The Elephant and the Dragon

Last night I watched Charlie Rose's interview with Robyn Meredith, writer for Forbes Magazine, as well as author of, The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China, and What It Means for All of Us. Fascinating piece, but also a deeply troubling one. And although the individual components of the story have been out for awhile, somehow it wasn't until last night that I connected the dots.

Everyone is aware of the rise of China in recent years due to massive economic growth and development, and consequently as more MNC's build factories in China, more and more manufacturing jobs are moving overseas. Similarly with India, though it has developed more of a service economy than a manufacturing economy, it is also experiencing rapid economic growth. But what I didn't realize is that due to various reasons, China and India withdrew from the global markets for the past 50 years, giving us what Meredith calls a "free pass." However, because of the possibilities opened up through technology, both of these countries are rapidly engaging in the world markets and 1 billion new workers are now entering the global workforce. In other words, it hasn't been a slow, gradual change, but rather the impacts of this entrance into the global economy are going to be concentrated in a short timeframe.

Additionally, it is not just the size of the increase in the global workforce that will be competing with American and European jobs, but the quality as well. Meredith cites that there are around 1.3 million U.S. college graduates each year, whereas there are 2.6 million college graduates coming out of India each year, and 4.1 million Chinese graduates. Therefore it is not computer programmers vs. tennis-ball makers, but computer programmers vs. computer programmers. If you do the math, in a competitive global market, the forecast doesn't look good for American and European workers. As Meredith points out, it is simply not realistic for Americans to continue to earn 10 times more than the rest of the world. The global market will move towards equilibrium, and therefore the standard of living in the U.S. and Europe will look dramatically different in 30 years from how it is today.

What's more, if you add to this equation the global shift in Christianity's "center for gravity" (see Alister E. McGrath's book, The Future of Christianity) from the North Atlantic (between North America and Europe) to the Indian Ocean (between Africa and Asia), the implications are enormous. The world, both economically as well as religiously, will be radically different one generation from now.

Consequently, in terms of global missions, both the focus and strategy will necessarily change, as well as the ability of North American churches to support missionaries since the available financial resources will be much smaller. And that has big implications for us, the missionaries. The good news in all this, however, is two-fold. First, there will be millions people in India and China who will finally have an opportunity to come out of abject poverty and enjoy a reasonable standard of living. Secondly, in Europe where people have grown accustomed to their standard of living and have largely decided that God is irrelevant to their lives, the coming radical and rapid economic changes might give them pause to reconsider.

Hungarian Heat Wave

Quite a few people have written and asked how we were doing with the heat wave, so I just wanted to assure you that we are doing well. The Hungary Wilsons are now just thirsty too... :-)

Actually, on the bright side the recent warmth has been reminiscent of our time in San Antonio (just without A/C) -- so although uncomfortable at times and H.E.B. Dulce de Leche ice-cream is not to be found in Budapest, the past week has also been connected with a lot of enjoyable memories!

Is this it?!

Yesterday, after driving around the area, sort of window-shopping for houses while Eszti finished up her morning nap, we made our way to worship at one of the churches in Budapest that was started by missionaries ca. 10-15 years ago. By most measures, this church is doing fairly well; they successfully transitioned from an American missionary pastor to a Hungarian pastor, there were 50 or so people there (though regular attendance might be more, since it's the summer and most Hungarians are on vacation), they have small groups, a great facility, church plants in the works, etc. All in all--and certainly compared to the vast majority of other Hungarian churches--a pretty decent church. And yet, for some reason as I participated in the service I couldn't help but become disappointed.

After spending some time reflecting on the experience, I've come to two conclusions. First, no doubt due to my recent interest in and reading the writings of the Early Church Fathers (1st & 2nd Century), our modern Protestant/Evangelical Church seems to be a far cry away from how it all started. And though the issue goes much deeper, the Sunday morning service is the most visible representation of the distance separating the early church and the modern. Did Jesus intend for our Sabbath to consist primarily of singing songs and listening to a sermon, interspersed by some announcements and short prayers, along with the occasional celebration of the Lord's Supper? I don't know. Somehow my heart/spirit longs for something more.

I have known a few churches that were focused on growing, at least with regard to corporate worship. In one case, the pastor and many of the members were pursuing the Jewish roots of Christian worship--attempting to to learn how Jesus worshipped with the disciples, and since he is the model for our lives, follow his lead. For some, that might be appealing, for others, maybe not. But the point is that the were not content with the status quo worship service, but rather were focused on the process of "becoming"--growing beyond where they presently are and moving towards becoming Christ's perfect bride. Sadly, however, it seems that the vast majority of churches here, as well as back in the U.S., are content with the modern conception of what Sunday morning looks like--sometimes tweaking parts of the service depending on the context, but leaving the overall framework the same. I don't, however, pretend to know the answer or have a complete vision of what that kind of service would look like. All I know is that many times I walk out the door after the service wondering, is this it?!

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, in the same way that I'm dissatisfied with the Sunday morning status quo, I'm dissatisfied with my own life, vis-á-vis what Christ desires/requires of me. Life is too short and there is too great a gap between where I'm at and where I am called to be(come), to keep drinking milk and taking baby steps. And I'm growing desperate to find a group of people (read "church") where we can help each other make significant strides in becoming the people God intends us to become. Who knows, but perhaps this potential church plant we are planning in Törökbálint will be part of the answer.