Contextualization Analysis and the Gospel - Research Paper Example

Abstract

Contextualization is an important issue facing mission life. After the ascension of Christ, the primary mission became spreading the good news and word of the lord. It is rather obvious that nations and people throughout the earth communicate in different languages. Different cultures are also implied. This has provided a massive challenge to the vectors of the Word, world-wide. Therefore relevant stakeholders must understand the foundation of the problem they have perennially faced. The elements of communication are custom within specific geography, culture, age, and demography. The ability to understand, adopt, and suit a specific group of people has posed a serious challenge to Gospel missions throughout different ages.

The process in which the Word has been (and will continue being) communicated over time has evolved. This is facilitated by the understanding that, the differences in culture, language, and ethnicity, have always been a factor in effective communicated. Though the Gospel remains unchanged, the context must be befitting and custom for effective adoption throughout the nations of the earth.

Keywords; Culture, Mission, Missionary, Evangelic, Gospel

Introduction

Defining contextualization

The missionaries, men and women preaching the Word and are tasked with the role of presenting the truths of the Gospel of Christ to a constantly changing and unique contexts of cultural variations. Even within local members with a similar culture, there have always been limitations of how far one can argue out issues or promote a specific idea. The application of gospel is not founded entirely on the application of it as a culture. As the context in which the Word is written is wholesome, compound and timeless. It encompasses the language of God in a world of chaos and differences. The word represents sets of standards in the behaviour, relation and religious culture. Worship and the way to worship is explained and illustrated by a variety of characters and laws. Boundaries are established in the law on how humans are supports to live with each other and relate with their Deity.

The Christian Gospel is not a product of any particular culture, as a matter of principle and custom to our Lord Jesus Christ. Immanuel was a promise to humanity. Every one of us is promised personal and custom access to their saviour. The person of Christ was developed through culture, a Jewish. All those that had come before too. But since the curtains were broken, worshipping became personal. And the mandate to spread the good news was tasked to members of Christ's body. The task is indeed not a walk in the park, missionaries have lost their lives, and importantly, through constant travel, they have distanced themselves from their kin and have sacrificed the endeavours of life. Through a constant state of self-reflection, missionaries have learnt and become adopted to their roles is Gospel. Their resilience has brought mission success and the body of Christ has resurrected into mullions of happy souls all over the face of the earth. Abraham is evidently the father of the world.

Human beings do not live forever, the resource of time is limited, and fate is almost predetermined. The conditions are different, situations too. The way some human beings worship, how they define and express their truths is limited to the setup and context of culture. No culture is superior to any other. Failure to understand and appreciate cultural diversity will only add to the cultural imperialism (Stetzer 2014). There is no specific culture that can be labelled perfect for Christianity. ‘No one ever meets universal Christianity in itself.” (Walls 1996). The multi-cultural interaction is diverse, as is the body of Christ. The roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits are uniquely different but all are anchored on the same objective. Spreading of homegrown culture is not wrong. But it should not stand in the way of delivering God's word.

As a matter of Biblical truth, we are equal before the eyes of God. How we live and relate to society, how we perceive things, how we understand how we express ourselves should is defines by culture. Christianity cannot purport to infringe on cultural definitions of religion and culture to any human being. The decision to define the supernatural manifestation of a common God should be treated as a human decision to submit to a similar source of spiritual inspirations (Stetzer 2010).

The process of contextualization should be adequately understood to provide the vectors of Gospel with a knowledge platform to standardize their actions. By understanding the Christian to cultural relation, the teachings of Gospel becomes efficient. This guarantees a better relationship between the preachers of the word and the potential converts. Understanding the totality of the issue requires the development of approaches and models which missionaries might use to better the efficacy of sharing the Word with the world.

