Accomplishing God�s mission in a globalizing world
Published: 10/23/2009
It was a revelation given to the children of Abraham—there is only one God. One of the holiest and most important verses in the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”
The Hebrew conviction that there is only one God and that this one God is universal has shaped much of world history and is the foundation for Christianity. Since those times, we have discovered that there are many planets, solar systems and galaxies. Yet, our theological conviction remains unshaken. Wherever you go in the whole universe, the God who revealed himself to us through Christ is the only God of the whole creation.
Our understanding of outer space is not the only thing that has changed in recent years, however. Our own planet earth has become a smaller place. We travel effortlessly from our homes to many destinations around the world.
We have people born in other countries living in our state. Whereas many of our people came here from northern Europe in the 1800s, now our newest residents are from Central America, Mexico, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Our businesses are affected by what happens elsewhere. Kansas was settled in a time when beef raised here was being shipped back to the East on newly built railroads. Now, we are selling our beef worldwide. The price of wheat and corn is dependent, in part, on what kinds of harvests there are in South America and Russia. Oil and gas are commodities traded globally. This process is called globalization—the economic and cultural integration of all the world’s peoples.
For us as Christians, we need to ask how this is all related. How is it that a universal God and a Christ who died for the sins of the whole world should be related to all the peoples of the world?
I am not sure of all of the answers, but I am deeply grateful that the United Methodist Church is a worldwide church. We have congregations on four continents in more than 50 countries. We are connected by our common doctrine, mission and discipline. The bishops of our church know each other and are actively building trusting relationships among the group. When we give mission money, we know the people who will be putting it to good use in places far away from us.
God has positioned us to be used very effectively to accomplish God’s mission in a globalizing world. Yet, we continually need to ask for God’s guidance about how we can best move forward.
The Kansas West Conference is exploring the possibility of a covenant relationship with the Zimbabwe East Conference. The Kansas East Conference has a long history of supporting mission work in many countries around the world.
I am chairperson of the study committee on the worldwide nature of the United Methodist Church, which is asking how God can best guide us into a future where we are even more fruitful than we have been so far.
In this process, all of us can remember to pray for our United Methodist sisters and brothers around the world. We can contribute money to UMCOR for disaster relief, just as people around the world have sent money to Kansas for disaster relief here.
And we can continually pray the Covenant Prayer of John Wesley.
“I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”
