Blog 10

Blog 10: Globalization and the Church

            Globalization is increasingly prevalent in today’s world culture. Globalization is essentially the interchange of political, economic, and cultural dynamics between different nations all over the world. There are both risks and benefits that accompany increasing globalization as countries become more involved with and dependent on one another. I believe globalization has both positive and negative impacts on our country. However, when it comes to the LDS Church I think globalization has a very positive impact and very minimal, if any, negative impact.

            As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are familiar with our own worldwide missionary efforts, especially with the announcement made this past October lowering the age requirements for those young men and women wishing to serve. As a Church we emphasize missionary work and particularly encourage young men to serve. However, as was stated in a Church Newsroom article covering the change in age requirement, “missionaries receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate” (“Church Lowers Missionary Service Age”). With increased globalization comes increased foreign relations and foreign cooperation in our own country. These new relationships often times open the door for the Church to create its own relationships with these same countries. This in turn helps the Church to be able to send missionaries to more places around the world to preach the Gospel safely.

            In addition to better foreign relations, globalization also enables more cultural diffusion between countries across the globe. In places like China they are extremely proud and protective of their culture and are thus slow to be open to new ideas and religions. “The Chinese government recognizes only five religious groups: Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Muslim and Taoists” (Fletcher). This is part of the reason the Church has not been able to send proselyting missionaries into China. However, with the increased diffusion of cultures and with the continual global encouragement to accept other cultures China is growing less and less prejudice to different ideas and religions. As they become softened in this way due to globalization, the Church has more of an opportunity to persuade China to allow missionaries into the country to preach the Gospel.

            Through globalization resources and technology are also shared worldwide. With increased access to and use of the internet the Church has a unique opportunity to share the Gospel through its websites. Virtually anyone curious about the LDS Church with internet access can find the Church’s websites and learn the truth for themselves. There they can find testimonies of other members, videos, scriptural resources, and so much more. As the internet becomes more and more popular across the globe more people have access to the Church’s information and are more likely to want to know more. That is where more missionaries come into the picture.

            Globalization does some great things for the Church, especially in regards to the great emphasis placed on spreading the Gospel to the entire world. Globalization allows us as separate nations to connect and share ideas, technologies, information, etc. This makes the mission to spread the Gospel more feasible as other nations and cultures become more accepting of one another and as information becomes more accessible. The more people we are able to share the truth with the better the world will be. Globalization has helped and will continue to benefit the Church immensely.

Sources

"Church Lowers Missionary Service Age." Newsroom. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 Oct. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-lowers-age-requirement-for-missionary-service>.

Fletcher, Peggy. "China a Prize in LDS's Eyes." The Salt Lake Tribune. N.p., 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50189317-76/church-china-chinese-lds.html.csp>.