Globalization and World Outreach

Thomas Friedman was right! In the 1999 best-selling book 'The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization', the New York Times foreign correspondent effectively argued that the system which replaced the 'Cold War' economy and government structure was a new economic reality called 'Globalization'. What FOX News in America calls "one world Superpower" is really a misnomer (which plays well to a conservative US audience) - for American economics has been carefully and systematically offered up on the altar of the global market.

Before you turn me off, consider carefully the evidence - then consider the consequences. Without losing a step, we must also consider what we can (and must) do about all of this as believers charged with the responsibility of making the Messiah known to the nations. We dare not ignore the reality, nor can we fight a system that has crept up on us and taken us while we slept. We must be like the men of Isaachar, understanding the times. We must be like the disciple that is as harmless as a dove, but wise as a serpent. We must understand what the Master taught in the parable of the Unjust Steward (Lk. 16:1-13), and follow His injunction, "The children of this world are wiser in using their assets than the children of light. Make yourselves able to deal with the temporal riches to obtain eternal goals." (Lk. 16:8,9 my paraphrased version).

Three essential elements have combined in my lifetime that changed the world, as we knew it, and we all live in this new reality. First, the 'democratization of technology' is creeping slowly around the world. 3000 new people each week are logging on with their new computer for the first time somewhere in the world. With this, the 'democratization of information'. Even those who do not own a computer are receiving both mail, and now solicitation phone calls care of a neighborhood computer. Everything we buy is tracked, and every call we make is time-recorded for billing purposes. Whether you are a Lewinsky or a Bin Laden, we can piece together your life based on the computer billing cycle. America may have been the birthplace of much of the innovation, but it does have the ability to limit or control the direction of this global force. We are all in the system, and we can move money more easily and globally with the click of a mouse.

The fact is that our company, CTSP, makes products that are assembled by a team of people in at least three continents everyday. Our videos are shot in Israel and the Near East, digitally produced in South Africa, dubbed in Florida and sold to Americans via the web. Our books are prepared in Israel, and sent digitally to a printer in the US for printing used in the American office. Our European programs are prepared in Europe, offered to the world via the web, paid for by credit cards over the web. In the end, the symbol of the Cold War - the Berlin wall, was replaced by the new symbol of our age, the World Wide Web.

Another element that is well understood by the market leaders, but surprising ignored by church people as I travel in the US is the 'democratization of finance'. American Christians seem blissfully unaware what has happened to the dollar, and cannot explain the politics of the modern world. I keep hearing the same questions as I travel on the lecture tour, "Why is Israel ready to give up land for peace, at the expense of their own safety?" Another question like unto it: "Why is America taking so long to go to war with Iraq?" The questions, I believe, have the very same answer; what Friedman calls the 'democratization of finance'. What does that mean?

In my lifetime, the financial structure of America changed dramatically. Without pulling every detail apart, let me simplify the argument to basics. When I was born, banks were in charge. A mortgage was the issue between the owner and the buyer, held by a bank and insured by a government. Companies were privately owned, or corporations raised money through banks and the beginnings of stock sales. With the privatization of the bond market, anyone now can own a portion of any company that sells its shares. With the international barriers now removed, an investor can be from any country and own a piece of an American company. That same American company can produce its products on foreign soil, with foreign labor, at a cheaper price, but sell to the large consumer American market. In addition, the mortgages of Americans have essentially been cut up to a thousand little pieces and sold on markets from Hong Kong to Hoboken. People everywhere have been allowed to buy into the American market, and Americans have bought into theirs. The two have become one, and there is no way to separate them without collapsing the system.

I was sitting on a Boeing jet coming from Rome to Tel Aviv about three years ago, next to a Vice President of El Al Israel Airlines. He was returning from "peace negotiations" in Europe, and I was coming back from a study group. He chatted with me about the great things Israel had "won" as a result of the peace negotiations. I was shocked! I said, "How can you call this negotiation a 'win' for Israel, when you have seen so little peace dividend?" He answered, "You don't understand, our companies are listed on Wall Street now, and the markets are opening incredibly since we have entered the peace negotiations. This puts Israel into the world economy, and they will be much less likely to simply allow us to be destroyed, because it will hurt the markets." I now know how seriously he took globalization of finance. He wasn't kidding!