Understanding culture

Culture is used to refer to the set of similar values, ideas, and emotional components that are held core to a society’s daily functioning. Culture informs behaviour, it defines individual and provides a histological anchor to the members of the said society. It also encompassed beliefs and defines specific deity(s). The rules how to worship, who to worship, and when to worship are defined. Culture defines the relationship between humanity and the supernatural element of living. In a simpler sense, culture explains why the Sawi people of the Irian Jaya view betrayal as a virtue, while the contemporary American sees it as a vice (Stetzer 2014). The relationship is contrasted throughout different sets of people. Point being, there exists a vast world where simplicity, normalcy and basic human living is greatly contrasted based on the specificity of culture.

As Christianity bring forth a different perspective into people's culture, ideological, cultural and philosophical differences are bound to arise. These crossroads have led to conflicts and ultimately stood on the way of spreading the good news. Therefore, it is relevant for evangelicals to understand the different forms of culture is a package. And most importantly understand the dynamics and the value in which people associate their culture with their person. As they incorporate the words of God to people of a given cultural setting, they should foremost understand the people's position in the society, the influence and definition of their lives in totality.

As missionaries embarked on the journey to spreading the news about Christ's love for humanity they must understand the difference in geography, society and politics for the target audience. They should be armed with adequate knowledge about the way of life of the people they are soon to visit. Also, they should come bearing the rightful mindset and use the appropriate approach and respond timely to the key cultural issue faced by the local population. Evangelicals can relate personally, to different sets of challenges faced by the locals. Before spreading their message, they should adequately understand the shoes of locals, try to assimilate and offer custom and relevant solutions to the ills experienced.

Discussion

Cultural challenges experienced by evangelical

One of the biggest barrier associated with the interaction of different people especially those that are actively involved in carrying the message of Christ is the language barrier. As the ambassadors of Christ carry the knowledge of the goodness of the love of God, through different cultural and geographical setups, they experience strange and unfamiliar language. For instance in Africa, language differences are major and vastly different with boundaries of specific countries. There are large ethical groups, contrasted by geography and contracted to different tribes with specific languages and ethnicity. Language bears the greatest variation and requires years of learning, and understanding for one to be adequately prepared to communicate. This becomes a major issue for the mission as a consequence of the diversity within. For the natives to also learn, and understand the word, and the message brought by the evangelicals, much time is spent learning how to read and understand the word concerning the environment and locality.

As evangelicals step on the land of the mission, one thing becomes clear; race. The colour of their skin is vividly different. Setting a path for a racial collision. Whether coloured, white or otherwise, the difference cannot simply be ignored. The interaction requires patience and the grace of adequate information and personal character. Trying to bring the local population to a point of compromise requires the investment of time to fight and level the playing field against racial and ethnic stereotypes. As the message is hardly separable from the messenger, it becomes sufficiently cumbersome for evangelists to spread the message of love without adequately aligning the differences.

Cross-cultural interaction. As missionaries travel wide to spread the gospel, they bring with them their inherent culture. As they assimilate with the local culture, the issue of cross-cultural antagonism arises. Interaction with a foreign culture result in difficulties in conformity. For instance, a certain culture might require that every individual member of the society at a given age be married. Otherwise viewed by the missionary, going against issue core to particular culture results into conflict. Conflict of culture informs conflict in doctrine. This stands in the way of the missionary's thriving in society.

Religious differences. As the interaction of the missionaries and the natives commences, conflict of religion arises. The native is initially anchored on a different religion, the news about change will result in rubbing of shoulders. The message about a shift from the initial way of practising religion to a different one is not received with open arms. Native religious practises are an important part of the culture.

Background of contextualization

The ministry of Jesus Christ has founded a functional human culture. Jesus was from a functional first-century Jewish family. He was practically born during a socio-political dispensation and the conditions of his fate had informed of the totality of life at that juncture. His life in Palestine was characterised by his life until betrayal, the context of everyday life was deeply marinated in culture. Jesus Christ not only manifested in human flesh, but he also partook of culture.

