Comparing Apples to Oranges

Oranges and apples are amazing things. One has an edible thin skin; the other has a sour tough skin. One is a bright orange color, (this is supposing that it is an American orange that has been forced to ripen; our oranges are a light yellow green), and the other can be many shades of green, yellow, or red. One is crisp and makes a crunch, the other is soft and can spray juice all over a person’s hands.

But, the main difference between an apple and an orange is the way in which a person eats them. Most people in America will peel an orange, then divide it into its equal pieces, and then eat them one by one, seeds and all. The apple on the other hand is totally different. We just grab the thing out of the refrigerator and begin to bit. We start at one side and work our way around until we have removed most of the skin, then we start over, going deeper into the apple. Finally at the end, all the person has left is the core. They are both fruits, but the approach most people use in eating them is totally different.

We have all heard the old saying. “He is comparing apples with oranges”. This cliché means that someone is trying to compare two different groups, while pretending that they are all the same thing. This seems to happen to many people that work in missions today.

They lump all people into the same group whether they are African, Asian, European, or South American. In these peoples’ minds, all people are the same. (This to an extent is totally true). Just like in the fruit family, we have many fruits that can be grouped together, and we can state certain facts that are true about all of them. All people have souls, sin, and equal value in this world and in eternity, but that does not change the fact that an orange is not an apple, and an apple is not an orange.

Just like the Fruit Family, the Human Family has different kinds of people. Like the orange and apple, the approach that a person takes to reaching the seeds or core of their lives must change depending on what kind of ‘fruit’ they are. Some people are oranges and others are apples. A missionary talking about presenting the gospel to these two groups, if he tries to say that they are the same, is just comparing apples to oranges.

Today, we are going to describe these two kinds of fruits and try to learn from them.

THE ORANGE- the Westerner

In the family of fruits, the Westerner is the orange. He loves uniformity, and order. There is a little difference in size and shape, but he is an orange. He has a thick outside, which many times is hard to remove, and can be quite sour.

The most amazing thing about the orange is not the outside, but the inside. The orange is an amazing example of order. All parts of an orange are ordered and in place. Each part is separated by thin membranes. Each piece has its own seed or seeds, and the whole inside is neatly divided into groups. With very little effort a person can divide up an orange, and if the orange is ripe he can do it with very little mess. One by one, the parts can be consumed and the seeds removed.

This is a perfect picture of the inside of a Westerner. His life is ordered. Each part is in its separate box. Each part of his life has a seed, and it is easy to take his life apart one piece at a time and get to the seeds (our life principles) of this part of his life. The Westerner has home, work, school, church, and community, split into individual groups and knows how each fits together to make a whole. In the Western mind, spiritual is spiritual and physical is physical, and the two only meet when they are side by side in the ‘orange’. They are separate parts of a whole life. The hardest part about reaching a Westerner is getting through the sour rough outside, but once a person gets past the skin, the inside parts tend to be softer.

In Western societies, if a pastor or youth pastor sees a problem in one area of a person’s life (i.e. problems at home, or school, or work), he will quickly pull out that part of the person’s life, look for the seed (problems) and remove it. Because the Western life is not very holistic, (meaning that most areas of live do not totally bleed over into other areas), then the problem can be dealt with in the place it is found in the life.

For example, a younger missionary that I am working with here has been pushing me to confront a convert about the church that he attends. The missionary sees the problem in a very Western mindset. This convert attends a Charismatic Baptist church. The foundational teachings are somewhat the same, but there are some very serious problems with the church’s teaching. The young man attends many of our Bible studies and likes to help us. He is currently thinking about getting baptized. The young missionary wants me to address the boy in a very blunt way, stating all the negative areas in which the church will harm the person’s spiritual life. (This term- spiritual life- gives great insight to the Western mindset, indicating that this part is somehow removed from the physical life). To him it is a simple matter. It is true that the boy needs to remove himself from the church. In time it will greatly harm his spiritual grow, but the point is not that he needs to be removed from the church. The point is the way that we teach him about this need.

