Signal Café Podcast with Chris Forbes
Signal Café Podcast with Chris Forbes
Podcast Description
Brought to you by Forbes Nonprofit Strategies and Incite Futures Labs, Signal Café, hosted by Chris Forbes, explores the signals, trends, and drivers shaping the future of ministry. Each episode invites pastors, nonprofit leaders, and faith-based strategists to think ahead, discern cultural shifts, and respond with clarity and conviction. It’s a space to scan the horizon and prepare faithfully for what comes next.At Signal Café, we apply the best practices of strategic foresight to spark meaningful conversations about the church’s future. Episodes cover topics such as digital discipleship, spiritual formation in a fragmented culture, rebuilding trust in institutions, generational transitions, the rise of global Christianity, and emerging models of funding and cooperation.This podcast is for those called to lead with wisdom in uncertain times. Whether navigating denominational change, rethinking missions, or anticipating what’s next for ministry, Signal Café helps you see what’s emerging and respond with grounded hope.This isn’t just another ministry podcast. It’s a curated foresight lab for leaders ready to engage complexity with vision and courage. If you’re planting churches, leading networks, or stewarding resources for lasting impact, Signal Café offers future-focused insight for faithful leadership.To learn more about Strategic Foresight for Faith-based Nonprofits, visit: https://www.forbesstrategies.com/
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes such as digital discipleship, spiritual formation amidst cultural fragmentation, rebuilding institutional trust, generational transitions, global Christianity trends, and innovative funding models. For instance, episodes like 'The Next Era of the Cooperative Program' dive deep into how strategic foresight can address contemporary challenges faced by Southern Baptists.

Brought to you by Forbes Nonprofit Strategies and Incite Futures Labs, Signal Café, hosted by Chris Forbes, explores the signals, trends, and drivers shaping the future of ministry. Each episode invites pastors, nonprofit leaders, and faith-based strategists to think ahead, discern cultural shifts, and respond with clarity and conviction. It’s a space to scan the horizon and prepare faithfully for what comes next.
At Signal Café, we apply the best practices of strategic foresight to spark meaningful conversations about the church’s future. Episodes cover topics such as digital discipleship, spiritual formation in a fragmented culture, rebuilding trust in institutions, generational transitions, the rise of global Christianity, and emerging models of funding and cooperation.
This podcast is for those called to lead with wisdom in uncertain times. Whether navigating denominational change, rethinking missions, or anticipating what’s next for ministry, Signal Café helps you see what’s emerging and respond with grounded hope.
This isn’t just another ministry podcast. It’s a curated foresight lab for leaders ready to engage complexity with vision and courage. If you’re planting churches, leading networks, or stewarding resources for lasting impact, Signal Café offers future-focused insight for faithful leadership.
To learn more about Strategic Foresight for Faith-based Nonprofits, visit: https://www.forbesstrategies.com/
In this episode, we identify metamodernism as an emerging cultural signal with significant implications for the future of ministry. Younger generations are holding doubt and hope together, showing renewed openness to spiritual questions while rejecting institutional distrust, performance, and transactional religious messaging. This shift points toward a future where credibility rests on formational apologetics, embodied community, and relational integrity rather than polished arguments or platform-driven ministry. By paying attention now, we can prepare for a ministry landscape shaped by authenticity, humility, and table-centered discipleship.
If this conversation helped you see metamodernism as a meaningful signal of cultural change, consider how these patterns may shape the future of formation, discipleship, and evangelism in your context. The emerging generations are asking deeper questions, seeking authenticity, and watching for communities whose lives match their words. Our task is to recognize these shifts early and respond with wisdom, presence, and hope.
To learn more about the formational apologetics work mentioned in this episode or to connect with our guest, you can reach Mary Jo Sharp at [email protected]
Keep exploring the signals, trends, and drivers shaping the future. Take the next step by engaging your ministry team in a conversation about what this future could mean for your context through Incite Futures Labs from Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. We help leaders anticipate change, navigate complexity, and build their preferred future. Let’s collaborate!

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