Q3. Separating the Gospel from Culture

[Commissioned]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices?

It is so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own practices because

we do not respect their culture and we do not fully trust that the work of the Holy Spirit will bring them

to that place where they walk in holiness. Sometimes we want to do the work of the Holy Spirit.

Can you think of examples of this in Church history?

In Church history there are records of missionaries traveling to places with the gospel and tried to tag

their culture along with the teaching of the gospel and it alienated the people.

What is the danger?

The danger is presenting the gospel with error; converts may not be able to tell the difference - the

pure gospel from the missionary's own traditions.

How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church's missionary enterprises?

We can avoid such cultural faux pas in our church's missionary enterprises by teaching them (the

missionaries) to teach the gospel only, leave the change to the Holy Spirit.

[Kerneydr]

The same reason it is hard to accept people that are different from ourselves. We are self-centered. We must first abandon this in order to see the good and above all in other cultures. It is a good policy to overlook the bad. To think on the good and not to try to understand why others do what they do. If we don't avoid such cultural faux pas, we will tend to turn others off from the gospel message and be considered bigots and arrogant people. This isn't an example of a follower of the Way.

[Jen]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises?

Never thought much about this. Maybe we think we know it all and all should be like us. I don't know. When I was overseas I considered myself as a missionary of sorts however was more interested in talking about the Lord and figured the rest would start to follow as they were led by the Spirit.

I know there are examples of this in church history however cannot think of anything right now. The danger is placing emphasis on the wrong things and being critical instead of acting in love. Somethings I saw bothered me in my spirit however I tried to respond in love and edify where I could. I'm sure I made my share of mistakes and I pray God redeemed those.

I do know that "they will know us by our love". Without love we are nothing.

God bless!

Jen

Romans 15;13

[wilma m]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises?

[/quote

When we grow up, we learn from our culture what is considered right or wrong and we take that with us for the rest of our lives. Every culture is judged by our set of rules. When the western christians tried to evangelize the non western world, they first wanted to westernise it, but in the process they forget that the middle eastern culture is different from the west anyway. We see that in the way we interpret the Bible too, instead of trying to see the context in which the Bible is written, we often makes the verses "work" for us- reading it the way we want it to be.

Hudson Taylor went to China and after a while, he realised that the only way he could reach the people, was to look like them and eat like them and to clothe like them. When they see that he wants to be like them and not take away their culture, they began to listen to him and accepted his message. I believe that people will be more open to the gospel when it comes from their own people and instead of sending missionaries into other cultures, we must rather use the money to support their missionaries or to equip their people to become missionaries . But I also believe that we must not compromise the truth of the message by adding some cultural things to it just to make it more appealing for the locals. We can embrace their cultures but not their gods.

[Old Jerry]

I think that it is so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices is because a lot of time we don’t see that what we are practicing is a cultural thing and not a biblical teaching. We have been taught certain things that make us what we are and a lot of times it has nothing to do with biblical teachings.

The danger of us not seeing the difference is that we miss the opportunity to communicate the gospel to the people that we are trying to convert. The only way that we can avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises is to make sure that it is a bible believing and not a culture belief.

[JenniferLynn]

Because the only culture we know is our own. The crusades & the Spanish Inquestion anyother early missionary work. Turning people away from the true God & pushing them to their old beliefs. Learn the culture that you are trying to convert & find a way to teach the gospel without destroy their culture.

[Dew drenched]

Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices?

We tend to see others from our point of view, which is clouded by our own culture and upbringing. We tend to see Christianity from what we have grown up with in our own cultural practices. This small view tends to create difficulties and prejudices.

Can you think of examples of this in Church history?

For example some of the injustices against the first nations people in countries like Canada, Australia, South Africa, China, India, and America etc.

What is the danger?

We cannot accept differences in the way worship is expressed or in the way services of worship are conducted, or in some of the practices of those who are cultural different from us. it is hard to touch them with the Love of God. The Gospel of Christ is misrepresented as cultural, one people group is seen as second class or less than onother in value. etc.

How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church's missionary enterprises?

We need to view all from God's point of view, a greater or larger view.