Should it be approached like an orange or an apple? If he was an Orange, and I had made it past his tough outside, then I would cut up the problem for him to see, pull out the bad seed (problem), and fix it right away. The problem is though, that he is an apple not an orange.

THE APPLE- the African

In the Fruit Family, the African is the Apple. He loves variety. He comes in many different colors, shapes, and size. He has a very thin skin that covers a thick inside.

The apple is a whole, not parts. It is a solid mass of juice, flesh, and seeds. Every part of the apple is interconnected and supplies support and flavor to the whole. Unlike an orange, where one piece can be dry and another juicy, the whole apple must be juicy for it to be sweet. An apple can have bad spots, caused by a worm or because something is pressing it too much from the outside. The African thinks of life in much the same way. But if left alone, the whole thing, in his mind, will grow or die equally.

An African does not divide his life into secular and sacred. To him, life is completely interconnected. He does not go to school just for learning, but for social interaction, for spiritual interaction, for community harmony. His church is not just his spiritual life, but also his family and community. It is like the flesh of an apple. It is one solid mass.

When a missionary tries to help someone to make a spiritual decision that will change his or her life, he cannot deal with the spiritual implication only, but how this action will affect the whole man. For that is how the convert sees his life. Therefore he does not rush to peel off the skin and pull out the offending piece, and spit out the seed. He works at it like eating an apple. He starts on the outside. He teaches the truth, and works it around the whole scope the person’s life. For the person to really change, he must allow the change to cover his whole life: the home, church, and community. The missionary needs to be patient and let the truth slowly eat away around the surface, and then, as time passes, it will move to the seeds.

If the missionary rushes, and pushes a man to a snap decision, trying to cut out the seed to quickly, then he produces a syncretist. The person will act a certain way at church, but the truth will not have covered all the other areas of his holistic life. He will be like a apple that has been half-eaten.

Case in point- the young African convert. The younger missionary wants to just cut him off from the other group. But as I have watched him, he is not ready yet. He is coming closer, but the truth has not made it all the way around the apple yet. If I were to jump on him now, and tell him to leave, one of two out comes will result. First: he will obey to please me, not God. It is not his personal conviction, and he will still keep his unofficial ties to the people and community of his old church. His outside will change, but his heart will still be connected. Second: he will resist and run. He will have great trouble in his mind. He does not see this as separating from a church, but cutting up his whole life. He will weigh the amount of help he will get from us and fear the loss of contacts and friends. The cutting off from community (his church) will lead him to other fears that he might not be ready to face. Very possibly he will run away and only keep minimal contact with us.

This is the difference between reaching and teaching an apple and a orange. If a minister of the gospel tries to lead different people groups to decisions the same way, he will end up with syncretists, or runaways. For people that are heavily influenced by African culture or other groups that are very holistic in worldview, they will need more time before they can make decisions that will impact their whole life. In the West, we value the maverick, but in most places the maverick is not a hero, but a shriveled up apple that is going to rot.

Let me give the reader a final story from the United States to help explain. Pastor Steve Pettit was a youth pastor many years ago in Saginaw, Michigan. He was trying to work heavily in the intercity schools and had many young people that he was trying to reach. One young man was named Marvin Corr. Marvin trusted Christ as his Savior. He attended Saginaw High, a very difficult place to live as a Christian. Marvin was being told to carry a Bible to school and to witness. At first, this was very hard for him to do. Being a young man from the intercity, with a very holistic life, his friends, school, and community all worked together to compete for control. At first, Marvin said that he would do what was right when Pastor Steve was around, but when Pastor Steve left, it was right back to the same old patterns and activities. Despite this Pastor Steve, led him, but he did not push. Marvin said that one day it clicked. His “friends” at school were mocking him for hanging out with the white guy when he realized that that white guy cared more for him than all the kids at his school. He made a decision that he was going to do what was right, no matter what others thought.

