The challenges and commitments identified in this document emerge from a study of the world and the larger church. They also relate to the evolving characteristics of the Presbyterian and other mainline Protestant churches today. These characteristics affect our response to the challenges before us.

International connections have increased

• Technology and increasing mobility facilitate connections around the world. For instance, many more short-term mission trips are undertaken than in years past.
  
• A proliferation of mission organizations has created a diverse "mission marketplace" in which individual Presbyterians and congregations, presbyteries and synods have multiple mission opportunities open to them. They seek new kinds of supportive relationships with the rest of their denomination.

Education and nurture for mission has changed

• An increasing number of new members come from other Christian or unchurched backgrounds. In addition, the environment for Christian education and nurture has eroded. With many church members less aware of their denomination's mission activities and missionaries, we must find ways to revive the study of mission and the awareness of mission opportunities.
  
• Denominational "branding" began to matter less near the end of the 20th century. Local church identities formed by worship styles, curricula and mission involvements have become more significant.

Local mission is often globally connected

• The world has come to our own neighborhoods. High rates of immigration have changed the cultural environment of communities across the United States.
  
• The word "poor" has come to describe not only those who are unemployed, but those who work in minimum-wage jobs or who are underemployed. Increasingly, people addressing poverty look at the global economy to understand the forces at work.

Demands on mission budgets have grown

• Welfare reform in the 1990s put continuing pressure on congregations to increase their support for local agencies and ministries.
  
• Funding for all ministries is uncertain, in part due to a decline in membership, a weak economy, and concerns for geopolitical stability. Mission committees and church sessions are asked to fund more than they can possibly support.

God asks each of us to make wise choices in the ways we support mission in the local community, across the U.S., and around the world. We prayerfully offer Gathering For God's Future as a resource for making such choices.