Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Glocalization, Social Networks and the Church

Published by

Matt Stone

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Is glocalization the same as globalization?

Danah Boyd writes:

When mass media began, people assumed that we would all converge upon one global culture. While the media has had an effect, complete homogenization has not occurred. And it will not. While some values spread and are adopted en-masse, cultures form within the mass culture to differentiate smaller groups of people. Style-driven subcultures are the most visible form of this, but it occurs in companies and in other social gatherings…

…As digital communities grow, they do not get homogeneous. In fact, quite the opposite. They get unwieldy as different communities within the system compete for resources where that resource is features that move the system in the direction they would like to see it go. Everyone is connected, meaning that all sorts of conflicts come crashing together. Language barriers make it hard for people to communicate. Cultural barriers make it hard for them to understand each other. Social barriers make them not care.

Consider then the difference between globalized Christianity and glocalized Christianity. What is the future of the world Christian movement do you think? What are the implications for us locally? How do you think Dana’s comments on ‘designing for glocalization’ may have relevance for the Christian church?

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One response to “Glocalization, Social Networks and the Church”

  1. fernando Avatar
    fernando

    I see Christianity as very much on a process of glocalisation, by which I mean that some parts of the church are becoming ever more globalised and globally networked and others are becoming less globally engaged and more locally focussed.
    Its easy to see the localisation thing happening in churches that disengage from online networking, or global networks, from churches that priorities the local, in politics, culture or outlook, from churches that obsess about geography and geographically defined agendas.
    The global is apparent in larger institutions, online networks and to some extent in academia. At the church level, we are seeing things like the globalisation of brands (hillsong london, willow creek australia). The real question is whether we will see global uran networks. Inner city and urban churches establishing networks with other city churches because they have more in common with them rather than their host geography and a movement of people from urban to urban, rather than urban to suburban in the same country would be a further sign of glocalisation.
    I think the real challenge will be if church leaders start to see that there is a clear break between those who directly participate in the glocal processes, especially at a leadership and creativity level and those that don’t. Few churches are really doing well at the global/creative class level and fewer church leaders get that, or see much point in planting churches there, building leaders there, or recruiting there.

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