The World Is A Small Place!
INTRODUCTION
The world is in constant change. These changes create new challenges that require leaders to think critically in order to provide solutions that will address those challenges in new and effective ways. The book Contemporary Social Theory is a summary of these efforts.
SUMMARY
Professor Anthony Elliot provides a summary of the vast array of issues and schools of thought that have shaped many of the social trends observed in the last decades. He describes and evaluates different schools of thought—from Theodor Adorno’s ideas in the Frankfurt School all the way to Cornelious Castoriadis in contemporary perspectives about globalization. Even though the book is not written from a Christian worldview, it does bring up relevant topics to which the church must pay attention.
REFLECTION
Today, we are at one of those crossroads of global change that requires for those of us in ministry to ask new questions and give insightful answers. As I write this blog, I’m drinking a cup of coffee from Colombia in a cup made in Indonesia while typing on a computer assembled in China and wearing a shirt made in Nicaragua. Of course, there would be little impact in the way we do ministry in the local church if the interaction with this diversity of countries was limited to products we consume. Yet, the implications of globalization and the rise of global information technologies have far more impact than simple consumerism.
Let me share a collage of experiences to illustrate why the church must start thinking critically and provide insightful ways of doing ministry in light of globalization. A few years ago, I was counseling a couple from Taiwan in Texas. Even though they were both professionals, she was fluent in English; he was not. So in our initial sessions, he would speak in Mandarin, she would translate into English, and I would counsel them in English with a Spanish accent. Eventually, the husband became more fluent in English, so we could do our sessions only in one language but with many accents.
During this last year I have been mentoring an engineer and former businessman from the Philippines who moved to Texas with his family to work as a public school teacher. He came to know the Lord through our ministry and now I am equipping him through our discipleship program. When he meets with his Filipino friends, they speak in Tagalog, but when we meet for discipleship we speak in English. Another Filipina member of our church recently shared the gospel with her family in the Philippines by phone and by Skype. Now, several of her relatives have come to know the Lord and are attending a church in their hometown. She meets with them for occasional Bible study through Skype.
About four years ago, a Chinese pediatrician came to Texas for a medical conference. She eventually came to know the Lord through our ministry and started our discipleship program. After visiting her in China, a couple from our church has been discipling her through Skype for the past two years. We discovered that it is challenging for her to understand many of the biblical terms in English. So each session takes twice as much time in light of the language barrier. This has made us realize that the content would be easier to understand if it was translated into Mandarin, so we have started the process of translation.
Two years ago we started a biweekly Spanish Bible study. Not all the people that attend the study can physically join us. We have a couple in Mission, on the Texas border, and another couple in El Paso. In order to participate, they connect through Facetime, and whenever they visit Dallas they make time to attend our worship service.
While attending a conference this past week, I met a Colombian man who is part of the leadership team at his church in Colombia. They have a congregation of over 30,000 people. They have online broadcasts, and about 3,000 people from the U.S. join through the Internet. So now he is researching the legal requirements in order to start a church plant for the Spanish-speaking community in Dallas. You read it right—a Colombian church is sending missionaries to start a church plant in the U.S.
I share this collage of experiences, because they echo what Anthony Elliot points out in the closing paragraph of his book. He says, “Undeniably, the global challenges we face demand global solutions, and ones that are both future-regarding and geared to the actual needs and desires of others.” (350)
How will Ethnos Bible Church provide global solutions to the global challenges and needs that we are facing now locally? How will we minister to the increasing multilingual population in our city? Do we need to incorporate a multilingual approach to our local church? What are the leadership dynamics in a multilingual church? How can we use technology to reach out to the ends of the earth with the gospel? How do we shorten distances through technology without sacrificing koinonia? Is a multi-site church a possible solution to this new global phenomenon? If so, what is the shape of a healthy multi-site church? As I said earlier, this changing world requires for us in church leadership to think critically in order to provide solutions that will address those challenges in new and effective ways. I pray that the Lord will lead us in this process because I believe that it is not for us to create new ideas or to decide the shape for His church, but to discover the ideas and discern the shape that He has in mind for His church. To this end, we must continue to pray fervently, analyze critically, think creatively, and solve effectively. If we do so, we may be able to lead well in a world that seems to be getting smaller each day.