What had happened? The teaching had made its way around the whole apple. The truth had finally surrounded his whole life and changed his whole life. For those of us that see life like oranges, and work with apples, this is very important to understand. We must teach holistically so that converts will be able to change, but know that this holistic teaching will take longer to affect change.

Practical Advice About Gospel Context and Presentation-

The way that a person visions the world is very important. Each culture is built from a collection of its experiences, religions, environment, and history. These elements greatly influence how the person in that culture sees teaching and communicating. What is a virtue in one culture can be a curse in another. What is a taboo in speaking can be an appealing plea in another. The missionary needs to learn these things, and adopt new styles (inside Bible guidelines) so that he can be an affective communicator.

Let’s give a few examples to paint the picture.

In China, if a missionary starts preaching to a follower of the Tao Te Ching, and he tells him, that John 14:6 says “I am the way”, he is telling the Chinese man, that Jesus said, “I am the Tao”. He will not think about God, but will contact this statement to his current religion, for in China, Tao is the WAY!

If a missionary is preaching in Japan, and is trying to communicate to an audience and starts by stating a theory and then moves to the practical application, most people will be gravely insulted, and will not hear another word that he is saying. In Japan, if a person moves from theory to practical, or practical to theory, he is telling the audience that they are so stupid that they can not think things through.

In the case of working with the Sawi people in West Irian, missionaries Don and Carol Richardson, found it difficult to communicate the message of Christ to the Sawi people. They discovered that when the spoke of Judas betrayal of Jesus, the people where very interested and attentive, because in their culture treachery was an appealing and high virtue.

This portion is taken from a conversation between missionary George W. Peters and Bakht Singh, (how was a former Hindu leader, and is now a pastor and conservative evangelist). They where talking about how Singh starts to witness to people.

As we talked about evangelism and a message for India, I asked him: “When you preach in India, what do you emphasize?” “Do you preach to them the love of God?”
“No,” he said, “not particularly. The Indian mind is so polluted that if you talk to them about love they think mainly of sex life. You do not talk to them about the love of God.”
“Well,” I said, “do you talk to them about the wrath of God and the judgment of God?”
“No, this is not my emphasis,” he remarked, “they are used to that. All the gods are mad anyway. It makes no difference to them if one more is angry!”
“What do you talk to them about? Do you preach Christ and Him Crucified?” I guessed.
“No,” he replied, “they would think of Him as a poor martyr who helplessly died.”
“What then is your emphasis? Do you talk to them about eternal life?”
“Not so,” he said, “if you talk about eternal life, the Indian thinks of transmigration. He wants to get away from it. Don’t emphasize eternal life.”
“What then is your message?”
“I have never yet failed to get a hearing if I talk to them about forgiveness of sin and peace and rest in your heart. That’s the product that sells well. Soon they ask me how they can get it. Having won their hearting I lead them on to the Savior who alone can meet their deepest needs.”

From these examples it can be seen that each missionary needs to study his host culture and its modes of communication if he is really going to learn how to communicate the gospel successfully to his people group.

Here are a few points of practical advise to aid the reader:

1. Try to learn about the People Group that is trying to be reached:

Here are a few sample groups-
The Naturalist Worldview- this includes all atheist and many Agnostics
The Tribal Worldview- This includes all African, Australian, Asian, South American, North American, and Island Tradition Religious groups. (This group is the largest in the world, making up 40% of the world's population, and is diverse in formers and names, but startlingly similar in thinking, ideas, and focus)
The Hindu-Buddhistic Worldview- This includes many of the far east religious branches and splinter groups.
The Chinese Worldview- Includes the follower of Lao-tzu and Confucius
The Monotheistic Worldview- this includes Jews and Muslims
The Syncretism and Mutli-religion Worldview- very common in the first world, and third world.

