Globalization of Protestant movements since the 1960s 1 Kirsteen Kim 2 Introduction: Globalization and the churches Globalization may be thought of as ‘a process… which embodies a transformation in the spatial configurations of social relations and transactions… generating transcontinental or inter-regional flows’. 3 By this definition globalization is not a new phenomenon and the period of the British Empire, for example, was a highly globalized context. In keeping with this, the famous conference in Edinburgh in 1910 was called a ‘World Missionary Conference’ because its concern was with the whole world. But Edinburgh 1910 did not meet the criteria for being global that were expected of the Edinburgh 2010 centenary project because representatives of the so- called ‘younger churches’ had attended only as members of British or American missionary societies. 4 Although there were several of these representatives, and they were invited to address the conference, they were only 18 among 1200 or so delegates. The globalization discussed within the ecumenical movement in the 1960s, in the context of decolonization and civil rights movements, includes not only trans- continental and trans-regional connectedness but also a freedom from domination by one nation, ethnic group or region by another. It implies the representation of all, not 1 This paper was first presented as part of the Panel on ‘Global History and the Churches in the 20th century’ at the ‘The Globalization of Churches: Global Transformation and Ecumenical Renewal of the World Council of Churches in the 1960s and 1970s’ organised by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, 4-6 March 2011. 2 Prof. Kirsteen Kim is Professor of Theology and World Christianity and Director of Programmes in Theology and Religious Studies at Leeds Trinity University College, Leeds, UK. 3 ‘A process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity, and impact – generating transcontinental or inter-regional flows and networks of activity, interactions and exercise of power.’ David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt & Jonathan Perraton, Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), p. 16. 4 See the statement of aims and objectives of the Edinburgh 2010 project as stated in Appendix I of the conference report, Kirsteen Kim & Andrew Anderson (eds.), Edinburgh 2010: Mission Today and Tomorrow. Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Series Vol. 3 (Oxford: Regnum Books International, forthcoming in 2011).