We need to step back a little and veiw people and people groups the way God sees them all. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that all who believe in him shal be saved. Every tounge , every nation, every culture, brought together through Jesus Christ. Walls fall down.

Rev. 5:9 Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

God enjoys all the differences on variety of all the nations and cultures.

In Abraham all nations shall be blessed, We are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

The gentiles were not Jewish believers and there practices and expression of Love and worship toward God were expressions of a people with a different (non- Jewish) culture, but it was a rich and genuine expression of Love from the midst of a redeemed people. Liberty and joy were the main ingrediants. No wonder Paul loved the gentiles in there expression of praise to Christ Jesus.

The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ.

[yankpee]

Q3, Why it it so hard to take the gospel to different people without wrapping it in our own cultural practices?----Because they are confidence in their own cultural, its difficult to change them, it takes time and teaching before they will accept your cultural;-- b,Can you think of example of this in church history?----The early missionaries were forcing western cultural on the inhabitants especially in Africa. C,What is the danger?;-- The danger is trying to impose their custom on them, instead of explaining things in their way of their life.----D,How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church missionary enterprises?---You have to explain the church cultural to them, without forcing them to leave or stop it, but keep on preaching to them and the Lord will change them to follow the correct path. .

[NancyinBelize]

I'm a missionary. Where I live prostitution is legal. Many women make money this way to support their children. Many men like to frequent the bars to drink a few beers because they "deserve it after a long week of work" and enjoy "meeting girls". One husband I know approves of his wife's prostitution because she brings in money. He's currently jobless. She even entertains men in their home. So clearly prostitution is part of the culture here. Because prostitution is part of this culture, is it culturally acceptable in God's eyes? NO.

Can I preach the Gospel and not preach against prostitution? Can i preach the Gospel without mentioning that sexual immorality is a sin? The center of the Gospel is God's grace through Jesus death on the cross. Yes....but somewhere in the process of explaining God's vision for a Kingdom there needs to be included God's vision for the rules for His society.

I doubt anyone reading this would advocate that as a missionary I should just preach grace and tell people sexual morality is ok because it is part of your culure,

Yet the issue is always: where do you draw the line?

It was Biblically clear to the Jews that the converts needed to be circumcised. They could point to mandates and laws given by God.

It was Biblically clear to the early Christian missionaries that covering your body is modest. The Indians or Africans, in order to follow scripture needed to cover themselves.

with 20:20 Hindsight we can see that we destroyed their "culture" and traded it for an Anglicized Christian one. But i understand those early missionaries' thought process. Modesty, is part of the Word that we learn from Paul. I understand why they taught it.

We always pick and choose from the Bible (even New Testament) what we will follow as God's commands and what we think is "not applicable". 1 Timothy 2:9 says,

"I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes." There are few churches that teach this principle. I'm not advocating that women today have to follow this. My point: If we are honest, choosing what we think is important and what we can ignore and let people go ahead and do "because it is cultural" is a very slippery slope. To the courageous missionaries of old, Thank you for risking your lives to share the Gospel with people who had never heard. We all make mistakes and some are only revealed years later with new revelations.

[wifee]

a)We subconsciously attach to our faith &gospel our human trappings e.g.practice of communion in certain way, children not making noise,no drinking coffee in church mistakenly imply to unbelievers these are as important as key beliefs

.B)Examples missionaries teaching English nursery rhymes rather than childrens songs in local language.Cash between Catholics & Protestants message of peace abused amongst violence in NI

C)Danger is misrepresenting the gospel.

D)Can avoid errors by seeking missionaries from countries culturally similar or from within country, to live in local communities,wearing local clothes, eating local foods to share faith naturally in way that will last.One day new believers will speak to Lord in own language.

[Craig]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises?      

 

It is hard because our own culture is what we know and are comfortable with.   One exampe of this is the mission work to the Hawaiian Islands.  Yes the Gospel of Jesus Christ was introduced, but the native Hawaiian culture was sadly destroyed and replaced by western culture as expressed by a corrupt American economic system based on materialism and greed.  A system as godless as any other pagan gods.  The danger is that the gospel and/or mission work will be displaced by the secular culture of the country the missionaries came from.  The Spanish entry into the New World is another example where secular culture would trump Christian mission efforts.  Non-Christian communities come to see missionaries not as representatves of Jesus Christ but of their home country.  That is the real danger. The gospel is blocked and denied entry because of fear that another culture will displace one's own.

