Christians Facing the Challenge of the Global Village

David Hadley Jensen, Austin Theological Semina= ry, writes: “At the dawn of the 21st century we are bombarded by the term “globalization”, a buzz word in debates ranging from politics, business, popular music, the environment, even controversies over the food = we eat.” Is globalization = bane or blessing to life on the planet earth? We really do not know, do we?=

Workers see jobs going elsewhere in the world. Every so often there is a letter in the Gazette urging us to “buy Ame= rican!” You might try that if you have nothing else to do in life. I think it would take every waking hour to research the possibilities and then find them! Et= hnic pluralism is growing rapidly through out the wo= rld. Time and space relationships between persons have become so compressed that= we are made intensely aware of the interconnected and interdependent nature of life on the planet earth. We sit next to people on airplanes, and encounter people in the grocery store and wonder if they are terrorists.

We are completely surrounded by Beijing during= the 2008 Olympic Games. The opening ceremonies were astonishing, and sought to = stir the ancient nation’s sense of pride, and assure the rest of us that we have nothing to fear.

At the same time athletes breathe in unaccepta= ble amounts of pollution, and many people are uncomfortable with China’s record in human rights. Kurt Andersen writes in Vanity Fair, that while Chi= na indeed lives in a huge glass house these days, with much to be exposed, our house has pretty huge windows. That should temper our criticism. No matter = the issues, our future is inextricably intertwined with the future of China. Th= ere is no turning back. We cannot retreat from the global village.

The world is caught up in huge demographic cha= nge. I heard yesterday on NPR that the = planet has now reached the point where there is a balance between the numbers of people living in urban areas and those living in rural areas. China has certainly contributed to that shift with thousands of people leaving rural areas for the cities where they hope for better jobs and living conditions. Along with that shift comes a huge change in ethnic diversity across the fa= ce of the globe. The last time I was in Hamtramck, Michigan, I was amazed to s= ee the change. That Polish community dotted with huge Polish Catholic Churches= is now populated with people from the Middle East. How could that happen in just five= or six years?

How does all of this change affect the Christi= an Community? The Christian Church has always been significant in its global outreach. It was not accident= al. Matthew, reporting Jesus’ last conversation with his disciples, has J= esus proclaiming: “Go…make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. and remember, I am with you to the close of the age.&#= 8221; Generations of believers have taken seriously this great commission, and it= has worked and it is working still! Only the places are changing in these huge demographic shifts.

A woman in the Mount Kisc= o Presbyterian Church is a descendent of Presbyterian Missionary Daniel McGilvary, who went to Chaing Mai, Thailand, on an elephant in 1867 and founded a seminary for the traini= ng of ministers. That seminary is still in operation in the 21st century. Rece= ntly it has been working hard to put in place a Master of Divinity program in English. This is so that they might reach students from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and China, who will no longer need to learn the Thai language before pursuing their studies, for most of them already speak English.= This will have important implications for global Christianity and in that part of the world.<= o:p>

I heard something the other day that surprised= me; not particularly profound, I should have known. So I tried it our on Pat last week. The question is: “What wo= uld the average Anglican or Episcopalian be like at this point in the 21st century? Without a momentR= 17;s hesitation Pat said, “ A white male with a decidedly British accent.” That is how I responded! In truth, the ave= rage Anglican today is a female of color, who lives in Africa! Well, you know through the relationship this Presbytery has with the Presbyterian Church in Ghana, the strength and rapid growth of that church.

Thomas Huheey writ= es: “In the Third World, new churches are drawing audiences of ten, twent= y, even fifty thousand each Sunday. In support of attendance, the churches fund audio tape distribution, radio and television broadcasts, and internet acce= ss. They take every advantage of modern communications. The church = and its program are financed through the tithes of the poor.”<= /span>

Look at another church scene in the global village, Europe and Scandinavia.

Here the church is not doing well at all. One = of the reasons is that white populations of Europe are reproducing at a rate of 1.0-1.3 births per woman.

Demographers say that civilizations require 2.3 births per woman just to remain stable. Also, among European churches, only= 1 member in 25 attends worship, even on Easter and Christmas. Huheey observes: “As a result Europe is shriveling while the rest of the wor= ld is blossoming. Youth, vigor and energy will have to be imported to Europe o= r it won’t exist.”

I am not sure we Reformed Christians in south central and western Michigan are aware of how immigration is beginning to change the face of the American Church. Since the change in immigration pol= icy in 1965, we have ahs a huge influx of immigrants, slowed only by 9/11. The single largest sending country is Mexico. Mexico is an overwhelmingly Chris= tian nation. Millions of other immigrants have come from the predominantly Chris= tian countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Ecuad= or and Brazil. Many immigrants come from the Eastern Hemisphere, the Philippin= es, Korea, Vietnam, India and Lebanon.

Adherents of other great world religions are coming in large numbers also: Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Jews, all contributing to our religious diversity.&n= bsp; But most of them are Christian. Two thirds of the immigrants coming = into our country are Christian. Th= ey are changing the face of the American Church. In Roman Catholic Boston this week end, over half of the Masses will be spoken in Spanish. They bring different theological emphases. They preach a deep personal faith, and the importance= of communal values as opposed to our individualism. There is a reliance on str= ict scriptural authority. They read scripture and view scripture quite differen= tly than we progressive Christians do. Those from the southern hemisphere empha= size faith healing and exorcisms. The giving of ten per cent of their income is = not unusual, even among the poor. We have watched while Anglicans from Africa h= ave sought to exert authority over American Episcopalians, urging them to leave= a communion that would ordain a homosexual as a bishop. And you see, I am not about to give up my long worked at theological and biblical views concerning human justice and dignity for every human being.

Discussing this over lunch with a friend of mi= ne who worked for the Rand Corporation in Washington D.C., he said we need to become a church deipnosophists! Well, I could n= either pronounce nor spell the word! He explained that a deip= nosophist is a person skilled in dinner-table conversation. He said he came upon the = idea while having dinner with a colleague who spent most of the dinner time on h= is cell phone talking to other people!

Wow! He reminded me how 1st century church that is! - sharing a meal with strangers or those who differ with us, and having skilled conversation at t= he same time! An eagerness not only to speak well, but to listen well, and to = do both with compassion! One meaningful step towards changing the world and the face of religious pluralism! It is the step Peter took in the 1st century, = and the church in Jerusalem didn’t like it at all! After all, the Jerusal= em church was the original church, and it was the church of James, a brother of Jesus! But gradually, Peter and Paul and others convinced the elders in Jerusalem, that Jesus never meant religion to be exclusive. What will it lo= ok like 50 years from now. I would like to be around to see. = I am convinced it will not look like this! Not that we are bad or wrong – = but it isn’t going to look like this!