Movements that change the world

Third and final installment of Howard Snyders thoughts on his Major Trends twenty years on.

8. From nuclear family to family diversity.

This continues in the U.S. where something close to half the population now lives in single-person households. That is staggering. It produces many shifting “virtual families” and communities in the form of social groupings around work, “third spaces” like health clubs and coffee shops, and the Internet. Increasing general acceptance of homosexuality is also a factor here though I think U.S. society is coming to a sort of modus vivendi in which many people accept homosexuality as normal and many do not.

Globally the most important development in this area, it seems to me, is the rapid decline of traditional family patterns (particularly the extended family) in places like China and India under the impact of economic globalization and urbanization.

The obvious Christian challenge and opportunity here continues to be building churches that really function as “the family of God,” where the church becomes the most important form of social identity and belonging and the builder of healthy Christian biological families.

9. From church/state separation to Christian political activism.

This varies greatly according to the socio-political context, as it always has. On the plus side (in my view), some influential Evangelicals are beginning to form political alliances around specific issues (the environment, poverty, religious persecution, some family issues) which could bring significant results (depending on the impact of #1 and #2 above). The great danger of Christians in politics is cooptation, and that danger will remain. However I am encouraged to think, due to several factors, that more populist political movements (in the sense of a genuine concern for the well-being of all the people, not just the rich and powerfully and globally connected) will be emerging over the next twenty years in a number of places around the world. Partly this will be driven by ecological concerns and partly by the rather remarkable emerging concern with combating poverty worldwide. Countries like Brazil, India, Bangladesh, and perhaps even Lebanon and Saudi Arabia will be key places to watch.

You comment, “I’m old enough be to disillusioned by both the ‘Christian Right’ and the ‘Christian Left.’ I think I have Anabaptist tendencies.” Yes, of course. I’m not sure what’s happening elsewhere, and in many ways the U.S. is atypical, but recent writings in the U.S. by Jim Wallis and Jimmy Carter are, in my view, encouraging. Wallis’ God’s Politics has created something of a stir and Carter’s Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis is selling well.

The proper Christian stance here, in my view, is first of all the church existing as its own (that is, Jesus’) “culture,” being truly countercultural at the points of the world’s idolatries and properly contextualized in each instance, reinforcing kingdom values and virtues, raising up generations of people who will live the kingdom life. But secondly: helping equip people who will become activist in all the sectors of society, including politics, to the degree that that is possible and can be done with integrity within the context. (Remember Daniel, Joseph, and Esther, e.g., in the O.T.)

In this area the faithful response is both/and, not either/or. But whatever is or is not possible and appropriate politically, the church must be the faithful community gathered around Jesus with its values and virtues grounded in Jesus by the Spirit as revealed in Scripture.

Christians should never be naïve as to what can be accomplished politically (see Ellul’s The Political Illusion) or how easily they can be co-opted. On the other hand, they should not give up the political fight where their voice can make the deciding difference. In past centuries key reforms in the U.S., Britain, India, China, and Japan for instance have come partly through Christian influence.

10. From safe planet to threatened planet.

The key challenges here are global warming, species depletion, and control of water.

On the climate-change front, 2005 was a highly significant year. It will I believe prove to have been the tipping point when global business discovered global warming and learned that a corporation actually can gain an economic edge if it moves now to become environmentally responsible. A number of large corporations (e.g., BP and DuPont) are learning this and will be setting the pace. Further, 2005 was the year in which a number of major U.S. and some multinational energy companies began to move seriously into alternative energy sources, particularly wind and solar.

But the race is on. Though global environmentalism is on the rise, it is not clear that ameliorative steps can be taken in time to prevent disastrous effects from global warming, including the shutting down of the Great Ocean Conveyor which would produce a new ice age in just a matter of decades.

And then, as always, war (nuclear, biological, convention) remain a threat.

So we face what may be apocalyptic and yet potentially very hopeful times. Of course, as a Christian, I am in any case hopeful!

Howard Snyder

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