 

We can overcome this by only representing Jesus Christ in mission work and by working closely with in-country Christians.  We should be sensitive to other cultures.  It is really about the Kingdom of God anyway.

 

[GoRaysXD]

"Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises?"

 

 

 

Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? It is hard because our own culture is what we know and are comfortable with.

 

 

Can you think of examples of this in Church history? One example of this is the mission work to the Hawaiian islands, yes the gospel of Jesus Christ was introduced but the native Hawaiian culture was sadly destroyed and replaced by western culture and a corrupt economic system based on greed.

 

 

 

What is the danger? The danger is that the gospel/mission work will be displaced by the secular culture of the country the missionary came from.

 

 

 

 

How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises? We can overcome this by this by representing  Jesus Christ in mission work and by working closely with in-country Christians. We should be sensitive to other cultures. It is really about the Kingdom of God anyway.

[RD35]

 It is hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices because we only want to see what we have always seen and done and we think that our culture, traditions and language is the best one which God has selected.  We are more confident when we preach the gospel wrapped in our culture.

 

The danger is that we will not be able to reach to many people with the good news of Christ because they may not be ready to give away with their cultures with which they were brought up.  Or the once who have been converted may start believing that just because they have accepted another culture they are saved.

 

We can avoid cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary by following the leading of the Holy Spirit and by prayer.  If we study the word of God, God’s word will have a solution to every kind of problem.  The missionaries should stick on to only preaching the word of God, and eventually God will reveal to each one what should he or she be giving up which is not pleasing to Him.

[Thanking Joan]

We have all grown up in a particular place in a particular tradtion and culture. Our values and belief systems depends upon the culture with which we were raised and they are deep rooted.Therefore it becomes hard to take the Gospel to different peoples without wrapping it with our own cultural practices.

We have several examples in the Church history where while evangelising a particular nation the evangelists had to accomodate the culture of those people.

The danger is the truth of the Gospel is not ministered fully for the fear of culture and traditions

We can avoid such cultural faux pass in our church's missionary by relying on the guidance of the Holyspirit and by yeilding to the Spirit of God to teach us and guide us.

[JoanG]

People feel that their way is the only way to be saved according to God. They refuse to open up their hearts or minds to see that other ways might actually be better. I found this in the Catholic Church when the dictate was made that during Lent a person could not eat meat on Fridays. I found this very hard at times because of the places that I was living in.

 

I believe that we need to just express what is in the bible. We need to allow people to teach us first before we try to convert them. We need to live with them and understand them before we can help them to change ot the person that Jesus is guiding them to be. We need to be very loving and very patient. We have to shower them with the love of Christ before we can expect them to try a new way of living. We do not need to change their cultures. We just need to change their hearts.

[lighthouse2014]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church’s missionary enterprises?

It may be hard to take the gospel to different people because we try to insert our cultural beliefs and customs into their culture practices. It would be hard for them to give up some of their ways of life just to convert to Christianity, because we think they need to.

In church history when missionaries came to America they tried to conform the Native American's into an European way of life, to become farmers instead of hunters and change their native language to English, French or Spanish.

The dangers of doing this is that they may refuse to change their life customs to become Christians. What kind of god would want them to change their language and maintaining their ways of life? Should they entirely change their customs?

To change these cultural clashes, it would be better not to force our culture on those in other countries. Should we encourage them to cut their hair, learn our language? We should be adapted to their culture before we go evangelizing other nations.  

[Lionwolf]

Q3. Why is it so hard to take the gospel to different peoples without wrapping it in our own cultural practices? Can you think of examples of this in Church history? What is the danger? How can we avoid such cultural faux pas in our church's missionary enterprises?

Our culture puts blinders on how we interpret other cultures. This affects how we present Christianity. When Christianity was brought to the Americas it was presented through European eyes. Not taking the culture practices into account makes presenting Christianity in way that can be understood and accepted hard to do. There is a very real danger Christianity will be rejected or misunderstood. Understanding the culture gives us a way to present the Gospel in a way that is acceptable. 