Paul too had a detailed understanding of the nature of the society he was in. During his conversion to Christianity, he had met God, in a unique encounter. His process of conversion entailed a complete overhaul of his way of life. As a pagan soldier and tormentor of Christians in his day, he had travelled far and wide proclaiming suffering to the ministers and the congregants of the word. Coming from a culture of antagonism he was able to constantly encounter and critic the word of God. After his conversion he became a very useful evangelic of the Holy Word, in his practice, he was able to actively discern different culture and hence able to devise ways in which to pass the message to different sets of the congregation. As he was writing letters throughout the different churches. As he addressed Jewish congregants, his message was subtle and oriented in scripture. As he interacted with Gentiles, he tried to synthesis his thoughts, with the Gentile culture and philosophy. By addressing the issues concerning a different culture, Paul facilitated important contextualization principles to this day missionaries (Stetzer 2011).

Which way contextualization

There are different approaches and levels of contextualization. The gospel stands as it is. It is not a subject to change (as it is not our gospel, to begin with) and therefore should remain so. The word of the Lord should not be made convenient, the truths about the Kingdom are what sets us (sinners) free. However, efforts should be made to make the word as palatable, relatable, and as practical as possible. That was the intended role of the Gospel. Whoever believes in Him, shall see the light. To believe, we human perception and approach to life concerning the deeds of our Lord and Messiah must be aligned. This brings the issue of which model or approach to be employed through the process of contextualisation. It might not be sufficient to say that we (evangelicals) that we want to make the Bible more relevant, or we want to make God more relevant since this is already established by He (God) himself.

There are four different levels of contextualisation according to Paul Hiebert (2010). The levels are; no contextualisation, minimal contextualization, uncritical contextualization, and critical contextualization. This different levels of contextualization are factored on the relationship between the cultural aspect of human life and the rigidity of the gospel. The no contextualization approach focussed on Christian faith, as a non-human part of our culture. Limitations are set between human culture and religion. Here it is argued that it is not necessarily true that culture shapes how one receives and practises the Christian religion.

Minimal contextualization approach involves the distinction between the variety of cultures involved in the process of spreading the Gospel. It acknowledges the cultural gap between the natives and the missionaries and strives to set a balance. The balance in this approach is struck as the Bible is translated into the native’s language of best understanding, and the church is set up in a way similar to the way churches are set within the countries the missionaries originate.

Uncritical contextualization mainly focusses on culture as the anchor to religion. In this approach, the practicality of the Gospel relies on the culture. External truths found in the Bible are muted and the converts are allowed to exercise their way of life in the light of the Gospel. In the other hand, critical contextualization approach tends to take find a balanced approach. It is established that no culture is better or deserving than any other. The process of passing the message of hope and love should be carried forward with the understanding that the world is dynamic and diverse. These factors in human life should be core in conveying the Gospel. Preservation of the truth and taking the cultural context into perspective with a harness and protect people's freedoms. We are not slaves of the law. Humanity cannot be standardized. The context of the Scriptures should be a tool to aid humans to attain salvation through the vehicle of culture and the determination to being better. When the community sees fit for it to take better care of the environment, when it decides to educate the children or take care of the sick, we can only say "amen" (thorn 2007).

Conclusion

The objective of contextualization is to the creation of indigenous, goal-oriented future of the local churches. It is therefore adequate that life is lived through the lens of faith and our religion becomes an important tool to enhance the quality of life. We need to have stable roots and in culture and Christ for us to be fishers of men and for us to have an unwavering commitment to fight against evil. The strength of our faith is guaranteed by outing Jesus in the centre of our daily Christian duties. It is not however adequate to claim we are Christians if we only get spiritual and apply the Scriptures guided by situational coincidence. It is not enough to cast our demon or perform miracles for the glory of God alone. Our work within religion should add quality to culture and transform the hearts and stories about the relation between man, the environment he lives in, and the Gospel. The creator of the universe was certain that at a point in time, the human population would have had transformed and given rise to a mosaic of cultures and languages. It was divine that one day we the preachers of love and the lovers of light and justice were to be challenged and asked to think like Christ himself. However our background, culture, and race, the responsibility of sharing the good news become ours to bear. And as Christ instructed, we have borne our cross, and his royal wish to transform the world by sharing the love he had for us as Gentiles within the nations of the world. The power to become his people was given to us on the cross. And the light of the love of God transformed persons to become part of the body of Christ.

