Don't mix up modern globalization with global Church mission, cautions WCC chief

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, World Council of Churches' (WCC) general secretary, delivered the closing sermon at the annual Maramon Convention in Kerala, India on February 18, 2007, urging the believers to recognize the distinctive difference between the global mission of the church and modern globalization.

Dr. Kobia explained that modern globalization is "associated with free–market economics and the consumer culture promoted throughout the world by commercial media," according to WCC.

Globalization of the world often is "conveyed and defended by militarized western powers," promoting "economic and social Darwinism of a dog–eat–dog world."

On the other hand, the global mission of the church is to spread the good news through evangelism to "all nations and the entirety of God's earth."

The general secretary emphasized that the two efforts to globalize should not be confused with one another even if "some colonial empires and other expansionist powers of Europe and North America have claimed to act internationally as agents of Christendom."

Dr. Kobia affirmed that the Gospel, if it is to be shared in the way the Bible intended, cannot be spread by forcing a culture's values on another culture.

However, western qualities such as freedom as seen through human rights, and advances in technology, economics, social sciences, and productivity and growth should be shared if they are not based on "any single ideology" and are "dedicated to the good of all."

Dr. Kobia delivered his speech to a crowd of some 200,000 Christians at the 112th Maramon Convention in India, the largest Christian gathering in Asia. The Convention took place February 11–18 and included notable speakers such as Anne Graham Lotz.

The organizer of the gathering, Mar Thoma Evangelical Association, is the mission arm of the WCC member church Mar Thoma Church.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya.