Nothing is as permanent as change. Understanding this paradoxical truth transformed my life. It protected me when I was a youth, and it has helped guide me as an adult.

Change is natural to existence and common to all creation. Everything is in a constant state of change, and nothing can stop it. Change is both evidence that we are alive and proof that we are finite—because everything has its own season, and nothing on this earth lasts forever.

Change is a principle of creation. In short, everything changes.

The simple statement everything changes conveys a principle that can bring tremendous peace and understanding to us. If we accept the inevitable truth that nothing in our lives will remain the same, we can develop realistic levels of expectation and minimize our disappointments.

We generally experience four types of change in life: (1) change that happens around us, (2) change that happens to us, (3) change that happens within us, and (4) change that we make happen.

One of the greatest tragedies in life is that only a small percentage of the world’s population responds to change effectively. Many people are victims of change. Some people dread change; others refuse to accept it. These approaches are formulas for frustration, depression, and wasted potential.

Are you teetering at the threshold of a new season? Change may make you feel more trepidation than trust. Yet you can learn to embrace change with a positive attitude and use it to benefit your life, as well as others’ lives.

Or, perhaps you anticipate change in the future and are excited about it. As you read this book and come to view times of transition from a new perspective, you’ll discover tremendous opportunities for personal, professional, and corporate growth. These new possibilities hold an exciting destiny for you.

Be bold and embrace the next season of your life. It’s the only path to fulfilling your potential—and your unique contribution to your generation.

Lost opportunity means the sacrifice of destiny.

—Dr. Myles Munroe

Introduction

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. —Abraham Lincoln

No matter who you are—regardless of your country, race, ethnicity, language, and disposition—time and change will affect you.

Life is continually handing us personal, family, community, and national changes. However, we are also living in a time when there is a convergence of worldwide changes that is creating a transitional tide in human history. We are experiencing change on a big scale. In response, we must understand this change and meet it effectively or the forces of transition will pull us along, and we will have no influence in the midst of them.

Historic convergences and transitional tides have occurred at significant points throughout the ages. A historic convergence is a strategic period of history when major events occur, bringing with them momentous transformations in social, economic, political, and spiritual conditions. In the past, some strategic changes have been welcomed by people, while others have been dreaded. Certain changes have drawn mixed reactions from individuals. Unsettling times throughout history have resulted in societal fear, panic, distress, and confusion. Many people were not prepared for these changes; some reacted with suspicion, contempt, and violence, while others simply surrendered to the inevitable and became victims of the elements of change.

Let us look back through the corridor of time to various strategic points in history. Transitional periods occurred during the times known as the Dark Ages and the Enlightenment, during the times of the exploits of great explorers such as Christopher Columbus, during the western expansion of Europe to the Americas, colonization, the slave trade, the birth of the republic of the United States, World Wars I and II, the creation of the United Nations, the birth of the nation of Israel, the Civil Rights Movement, the decline of communism, the expansion of Islam, the birth and growth of new Eastern religions, and the emergence of international terrorism.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were noted for great changes in the arenas of science, technology, transportation, communication, education, and religion. The explosion of scientific discoveries led to advances in medicine and the invention of the telephone, airplane, radio, television, and computer. The development of intercontinental travel resulted in intercultural exposures not possible in earlier times. The world truly has become a “global village.”

This brief overview captures the complex nature of some of the events that have shaped the world in which we live today. As we move forward in the twenty-first century, we, also, are caught in transitional tides. Everyone with a measure of discernment, spiritual insight, and historical perspective can sense a historic convergence in every sphere of life. Change is in the air. It is everywhere. The present time period demands a response within the context of these changes. What is the nature of the transitions taking place at this juncture in history?

A quick assessment reveals tremendous change in the international political equation. We have seen the demise of colonialism, the extinction of the Cold War, the birth and rise of increasingly significant independent states (both large and small), an increase in worldwide economic interdependence, and global access to instant intercultural/international communication through the Internet. Post-World War II leaders have passed their leadership to younger generations who are removed from that era, bringing a youthfulness to national leadership not seen in some decades. In the Christian church, old guard Protestant and evangelical leaders and those who founded the charismatic movement are drifting from the scene. Their departure makes room for a new crop of leaders for the twenty-first century church.

Moreover, a significant shift is taking place in former colonial territories that were once the focus of mission efforts, many of which have been identified as undeveloped, developing, or Third World countries. The growth of the national church and church leadership within these nations requires a new approach for a new era.

In The Principles and Benefits of Change: Fulfilling Your Purpose in Unsettled Times, we will look at worldwide and personal challenges we all face today. We are truly in seasons of change. It will take an informed, globally minded, spiritually sensitive, skilled, educated, purpose-inspired person to effectively make a difference in our generation and set a standard for the generations to come. It will take those who understand the dynamics of change and who determine to respond rather than to react. Today’s leaders will have to be creative on demand, understanding their roles and purposes in their generation.

The historic convergence discussed above is occurring in ten major areas. I believe the twenty-first century will be known as the age of:

1. Globalization
2. Information
3. Communication
4. Mobilization
5. Cultural Diversification
6. Mergers and Networking
7. Longevity of Life
8. Technology
9. Social and Political Transition 10. Rapid Transformation

A paradigm shift is taking place in these arenas, a trend that we will look at more closely in the chapter “Worldwide Tides of Change.” Across the globe, leaders are sensing an urgency to

integrate their nations into these changes. Old styles of leadership have lost their effectiveness and must yield to the new equation of twenty-first century leadership.

Moreover, the emergence of Third World leadership in the social, political, and religious fields is undeniable. The formerly opposed, rejected, and ignored are rising up to places of influence. This international change includes a shift in emphasis, priorities, and methods. Whether you live in a modern industrial society or in the developing Third World, you must carefully consider how these changes affect your life. It is imperative that we know how to prepare for the change, how to respond to the change, how to maximize the change, and what to do to change ourselves in order to fulfill our individual and corporate purposes.

On a global scale, therefore, as well as on a personal one, we must be prepared for transformation. Let us embrace the principles and benefits of change so we may fulfill our individual and corporate destinies, in all seasons and circumstances of our lives.

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower

Part 1