It is with profound love that Messiah was brought in this world to answer for the sin of man. It is by actions of selflessness that God abandoned his perfect form in heaven and came to dine with us. Besides, human life throughout, the scripture has been characterised by rampant since, lack of gratitude and outright abuse of grace. Our actions have been inadequate and selfishness. It is until we appreciate the extent to which God went in trying o shape our lives that we understand the sacrifices that were made. It is by sharing the word of the Lord and strengthening His body that we can partake of the blessings of the prize paid on the cross. It is by joining our hands that we grow and spread the positivity about our messiah and proclaim his undying affection for us.

The process of contextualization might not be effectively conducted at the moment. But there is enough grace, and will to transform ourselves using God's gift of learning and comprehension. As we study and learn about each other, it shall become clear that the Gospel was a sacrifice and the lover and fire from the beginning to the end of times is within every one of us. Irrespective of past, title, or race. The context of salvation applies equally to the members of the Christ body. As we strive to rid the world of evil and pass the message of God, we should work to bridge the gap within humanity too. We should open our doors to the world and let every one of enjoys and express themselves in the light and love of the Lord.

Human beings do not live forever, the resource of time is limited, and fate is almost predetermined. The conditions are different, situations too. The way some human beings worship, how they define and express their truths is limited to the setup and context of culture. No culture is superior to any other. Failure to understand and appreciate cultural diversity will only add to the cultural imperialism (Stetzer 2014). There is no specific culture that can be labelled perfect for Christianity. ‘No one ever meets universal Christianity in itself.” (Walls 1996). The multi-cultural interaction is diverse, as is the body of Christ. The roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits are uniquely different but all are anchored on the same objective. Spreading of homegrown culture is not wrong. But it should not stand in the way of delivering God's word.

As a matter of Biblical truth, we are equal before the eyes of God. How we live and relate to society, how we perceive things, how we understand how we express ourselves should is defines by culture. Christianity cannot purport to infringe on cultural definitions of religion and culture to any human being. The decision to define the supernatural manifestation of a common God should be treated as a human decision to submit to a similar source of spiritual inspirations (Stetzer 2010).

The process of contextualization should be adequately understood to provide the vectors of Gospel with a knowledge platform to standardize their actions. By understanding the Christian to cultural relation, the teachings of Gospel becomes efficient. This guarantees a better relationship between the preachers of the word and the potential converts. Understanding the totality of the issue requires the development of approaches and models which missionaries might use to better the efficacy of sharing the Word with the world.

Understanding culture

Culture is used to refer to the set of similar values, ideas, and emotional components that are held core to a society’s daily functioning. Culture informs behaviour, it defines individual and provides a histological anchor to the members of the said society. It also encompassed beliefs and defines specific deity(s). The rules how to worship, who to worship, and when to worship are defined. Culture defines the relationship between humanity and the supernatural element of living. In a simpler sense, culture explains why the Sawi people of the Irian Jaya view betrayal as a virtue, while the contemporary American sees it as a vice (Stetzer 2014). The relationship is contrasted throughout different sets of people. Point being, there exists a vast world where simplicity, normalcy and basic human living is greatly contrasted based on the specificity of culture.

As Christianity bring forth a different perspective into people's culture, ideological, cultural and philosophical differences are bound to arise. These crossroads have led to conflicts and ultimately stood on the way of spreading the good news. Therefore, it is relevant for evangelicals to understand the different forms of culture is a package. And most importantly understand the dynamics and the value in which people associate their culture with their person. As they incorporate the words of God to people of a given cultural setting, they should foremost understand the people's position in the society, the influence and definition of their lives in totality. Read More