WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

24 WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES
When the Word of God begins to penetrate a society, it has the power to
speak to the customs and beliefs of that society. Customs and beliefs that are
incompatible with Scripture will have to be discarded. Others which are not
contrary to Scripture may be preserved and even beautified further and
transformed under Christ’s Lordship. And when people submit to Christ’s
Lordship, the Holy Spirit illumines them through Scripture to understand truth
in a fresh way through their own eyes.
CHRIST’S LORDSHIP OVER CULTURES
I remember as a pre-university student how my godly father took me
aside and informally gave me sound advice. He advised me to view all the arts,
sciences and philosophy that I would be exposed to as subjects under the
Lordship of Christ. These had to be tested under the scrutiny of Scripture. I
never forgot his advice. It became an adventure to view all studies in this light.
Similarly, if Christ is truly Lord of all, culture must come under His
Lordship. This principle is particularly helpful as cross-cultural workers have to
live with a degree of ambiguity (a requirement for effective cross-cultural
workers) facing a new culture.
The Lausanne Covenant in its section on Evangelism and Culture states
that “the Gospel ... evaluates all cultures according to its criteria of truth and
righteousness and insists on moral absolutes in every culture.” 3 Therefore the
Word of God will reject idolatry which opposes the uniqueness of God. God’s
moral law is also absolute whereas culture contains customs with values that
are relative.
The Gospel of Grace also rejects customs, forms and practices that are
based on human merit to obtain salvation. As people are exposed to the teaching
of Scripture, we may trust the Spirit of God to cause change in the “worldview”
of peoples as they obey the Word.
CONTEXTUALISATION AND ITS DANGERS
Contextualisation is not without its dangers. An obvious concern relates
to the purity of the Gospel. Because all culture is tainted, when culture is brought
into the Gospel message, the result may be a mixture of error with truth. This
was something the early Christians and missions throughout history have had
to wrestle with.
It is therefore a necessity for the cross-cultural worker to have a firm
grasp of the Scriptures and its essential truths. The Bible must also be central in
any kind of cross-cultural ministry. The messenger also needs to discern the
3 Section 10, Lausanne Covenant, 1974. The Lausanne Covenant is available on the Lausanne website