[Annie343]

DIFFERENT PEOPLE FROM OWN CULTURAL PRACTICES:We're faced with the unknown - want to bring comfort and ideas to be part of the plans from our own perspective (what is considered the norm in our eyes); It is given without being sensitive to the environment and its affect on people (changing ideas and roles without foreseeing the consequences)

EXAMPLES IN CHURCH HISTORY: the Native Americans were considered to be heathens and needed corrections by the missionaries - bringing information regardless of how this would be seen; changing their employment to be like the visiting culture in order to be accepted as the right way of doing something as well as beliefs

DANGER: ignorance, racism, feeling condemned by the missionaries for traditional customs; not being conformed as to values without understanding; comparisons

[smithjeanne]

Our culture is so deeply ingrained in us and it is very difficult to see and believe outside of our biases. The Catholic church went into parts of the world where the people took paganism and mixed it with Catholic beliefs. The danger is syncretism and a muddling of the gospel. It brings chaos and confusion to people and throws the purpose of the church "under the bus." We need to keep the gospel message pure and simple. It needs to be presented in a multicultural manner by those presenting the message to develop relationships with the people groups they are sent by G-d to. Once you are familiar with their culture, language, and world-views, they can trust you and be more receptive to you and the gospel you want to share.

[Jonathan Edwards]

St. PAUL was tutored strictly by God.  He spent time in the desert.   In the midst of the stark desert, he was divested of his academic and Rabbinical training.  Like Moses, Paul tarried in the desert.  Moses had to be divested of the false philosophical and theological schools of Egypt.  In quietness, Paul received strength and guidance from God.. We too must spend time in prayer so we can communicate the Word of God; we cannot be like academic theological professors on skid row or on a public street during outdoor evangelistic ministry.

Alexandria,Egypt was a prime example how the early Church was a school of evangelism !  Great preachers of the Coptic church utilized effectively the various philosophical schools to communicate the Gospel.  They won the hearts of the pagan priests and philosophers in a tactfull way.   Cyril and Methodious as well--invented the Cyrillic alphabet to spread the Gospel to the Slavic peoples.  Condemning idols and other vices, the Slavs were converted by these two preachers.

Traditional American revival meetings are terrific but wouldn't be effective amongst native tribes in Afghanistan.   It would be incumbent on the evangelist to use language and methodology characteristic of the native tribes.

The unadulterated Word of God must go forth, sin must be dealt with; however, evangelical methodologies have to be tailored to the specific culture while the SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST AND GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION remain unaltered.  E.g. Egyptians are not like mainstream American evangelicals, so Egyptian outreach would be more subdued and Arabic songs would be more in order.  Typical Southern USA Gospel songs with hand clapping and shouting--would have to be tailored to Egyptian cultural behaviors in church.

We proclaim the Gospel truth in an expository fashion.   Sin must be dealt with-by all means !!.   We need the Pentecostal gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge in the evangelical field. We may preach in a different fashion on the streets of NYC but we communicate the SAME GOSPEL in a different manner in Karachi, Pakistan.  We don't do cookie cutter evangelism.  But still the altar calls and firm principles of the Gospel ARE ABSOLUTE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krissi]

Perhaps, if we knew what was "core" and what was "extraneous" the problem of teasing Christianity out of it's cultural expression wouldn't be so difficult? Unfortunately, this isn't easy. We look through the lenses of our cultures -- everyone does: it is silly to pretend that we can take our lenses off to put on someone else's, or worse yet, stand on some mythical perch of objectivity.

At this point, Western culture is not Christian anyway. It's a moot issue. Even the residue of Christian morality is fast disappearing in our societies. I firmly believe that the next mission frontier will be in our homes and countries, particularly for those of us in Western countries which used to be Christian but are now sick and secular. 

The overwhelming majority of Western missionaries were steadfast, worthy and sincere in their desire to spread the gospel. They should be commended -- not sniped at -- for their incredibly diligent and successful work. They did well. Many were brought to Christ. As broken vessels, they held water long enough to bend low so others could drink. 

We are blessed to stand on the shoulders of these missionary giants. "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God ..."