About the Author
Pablo Morales
Pablo Morales serves as the Lead Pastor of Ethnos Bible Church in Texas. He is currently pursuing the Doctor of Ministry degree in Leadership and Global Perspectives at Portland Seminary in order to understand what it takes to develop a healthy multiethnic church.8 responses to “The World Is A Small Place!”
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Thanks Pablo for a blog of many questions, I heard and I know God heard the cry of your blog very loud and clear.
Those same questions are at the forefront of my assignment today. The greatest priority of the church in the 21st century must be to cross any cultural boundaries in order to win people to Christ and establish missional communities. First, it must be understood that the church is not an organization or a building in which people come to worship. “The church is an organism, a body of baptized believers and as such evangelism should be the main priority of the body of the church and the church responsibility.” The church must go back to the basic of being a Biblical church when believers understand that Biblical evangelism is not what the church does, but who the church is—the message of the gospel.
Your blog brought us to our assignment and how we must apply it in the ever changing social theory context. Thanks Rose Maria
Rose, wow! That was profound: “Evangelism is not what the church does, but what the church is.” Thank you for your encouraging words!
Pablo
Pablo,
Love your opening observations of globalization with where all your consumer goods are made/from. I very much agree that we as the Church must “globalize” ourselves in order to meet the mounting ministry opportunities. What church or churches do you see leading in this area?
Aaron
Aaron, thank you for asking! This topic is part of my research this semester. So far, I have discovered several churches that are part of an organic movement of multi-ethnic ministries. Among the list, there are five important ministries:
1) Mosaic Church in Arkansas (Pastor Mark DeYmaz)
2) Graceway in Kansas City (Pastor Jeff Adams)
3) Transformation Church in Charlotte, NC (Pastor Derwin L. Gray),
4) Willcrest Baptist Church in Houston (Dr. Rodney Woo).
5) Mosaic Church in LA (Pastor Erwin McMannus).
The list will continue to grow as I do my research. With time, I hope Ethnos Bible Church will also be part of this list!
Pablo
Pablo:
A book that possibly some of us asked “why” became a catalyst for us to ask some deep questions. Globalization is not the enemy. The big question is what is being globalized?
When we read the 5 types of theology (folk – academic) it opened our eyes to the complex standardization that is within Christianity. Yet when you talked about what you were drinking, wearing, and working on it didn’t mean you were living in confusion.
What do you feel needs to be the “gold standard” for Christianity to be a social force in the earth? I don’t mean a treatise, but what tenets need to be agreed upon? How do we bring unity around them?
Phil
Phil, thank you for your comments. I’m not sure I completely understand your questions, but let me at least give it a try.
I do not think of globalization as something negative but as a strategic opportunity for ministry. Before, we had the nations living outside our borders; now they are our neighbors. Before, we had to travel for weeks in order to reach China; now we can Skype. So, the point of my blog is that as a church we need to open our eyes to this new reality and become intentional in reaching out. We need to be willing to think outside the box and try new strategies.
You asked, “What do you feel needs to be the ‘gold standard’ for Christianity to be a social force in the earth?” Personally, I believe the root to this answer is found in the Great Commission. The church became the transforming social force on earth when it did what it was called to do from the beginning: To make disciples of all nations, and teaching them to obey everything the Lord commanded. Only then, new believers will be equipped to be salt and light on the earth-the very social force that God meant for us to be.
Pablo:
This was the most interesting part of the book when I felt like things fell apart, globalization. It is amazing that it really redefines everything. I believe your collage only proves what he has to conclude at the end of the book. What do you think is the answer for the local church to reach the global community?
Great post!!
Kevin
Kevin,
Thank you for your encouraging words. You asked, “What do you think is the answer for the local church to reach the global community?” In my opinion, the answer is simple: to be obedient to the Great Commission. Yet, the implications are far more complex.
I am currently researching this topic, and I’ve discovered that many local churches are intentionally reaching out to the global community in their cities. This intentional effort demands for each church to embrace diversity, to overcome racist, ethnocentric and classicist tendencies. It demands for us in pastoral leadership to be equipped so that we can equip the church for this task. It demands to overcome fear and walk in faith. It demands for us to be willing to reinvent ourselves and break paradigms while remaining faithful to the gospel message. What does this look like? That is the very answer that I am seeking to find in my research this semester. May the Lord lead the way!