Lausanne World Pulse – A Double-Edged Sword: Opportunities and Challenges for Christian Mission in the Contemporary Era of Globalization

By Mark Russell

Over the past few years at conferences and Bible studies I have asked participants what they think about globalization. Sometimes people express frustration that they often hear the word but do not really know what it means. Others laud globalization as a move of God to enable the completion of the Great Commission within the next generation or even the next few years. Many others denounce the forces of globalization, particularly the economic aspects, for enabling exploitation at exponentially increasing rates. Globalization is clearly no simple matter and it should not be treated as such by Christian missionaries.

Howard Snyder defined well the essence of globalization when he wrote, “Global integration and networking are now the driving forces in business and economics. The world is becoming one vast marketplace, not a patchwork of local markets. Economic integration on a world scale is reshaping society.”¹

The Spread of the Gospel
Evangelicals who favor globalization point to the ease and ability to spread the gospel message far and wide. Global events and the natural flow of transportation and communication have always affected the spread of the gospel. Christian commentators have long pointed out that the elaborate road network developed by the Roman Empire helped to speed the spread of the gospel after Pentecost. While Christopher Columbus was trying to find a trade route to India, his discovery of the New World and the development of long distance ocean travel allowed the gospel to spread from Europe to the Americas.

The process of globalization can help us, as missional Christians, clear the path for the advancement of the gospel; yet it can simultaneously cut us if we are not careful.
 

William Carey in his famous treaty stated that Christians should use the shipping routes used for trade as avenues to access people with the gospel. John Wesley foresaw using trade as a means of evangelism. In his sermon, “On the Spread of the Gospel,” he described how he believed the gospel would spread around the world: “Probably these [Eastern European countries] will be followed by those more distant nations with whom the Christians trade; to whom they will impart what is of infinitely more value than earthly pearls, or gold and silver.”² Could it be that globalization is an opportunity for the Church to spread the gospel through trade communications to the ends of the earth as John Wesley foresaw over two hundred years ago?

Damage to the Gospel
Samuel Escobar points to the value that such integration can have for the world of missions. One example he mentions is the efficiency and effectiveness of technological communication that can facilitate and improve an important Bible translation project in South America. However, Escobar also gives this warning: “If mission simply rides on the crest of the globalization wave it might inadvertently change the very nature of the gospel.”³ He points to past instances of similar situations and criticizes “the total identification of modern Western values (the American way of life) with the gospel, which was being propagated by many missionary organizations in the name of Christian mission.” He says that a coming challenge for Christian missionaries in subsequent years will be “how to remain first and foremost messengers of Jesus Christ and not just harbingers of the new globalization process.”⁴

Mark Russell is a doctoral student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, USA. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife and their two children.