GlocalNet

What does it mean for the church to globally engage today?  Most people - particularly in the West - are doing the same thing, just more of it and with more energy - but I’m not sure it’s getting us anywhere.  If anything - much of what we in the West do in the world today, in the name of Jesus, is not just separating us from the world we are trying to reach - but is also separating us from the global body of Christ.  What will it look like to engage?  Here are some things I teach our young planters and some principles of ministry I follow globally:

First, all that we do will be defined by the East and the South - Phillip Jenkins and countless others have written on this.  We know it - but we don’t act like it.  If anything we show up, learn from them, package it with our names on it and redistribute it globally.  Often, we miss the nuance that all cultures have and then it doesn’t have the impact we expect.  It is no longer enough to package and market - we must learn, apply, understand, adjust, and be humble in all that we do.

Second, it is polycentric.  Especially being a Texan, I grew up thinking I’d start a church and do what no one else had done - win the whole world to Jesus!  God is already at work all over the world.  I need to connect with what he is doing - and not show up with my Western proven models, books, ideas - but to show up as an equal, a student.  I’m in a group of global pastors - and one thing I’ve learned is that I have to give and receive.  If all I do is give - that’s a mark of arrogance and cultural superiority - but if I receive I not only value other cultures - but I also believe that God has taught them things for me that I must learn.  Connecting the whole body of Christ globally is the only thing that will spread the gospel.  Western driven initiatives that invite the world to join and adjust to make space are coming to an end.  Eastern driven initiatives that value the whole body of Christ are and will continue to emerge - but the West will be a part only as they are willing to be equal partners - nothing more.  If anything, those of us in the West may have to be the most humble of all partners.  Our multiplying rate doesn’t come anywhere close to what God is doing around the world.

Third, all that is done must be collaborative.  One thing I’ve learned about collaboration - merely connecting is not collaboration.  Collaboration takes place only when there are equal partners, each with value, working towards a common goal.  There are some core values that are critical for collaboration to work.  First, we need each other.  Second, we respect each other.  Third, humility.  Fourth, an attitude of learning non-stop.  Fifth, willingness to change approach based on unexpected results from outcomes of collaboration.  Lots more - those are just some. 

I’ll give some more tomorrow - I’ve got about 15 I’ve been studying -