OPINION: THOUGHTS ON THE 2003 STALEY DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR LECTURE SERIES

By Rev. Dr. Andrea Ng'weshemi, campus pastor

The Mission of the Christian Church in an Age of Globalization was the theme of the 2003 Staley Lecture Series at Dana College, April 10–11. Dr. Robert Schreiter, professor of theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and at the University of Nijmegen, was the speaker and gave several lectures on the topic of globalization.

According to Schreiter, globalization refers to the world order and new relationships in the world following the end of the political alignment of the Cold War in 1989. Advances in technology have simplified communications networks, allowing faster communication among people and institutions. The communication technologies democratize the flow of information and simplify mobilization of public opinion. However, a significant population is excluded from these technologies. In Bangladesh, for instance, there are only two telephones for every 1,000 people.

Economically, the interconnectedness of globalization has swallowed the world in one economic system of capitalism. Generally, global capitalism improves the quality of life of people. However, it excludes many others, creates a great gap between the rich and poor, and generates an anthropology that bases the value and dignity of the human person on one’s capacity to produce and consume.

Politically, globalization is gradually weakening the nation-state’s influence. With the rise of the new world order, the United States has become the single most powerful nation in the world. This leads to hegemony, and it raises the question whether the new world order will be in line with the dreams and aspirations of the United Nations.

In the social-cultural sphere, simplified transportation and communication systems have resulted in expansion in migration. Immigrants do not assimilate but maintain contact with their home communities. When immigrants choose to remain distinctive in some way, it means communities will become increasingly more multicultural. The question becomes: What does it mean to the cohesion of these communities? There is also a resurgence of religion at a time when secularization was believed to be taking over. Christianity is growing in the Southern hemisphere. Fundamentalism is also rising in all major religions of the world. In some situations, it is on a collision course against modernity/globalization. In others, it is changing the political face of countries.

Globalization creates two realities. The first is a globalized discourse, that is, a harmonized world over which no country has control. Second is a reassertion of the local against the global, that is, local resistance whereby people aspire to regain their autonomy against global forces and have control of their destinies.

Standing between these global and local trends is the church. In its diverse forms, Christianity accounts for 34 percent of the world’s population. This makes the church the most trans-local movement or institution in the world today. In Schreiter’s view, there are several areas where the mission of the church needs to be exercised in the world today.

At the global level, the Christian faith needs to be a voice and conscience for the world today. It should speak out against the exclusion and marginalization of people in economic globalization and the division of people among themselves. It must be a voice and conscience about imperial and unilateral decisions that affect global balance. It must be a voice and conscience in the promotion of life for all, for this was a central concern of Jesus (John 10:10b).

At the local level, Christians must work on building communities that can deal with realities the communities need to confront in terms of identity and of their boundaries. The church must foster multicultural communities and help and encourage Christians to live together in solidarity with one another without falling apart. It should promote peace and solidarity among people of different religious traditions, denounce religious violence, foster religious tolerance and, together with other religions, promote human development and dignity.

The church has to take the lead in reconstruction of communities shattered by civil wars. Christianity’s message of peace — God reconciling the world through Christ — is an immense resource. It must foster meaning, to suppress memory is to suppress human identity; pursue truth, which will set us free; and seek justice, which will right the wrong we have done.

In a globalized world, Christianity has a special responsibility because of its message of peace and neighborliness, understanding the peace (shalom) of God as the goal toward which we move, toward which the reign of God is being built. Christians need to understand themselves as God’s agents. They are God’s new creation and ambassadors of Christ. They are called upon to pursue God’s work in a world so densely connected yet so radically torn apart, a world to which God has bestowed so much love.