Every time I go to a Wal-Mart (my wife considers this a pilgrimage), I am greeted with a host of products from dozens of countries. Even the products made in the USA are actually "assembled in the USA" since many parts are made by companies not on US soil. The car I drive has parts from at least seven countries. The employees in the European auto plant and the US auto plant probably get their paychecks from essentially the same source. The investors that hold these companies are spread out from 'Bombay to Boston'. Even my mortgage is held by people around the globe (in one way or another). This market grows, and there is no real way to stop it without an international collapse ten times larger than the crash of the 1920's. It makes life in many places cheaper and more convenient, but it comes at a price. If the symbol of technology is a computer, the symbol of modern finance is the plastic credit card in every wallet.

In the end, as I drive from one American city to another, the restaurants are the same, the malls the same, and now the downtown is slowly eaten up by the same business logos. We have homogenized the local businesses. We are told by market experts that an average employee in my children's generation will work no less than 12 jobs in their life, and the notion of 'occupation' will be limited to a few specialized areas. This is not a complaint, simply an observation of a change that happened largely in my lifetime.

In addition, my government has become a 'client' to the market place, unable to make decisions for one country without watching closely the market effect around the world. President Bush wants to move forward in Iraq, but gets punished by the Hang Seng and FTSE, and we feel it in our 401Ks. It is a strange, new world! We can drop bombs or cut bonds, and both can devastate a country. Yet, strangely, the same trend makes policy more vulnerable to world opinion. Many Christians think the UN has been our undoing, yet the truth is, I suspect our sincere desire to have more things at the cheapest price is our actual problem. We are seeing every barrier drop at our mortgage office or our local supermarket and a one-world system is already upon us - support the UN or not.

There are a great many more observations that can be made, but I want to move from observation to proactive movement. I believe the future is incredibly bright, for I have read God's Word and know the end. When the disciples were told of coming troubles, Jesus told them, "These things must happen." In the end, I cannot change the situation around the globe (I can barely manage to control my own waistline)! What I can do is become wise to the changes that are going on, and continually re-plot my course according to the times. It is essential that believers consider the situation we are in!

Implications in the Local Church

Practically speaking, there are widespread implications of globalization, in this article, I will deal only with one slice of the pie - the Church implications and a planned response for outreach. The globalization of our world has produced some benefits (along with their opposite-edged perils):

1. One woman and a computer could earn a Nobel peace prize getting more than 100 nations to sign on to a land mine treaty originating from her kitchen and a computer with e-mail - conversely, one radical man named Osama could produce an army of "Jihad online", mobilized by sat phones and e-mail

2. Instant information is available about world tragedy. I watched the towers fall from Jerusalem in real time, as others saw them fall around the globe - conversely, we are invited to listen to an ever-increasing speculative "news" program that has offered analysis before the facts have been ascertained. This gives rise to a great many speculations and conspiracy theories. In the work place you hear, "But on channel 5 they were saying this happened because…" Yet channel 5 may have no facts the rest of us haven't heard, only better speakers that think on their feet. In the end, the truth is often lost in the shuffle.

3. News analysis is sorted and edited for us because there is "so much" available. In the end, I become over informed and undereducated - a striking contrast. One pregnant woman who is missing gets 10-15 minutes of every broadcast for weeks in the US, along with speculation on whether her husband is responsible (long before anything as menial as a judge or evidence in court) - meanwhile thousands die in Central Africa without a mention. Though I know neither person, a news editor decides which story SHOULD BE more important to me. In the end, I will be blamed around the world for ignorance of world affairs that were never put on my radar screen.

4. Missionaries can share burdens in real time via e-mail, and we can pray today and hear the results tomorrow. Yet, your sins find you out in real time. Take a young pastor that, in a time of disobedience and sin in his life, wanders on the web into pornographic sites. The "cookie" - crumb trails that lead back to his computer - are now left in an electronic trail with his signature. Ten years later, that information is available to the enemy of the church, and he has never had trouble knowing how to use such information. Do the young people know that such things can be kept on record?

What does all this mean for the church?

1. Understand that traditions that have made our various denominations and fellowships unique are becoming part of the Quisanart blender of globalization, first in America, then in many mission points around the globe. This will have a positive and negative effect on outreach. McChurch has come. I travel between denominational groups, and sing the same songs, and hear the same references to books, seminars and groups. The great partisan names of Calvin, Luther and Zwingli have been replaced by the "I'm not sure what background they are" Christian radio and TV personalities. It has a benefit, but also a danger. We look more "unified" (which is actually more 'uniform'), but we know less of the great debates that brought us to this place historically and theologically, and we doubt that such things are very important! Depth gives way to breadth. We tend to believe a well-presented display, rather than be gracious in behavior, but brutal in our study of content. We tend to decide what is "good" based on what is well attended. Change is not only invited, but also forced on us (even our reluctant leaders!), simply because of the times. Lyrics of a popular Christian song will be learned and sung in the service, even if the essential theology behind them is in contrast to our own. After all, everyone likes the tune!

