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Mobilization

Social mobilization

In The rise of Christianity (HarperCollins, 1997), sociologist Rodney Stark suggests Christianity rose via a simple, reproduceable growth rate of 40% per decade (or 4% per annum, roughly)—a growth rate that can be achieved today. This rate doesn’t seem to result in much growth at the beginning, but in 400 years it can cause 1,000 believers to multiply to over 35 million.

His study of the forces that result in conversion (through observation of the actual process) led him to argue (successfully, in my view) that conversion was primarily a social process: those who join a religion are “those whose interpersonal attachments to members overbalanced their attachments to nonmembers” (italics his). Thus conversion is “not about seeking or embracing an ideology; it is about bringing one’s religious behavior into alignment with that of one’s friends and family members.”

This basic social theory is reflected in ideas that the marginals of society are not necessarily the best first converts since they tend to marginalize Christianity in the eyes of a culture as a whole. It is reflected in ideas like church planting movements and the “man of peace” who, once reached, immediately evangelizes and brings his family and friends to Christ. It is illustrated through case histories like the early disciples (who brought brothers and family members); Mohammed (who first converted his wife and cousin); and Joseph Smith (who first converted his brothers).

Their investigation revealed that doctrine does not attract people to faith—people do. Converts become part of a religion on the basis of their relationships with other, respected people—and then learn the finer points of what they believe as their religion.

So you could say, for example, that syncretism is caused when people adopt a religion for social networking purposes, but don’t entirely embrace it: they integrate it with their older faith so as to serve as a bridge between two different worlds.

The rest of Stark’s book goes about investigating how early Christianity arose through these social networks, and is well worth the read for its implications on church planting movements. However, for this short article I would prefer to apply this concept to mobilization.

It seems altogether probable mobilization, too, might be based based just as much (if not more) on social factors than on any sense of personal calling.

For example, I have recently been reading There’s a sheep in my bathtub (the story of a Mongolian church planting movement)—a wonderful, hilarious story of a young missionary family. The second chapter focuses on their mobilization into missions and is a terrific example of this. While he first received a perception of his calling into missions from a piece of missions literature, nonetheless this calling was supported, reaffirmed, explored, and expanded through his interactions with others (mother, wife, friends, etc).

I would suggest one practical application of this is: mobilizers ought to focus as much on building systems for permeating social networks with missions ideas and missions-aware and missions-friendly people, as with issuing “The Call.” People will respond more to parents and friends who are interested in and passionate about missions then they will to any given speaker who comes on a mission Sunday: and our parents and friends have more time, influence and access. They serve as a sounding board and a recommendation platform.

As a final example of this, consider Amazon.com…. Before buying a book or other item, do you look at the recommendations? Does a 5-star item get more attention than, say, a 1-star? This is the power of social recommendation: it filters the good from the bad. If you hear a compelling speaker and your friends and parents all agree that “this is good”—wouldn’t you give the message more weight? Building these kinds of social networks could potentially reap huge rewards.

Other Related Posts

• Social networking in Asia
• Postmoderns & Muslims: the relationship factor

© 2008 Momentum Magazine.
Related: The Mission Manual · Justin Long's Annotated Links and Notes