Even though the Western world has no more “centre” that doesn’t mean there are no more “central entities”. What do these entities want? They want to create a centre again. I call these groups
“central wolves”
In this session I will define the top 8 central wolves that still lurk in our fragmented culture. I will also outline why I think that these “central wolves”, at least in the foreseeable future, will have less power over time.
But before we do that let’s just recap where we have come from.
I have argued that our culture has completely shifted in the last 50-70 years. We used to have 2 parts to the culture : The Centre and the Margin. The centre would dictate things in the culture with the margin adopting its practices. But since the 1960s there has been a cultural shift. The Margin has increased in size and the centre has diminished. This resulted in the cultural field changing from a wide central culture to a wide margin culture. The result? There no longer was a central position. This margin field has lead to multiple disjointed independent cultures much like a Wild West. In the midst of this, the church needs to figure out how to do church in this Wild West world.
Now in all that, there still is “central” presence in the world, which I will outline with these points below:
Firstly, people still remember the world prior to the cultural shift – There are people still alive that grew up in the central field and adopt, still to this day, that way of thinking. This may fade over time, but this cultural shift is still very new in our world. The full effect of it has not happened just yet.
Secondly, the Western World is still benefiting from the fruit of a central field – Christendom is over now, but we have benefited much from this 2000 year rich history. Things like Democracy, Science, Law, and Human Rights, have all come out of this Central Field. The thinking many have adopted, without realizing, is a Judeo-Christian worldview.
But, over time, this common way of thinking will fade, and the fruit will stop.
Thirdly, there still exists entities that act centrally – They are no longer in the centre, but their identity is saturated in central thinking. These “central wolves” must start thinking, “How are we to adopt our company/business in this new world?”
Fourthly, the cultural field could transform into a central field again – This is what these central wolves are trying to do. We live in a wild west world and the thinking is that a particular entity could rally all the tribes together and form a central field once again. It is possible for this to happen, but not in our lifetime.
So with all of that preface, I will outline the top 8 central wolves.
The reason why I am doing this is because, for the church, it is important for us to know the strong effect these groups have in our cultural field. The church will interact with all of these ones, so we need to have an understanding of them.
All of them “want” to get to the centre again.
They will even manipulate you in thinking they are still there. They will fight and jostle with competing wolves and care more about control than the actual truth.
So who are the central wolves?
1. The Mainstream Media
This is things like mainstream TV, the newspapers, radio, broadcasting, the news, advertisements. Although they are no longer in the centre, they still punch their weight. But due to the internet, more options are now available of where we get our information from. But the media will still have its fingers in the large internet companies that people use, such as Facebook, Youtube, and Google. Recently the mainstream media have started to dominate this internet field and make the algorithm go in their favour.
Any alternative media gets pushed down. But this is a clear sign that the mainstream media has lost its grip.
2. The Entertainment Industry
I place in this category things like Netflix, Hollywood, the music industry, video games, and sports. They have a tremendous sway still in our fragmented culture. Groups like Disney still have the ears of many children in our culture, and if you listen carefully, this industry does like to push a particular narrative onto us. Hollywood is losing its power but is still fighting for attention.
3. The Government
They still control much of what we do. We saw this in the COVID days. But increasingly governments are dealing with more independent people. They have had to be more flexible and more open to hearing the views of the public. Many countries have gone through governmental changes recently and even gone through coups. I believe, in a knee-jerk reaction, there will be some governments that will try and stamp down their authority even more.
4. The Education System
Things like primary and high schools, universities. They have much sway in the thinking of the next generation. But as we have seen, there has been an increase in private schools, in home schooling, and cheaper online universities.
In the past you would have had to go through the higher education system to get a particular job. Increasingly this is not the case.
But again, most people will be funneled through this central wolf and it will have a shaping effect on their minds.
5. Islam
This religion will continue to rise in our world and backyard. The aim of Islam is to be a central system through Sharia Law. Increasingly Islam will push for this to happen. At the moment, what we see in our western world, is a somewhat watered-down version due to it not being central. But if Islam continues to grow, it will flex its arm as a central entity. Christian ministry may be shaped by the impact of Islam for the next decades.
6. Americanization & Chinafication
I place the US and China together here to show you that these are the 2 biggest countries that continue to shape our world. They are not as strong as before, but both are jostling to be the only central wolf in the world. If China manages to control the whole cultural field, it’ll have huge ramifications to the world. Both countries are very different, but the church needs to keep a watch on both. But I predict that both these countries will be pegged back more and more in our lifetime.
7. Big Tech Companies
Over the last 60 years we have seen these large independent tech companies function like a country. Groups like Google, Facebook, Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and such want to run the entire world. Every Christian will realize the impact these big tech companies have on us, forcing us to be glued to their system. But, like all central wolves, I think they pretend to be bigger than what they really are.
8. The Institutional Church
We still must take not to ourselves, the church. Things like Bible colleges, denominational headquarters, the Catholic Church, or just churches in general, still have much impact. They still have remnants of dominating the culture but more and more it will lose its central qualities.
What Now?
Even though we have these central wolves in our cultural field, I see a future where increasingly their power will be diluted. There will be more and more alternative versions of these entities popping up resulting in more customization and control for the individual.
Even though you do hear stories about Global Reset or the world turning into a One World Government, at least in my lifetime, that is not on the horizen.
So with all that said, the Church finds itself in this strange world. We need to get used to this Wide Margin Field. It is not going away anytime soon.
The question is :
How do we do church that works in this Wide Margin world?
What would a Wide Margin Church look like?
How can we keep the essence of the Gospel intact, but contextualize it in a way that suits this Wild West Landscape?
The problem is grave. Most churches are oblivious to this cultural change. Most churches are still functioning in a Central way.
What needs to change?
Welcome to the Wide Margin Church.