2. As our music and Christian subculture becomes standardized, thinking outside the box is more and more discouraged (though quietly and unintentionally). Our conservatism in politics and Christianity become increasingly linked, and divergence from the political and ethical platform becomes more uncomfortable. Take for instance - Iraq. Are you certain that oil plays no role in the American motivations for war? Are you offended that
I asked? Is ecological conservation a "left" issue? Are you puzzled why I care? A low point in recent days has been the shameful behavior by FOX News to make fun of the French and Germans for opposing the US war effort. "Don't they know we saved them in the WW II?" People echoed in the halls of a recent church meeting. Yes, they remember. Does that mean that they should therefore agree to anything the US desires? Should the French endure chiding that it is "just because of oil" when the US gets more than half of their oil from the gulf and the French less than 20 percent? Am I allowed to think of myself as a loyal conservative Christian and disagree with you on such an issue? Did we take time to examine the basis of our opinions, or simply decide based on shreds of pre-chewed information from a media source and then decide to dislike a people group? We must be careful; the time is coming (and already exists in some church circles) that we dare not utter such words. The church that offered the Gospel of liberty has set us free and is now less comfortable with such freedom.

3. We must face the new paradigm of ministry for the coming days. In church after church I have seen leaders frustrated as they work harder and harder to keep up a better "service" to attract yet more into the church. This has often resulted (from their own lips) in changing from a greater content format in the Word, to a more "user friendly" Church presentation. In the end, many believers in these churches have expressed the sense that they have been left behind in their love of the hymnal, tradition of the church, and depth of study in the Word. In many places, Sunday morning is for the new crowd, but not for the believer to be deeply challenged. This (in and of itself) is not wrong - it is a change. Yet, leaders are often quietly frustrated with the inability to reach new people while caring for those in the ranks of the older believers. Many believe they must do the outreach through the services in order to keep the church growing, as their members expect someone on the payroll to reach the community. Some look at this as generational, and in part that is true. Our church music is facing the battle in America that our parents fought (and lost) with the Beatles. The church, true to form, a generation later is offering the stylistic changes even in the most conservative of churches. Yet, some of this is forced upon the church by unseen globalizing market force values that begin to see large as successful and small as unhealthy. I want to deliberately challenge that thought.

Jesus focused His ministry on a time when there was a world market called Rome. There was a large religious system called Judaism, and yet He built a growing (both in depth and size) ministry. How did He do that? He focused on several principles:

1. He cared for the crowds, loved them, healed them and spoke to their hearts - but His primary focus was on grooming a small number of faithful and able disciples. It was not all about the crowds. Of the seventy-two scenes I count in the Luke account, there are eighteen actual sermons. About one third of the sermons are directed at His disciples, and they tend to be the longer and more in depth teaching. About half are to the crowds, and the rest to the Pharisees as he taught and persuaded some of them that He was the Messiah. The focus of Jesus on discipleship should be the point of attack in this era, I believe. What do I mean? Every Pastor should have a hand full of disciples, or be seeking them. Each church leader should be seeking to duplicate himself in ministry. The discipleship process will be even more important in the vanilla and less connected society of globalization. It is deeper, more effective and a proven method in these days of McChurch. The public meeting can then be used as celebration of what God is doing. More should be said of this in a future article. If this touches your heart, respond and I will work more carefully in a textual presentation of God's Word.

2. He was much more deeply concerned that the Father's message was understood in its entirety, than that the crowds on year two were larger than year one. It was the discipleship that produced the ultimate growth both in depth and numeric terms. His focus was growing the depth of His followers, not simply the size of his crowd. To arrive at that depth, He shared Himself, not just His message. In several churches I visited, the leaders lamented they barely knew many in the flock. I suspect the flock was filled with needs that are unmet, and connections that were unmade.

3. Jesus wanted His disciples to grasp the problems of the day, but focus on the Spirit work of the Kingdom. We can spend all day protesting what we don't like in our government or our community, or we can push forward a positive agenda to reach people with the life-changing message of the Gospel. In the coming days, I believe we should address how this can be done. God willing, I will try to throw a few ideas in the ring.

I believe these days demand we rethink the use of our church funds, our mission approach, our outreach strategy and many other things. I believe these are significant times, and it all starts with understanding the system we are now in. I believe globalization is our new reality, like it or not. I believe we must learn to use it to the advantage of the Gospel!

That's my take on it, R

PS: Let me know what you think!