the Glocal Trekker Blog

Things are always moving--they never stop. First was pre-modern, then modern, then post-modern. All of those words, however, do not really contain the emerging perspective. I am convinced, though, post-modern describes the West--it’s only a sub-reading of a broader view. In all of this, the church’s historical response was first community, then institutionalism, then industrialization, then market-communication, then back to community and add missional--but forward to what? A lot of people call it missionalization--that’s the new word "missional." What is missional? I’m convinced a lot of bright people are using the word but really defining it differently. And, when it is defined, how do they practice it? That’s even more varied and inconsistent if not outright conflicting. I’m not so sure it won’t be short-lived. It’s still too tied to the old--and when I read that word, except for some US church planting, most of it is still a blend of market-communicated community. We "religious" people want to spiritualize everything. I believe the new word is "globalization." It is beyond economics and is very syncretistic, plural, and diverse. There is no debate on this--this is reality. The only question is how do we, as Os Guiness would say, "Plunder the Egyptians without worshipping the golden calf." Bosch wrote about all that the church does is "missional" – it’s true. I just wonder what implications would be placed on the church and believers if "all that the church does is global." However, global creates in our mind not a whole as much as long distance geography. That’s why I like glocal.