Well-Being Australia Chairman, Mark Tronson, has been musing on the current modern ideas of 'globalisation' that he saw when he was an Industrial Chaplain at Shell Australia, and he realises that there is nothing new. With a little analysis, he has come to the conclusion that it is not only big business that waves this flag, but some forms of global communication occur in many forms, some of them ancient and some within our own back yards.
There are the positive aspects of international travel and co-operation across different countries that have been made easier in recent years with cheaper air fares and international phone calls and – of course – the internet.
Some examples are Interpol, which helps fight crime across national borders; improved scientific collaborations, which help advance medicine and technology without constantly re-inventing the wheel; international students who bring their varied cultures (and import dollars) into the country in return for a high-level education; and our own young people who gain valuable experience by living, studying and working in other countries for a time as Mark Tronson's son and other of his young relatives have done.
And then there is the increasing internationalisation of top level players and coaches in sports such as cricket and soccer, which rival the large corporations in their international reach and sometimes in the salaries paid, as well!
Migration, in all its manifestations, has also always been something that is of both positive and negative concern to people within a politically stable society such as ours. Mark Tronson read an amusing story recently, where an unfortunate motorist was booked for speeding twice in two years – once in England and once in New Zealand – by the same policeman, who had coincidentally migrated in that period!
Christ's instructions to take the Christian message to all corners of the globe were a manifestation of the human desire to communicate with others, for the benefit of all. (Matthew 27's Great Commission).
But within the Church, there is another aspect to this which is happening right here in Australia. There are numerous Baptist churches, for example, with ethnic Ministers, some from India, others from central and south America, others still from Korea and many other places who are ministering in main stream church life.
This is the wonderful diversity of humankind coming to the Australian corner-shop suburban church.
