relational: There’s a renewed focus on community, in some ways resembling the Jesus movement of the seventies. Many are realizing that how they live and relate to each other is as important as what their ministry “does.”

2. Nondenominational: Young ministry leaders are reaching across denominational lines and often are wary of hierarchical church structures. Few of these new organizations are tied to denominations or care to be.

3. Word plus Deed: The majority of emerging ministries are designed with a dual focus of physical service and sharing Jesus. Social activism is intimately tied with their understanding of Jesus’ mission of redemption.

4. Theologically Vague: Often, there is a dislike of theological debates that divide rather than unite. Most ministry leaders are not seminary trained and have not spent hours studying church history. The focus is on living out the example of Jesus and seeking to better understand and apply His Word.

5. Not “Christian” but “followers of Jesus.” Many recognize that social trappings that are associated with the label “Christian” and instead have chosen to be associated solely with Jesus of Nazareth.

6. Video: The power of these new leaders to convey their messages is often tied to their masterful use of video. College students armed with digital cameras and a willingness to travel to remote places of the globe are bringing the needs of the world to America’s living rooms.

7. Motivated: Most leaders are leaving much higher paying opportunities to become involved in nonprofit ministries. Many explicitly state that they have no desire of waiting until “Halftime” to be involved with missions or following Christ’s call on their lives.

8. Personal: Almost without exception, today’s ministry leaders had their hearts touched by traveling. Short-term trips to visit the majority world where they worked alongside Mother Theresa or listened to children talk about their need for clean water left indelible impressions. Experiences, more than books or magazines, are setting hearts on fire.

9. International: Associated with the increasing number of short-term opportunities, many are recognizing the enormous wealth that the West enjoys. The result is that most organizations are focused on the suffering and hurting parts of the world and a much greater awareness of poverty.

10. Creative: Church planting and crusades are not the methods commonly embraced by the new leaders in sharing the Gospel. Business as missions and skate parks are almost more common. The emphasis is often on meeting the world where they are and not expecting them to come into Church buildings.

11. Little Strategic Planning: Most of these new leaders and ministries are in rapid stages of change and growth. There is recognition that the Lord put a key issue in their heart and they spend more time seeking His leading than crafting formal strategies.

To say that these changes are “good” or “bad” would be naively simplistic. It could be argued that elements of our relativistic society have crept into some organizations or that the emphasis on the social work has been done to the exclusion of presenting God’s plan of salvation. Yet the very fact that a growing number of individuals are lit by a passion for Jesus and are seeking to share His love in this hurting world should be celebrated and these leaders nurtured, encouraged and challenged.