WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

REFLECTIONS CONTEXTUALIZATION: MY PERSONAL JOURNEY
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“conversion” from his Jewish ethnocentrism. “The ‘conversion’ of the messenger
must come before the conversion of those who need the message.” 15 Humility
means taking the trouble to understand and really appreciate the culture of
those to whom we go.
In the 1980s, I continued studying the Scriptures with my colleagues on
issues of contextualization. We held consultations with mission practitioners
ministering among Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Secularists. Paul’s letter
to Galatians was one of the key epistles for our study and discussion, together
with the history of the early church in Acts and in subsequent church history
with many lessons to learn. A project on “The Scriptural Roots of Ministry” was
launched. We were concerned about the “purity” of the Gospel and with it, the
“mobility” of the Gospel to spread in context. Studying the Scriptures was
both mind-stretching and also liberating. Two key questions were: “What is
the Gospel?” and “What is ‘church’”? On the latter question, Western
ecclesiology has highly influenced concepts and strategies of so-called “church
planting”. Such ecclesiology can be extremely disadvantageous among hostile
religious contexts – and this could affect the mobility of the Gospel. How does
the Bible view the whole matter of “church” and “doing church”?
I took a sabbatical in New Zealand where I had discussions with
missionary statesman, J. Oswald Sanders, one of my mentors. As we talked
about contextualization and mission issues, he encouraged me to write a book.
I wrote “When You Cross Cultures”. 16 I was particularly impressed by the example
of Paul and his team in 1 Thessalonians 1:5-9 and 2:1-12. It was not just their
message, but their lives and lifestyle – all part of contextualization.
In my book, I mentioned the 5 stages of cultural communication (owing
much to Jim Petersen, who had led a seminar on “contextualization”). 17 The
communicator must firstly
(1) Gain rapport. He needs to be aware of his own cultural background and
free himself from traditions that will inhibit him from relating to the new
culture. The continuous learning of the host culture’s background is essential.
Rapport takes place when the people in the receiving culture say, “I now want
to hear what you have to say”.
(2) The second stage is “Comprehension” which occurs when the receiver
says, “I now understand what you have to say”.
(3) The third stage is for an “Equivalent Response” on the part of the receiver –
“It means the same to me as it does to you”. What the messenger has
communicated makes sense and brings about a positive response.
(4) The fourth is “Relevance to Life”. The message transforms the receiver’s
life and there is true conversion.
15 Dean Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament (Leicester, UK: Apollos, IVP, 2005), pages 36-37.
16 Jim Chew, When You Cross Cultures: Vital Issues Facing Christian Missions (The Navigators Singapore, 1990).
17 Illustrated in pages 8-10 in my book above.