Welcome to the Christian Educator Podcast number 38. We have been speaking about the issues that our children face because they will live out their lives in a Digital World. As educators, committed to discipleship-based Christian education, we have the difficult task of preparing our children for a world that is very different than the one we grew up in. These last few weeks we have been talking about Globalization and the challenges this causes us to consider as we prepare our kids for this world. Last week we started an interview with Mark Daley and Steve Smith who have both spent considerable time in their post graduate studies looking at the issues that are shaping our world today. Before we finish that interview let me reflect on some of the issues and questions this has raised.

First, the one thing nobody is arguing today is the fact that globalization is a reality that we all have to live with. Both Mark and Steve brought up the idea that the inherent drive within the human heart is to unite with their fellow man and they both felt that this was a God given desire though it has been shaped and tainted with the corruption that is in man’s heart. Man is fallen and the motive to unite is either to seek political power and control or economic gain. I would agree that these are the motives of globalization but technology has become its means. For the last two hundred years we have been using technology to make our world smaller. From the steam engine to the supersonic commercial transports we live in a world that puts any part of the globe within a day’s reach. In the last six months I have flown threw 92 time zones. How’s that for jet lag. For the last 15 years the technology of the internet and global communication networks have made our world even smaller and closer. These technologies will continue to reshape the human experience on our planet. Combine this with the motives of the fallen human heart and we have a world that is quickly returning to the spirit of Babel, that first unifying event in human history.

One key area where I see a significant challenge for the Christian is in the political arena. The response that I observed amoung many Christians to the recent election in the United States serves to illustrate what I mean. I immigrated to Canada from the United States twenty two years ago and in that time I have slowly come to see how my American patriotism and conservative sentiments were mixed in with my Christian worldview. Some US Christians I have spoken are gauging the spiritual health of the US by the election results. Many are becoming quite apocalyptic when speaking of the election combined with the resent economic events. What I am trying to say is they tend to see the world through American rose coloured glasses, even our fellow Christian. As globalization becomes more of a reality we will see the propensity to nationalism slowly ebb away. As Christians this creates an enormous range of opportunity to share Christ in places and ways that have never been available to the Church. If we can get past our own nationalistic rose coloured glasses then we can see ourselves and our students become effective on a global scale. As we see ourselves as citizens of heaven we don’t have a lot to do with the political and nationalistic structures of this world. Yes, we should vote and run for office as long as the governments of this world will allow us to participate. But let’s never forget that we have a heavenly agenda and must train our children to answer to the King of Heaven before we ever consider what the Prime Minister or the President wants from us.

As Steve and Mark showed us last week, globalization may be a dangerous thing for the world as a whole. Certainly those who hold to dispensational eschatology would agree. Globalization is a necessary step for a one world government, economic system and eventually an anti-christ leader. But again, as citizens of Heaven we really don’t need to be overly concerned with these issues. In our interview last week Mark helped us see how our western mindset has captivated our thinking as Christians and Steve is always helpful to bring us back to the important words of Jesus, “Love your neighbour as yourself…” We have to see ourselves as aloof from this world system, its government and economic structures and we have to connect with our Heavenly King to find ways to bring him to this earth. What is ironic is that we can take advantage of Globalization to do the work of the kingdom like never before. So with that let’s return to the interview. Steve is about to comment on how we should portray this new world to our students:

Audio Interview

Let me close this discussion by reiterating the questions I brought up last week. What would Jesus do in a globalized world? Are our views of this world and our culture inspired by our foundation in Christ or are they like everyone else?  What should our response to this world be if we are truly walking in relationship with Jesus? How does this affect our loyalty to the forces that are challenging globalization? If in fact we are citizens of another world should we cling to nationalism and citizenships of this world which globalization is breaking down and altering?

This is why it is so important to “remember” as Mark put it. We have to build a different way of thinking and seeing our world. We cannot respond to what is happening around us as Canadians, we have to respond as Christians. We may at times be for things that are bad for Canada. One might argue that allowing global politics and economics would be harmful to Canada. Certainly the last couple of months seem to indicate this. But as Christians we don’t want to lose the opportunity that easy borders provide for us. We should find ways to take advantage of the move towards a one world language. But as Steve is helpful to point out we cannot forget to “love our neighbor.” As we pointed out in podcast number 36 our neighbor may be someone in China or Moscow or South Africa.

This last summer I was invited to visit Hatfield Christian School in South Africa and consult with them concerning Online Christian Schooling. Last year a group of South African principals from ACSI schools visited our school here in Canada and were eager to see something like our Online School start in their nation. So we went last summer and have been helping them develop an online school. We will be sending our Online Course and Grad Program Director, Sue Savard and our head Web Enhancer Christabelle Bitgood to finish the job in January. They hope to be up and running by February. Their vision is to reach all of South Africa with Online Christian schooling. I have been traveling back and forth to Moscow where I have working with a school to do the same thing in the Russian language. We hope to launch in September of 2009. We are working right now to develop an online Christian English Second Language program. Our vision is to train Christian young people here in western Canada to be language assistants. Through Skype they will converse with Korean, Chinese, Russian and Spanish speaking young people and help them learn English. Through developing online relationships we hope to use this opportunity to not only teach the new one world language, English, but also to share the love of Christ.

The implications of Globalization are very serious but they are also very exciting. Because it goes to the routes of who we are as citizens of the world I can’t help but re-emphasize how important it is for us to see our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and thus alters everything about how we view our relationship to this world.

Next week we will consider the implications of Informationalism and how this affects Christian education. We would love to hear from you and I deeply value your comments. If you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book, Discipling This Generation for a Digital World, simply send an email to \n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.