2. Learn the Language:
This seems simple enough. Most missions agencies seem to push this concept, but in reality this teaching only goes so far. In many countries of the world, there are national languages, and then local languages. This is true from Hong Kong, to Morocco, and from Brazil, to Ghana. Most nations of the world have in the past been controlled by a foreign power, and with that control came an official language. Many times this language is the language of business and school, but not the language of home and heart. The most striking evidence of this truth is seen in Africa. Most mission boards and agency will encourage a missionary going to Togo to learn French, since it is the national language. But, once the missionary has mastered that language, he is not seen as Togolese, but a Frenchmen. If he is to communicate to the hearts of the people, he will need to learn one of the local languages, such as Ewe or Hausa.

3. Ask the Meaning of Terms and Use Definitions
Ask questions, find out what the people think words mean. This is important anywhere in the world. Just because something means something to the person speaking, does not mean that is what it means to others.

Let me give an example- We met a young lady that is from South Africa. She was attending a Bible school in the capital, and was visiting Kumasi. She was living with our neighbors for a while, and my wife and I had a good opportunity to witness to her and talk to her.
One day while we where talking she told us this funny story. She was telling us about culture shock, and said that one thing that really bothered her when she first came was hand-gestures. Here, in Ghana, when ever a person wants to show respect, they will make the hand gesture in sign language for please: which is done by striking the top of the hand to the palm of the other hand. Most people will do this, when they are asking for something. Mary, this South African girl, said that this had totally shocked her, and offended her at first. She, told us that in South Africa, this is a very lud gesture, and if a man makes the sign to a women, then he is asking to sleep with her. Needless to say the first time a man made this sign, she was very angry.
So, as a missionary, before we start speaking and using body language we need to ask what these things mean.

4. Take time
It is never wasted time, when a missionary takes time to learn about his people group before he begins to teach and preach. In most nations, this time waiting is facilitated by having to learn the language, but in nations where the missionary can use his own national language, time should be taken to first learn about the people, before he rushes off to reach them.

5. Teach people the foundation of the Bible
Once a person has truly learned about salvation, and with some people groups before, they should be given a proper foundation in the progression of the Bible. Many missionary unknowingly divide the New Testament from its Jewish Old Testament Worldview, and do not understand why their people just take Christ and place him into their own worldview. The basic point is this, we are willing to teach Bible stories to children in Sunday School, but forget that many of the adults that we are reaching have never heard these stories clearly.

One should also keep in mind the question by a Shintoist who asked, “If you want us to understand the Christian way, why do you not open your Holy Book to the beginning and start there?”

6. Study different gospel approaches
There are many groups that have different ways of presenting the gospel without changing the message. New Tribes, Regular Baptist Press, the Divine Drama 1 and 2, along with many others are examples of different ideas. The key here is not to merely tell Bible stories, but to tell “HIS-story” and to lay the foundation for redemption. I personally suggest using a format that best suits the readers personal situation, and then modifying it to better suit their ministry and focus.

7. Listen to the Holy Spirit
This should probably be at the beginning of the list. The missionary needs to be very sensitive to God and His Spirit. No plan is flawless. He needs to be personally reading his Bible and praying, and asking God to guide him in his ability to reach his people group.

8. Let people pray on their own
This point is very important when reaching people influenced by African worldviews. In a society where social pressure and peace in the group is king, many people will just repeat a prayer, to keep peace or because they feel it is required. The best practical advise that I have seen, is that if the person is not serious enough to pray on their own, or do not know enough of the basics to do so, they are just praying for the leader, not themselves. This point also stands true with African peoples in other parts of the world.

9. Ask Questions, in ways that do not have a yes or no answer
The best way to gather real knowledge of the person’s understanding is to ask the right questions. As I have learned from personal experience, many times trying to lead a person to the decision to follow Christ, the gospel presenter is guilty of asking shallow questions. Many times this happens, because the person presenting, wants a decision more than really knowing if the person understands the message being presented. When the gospel giver is talking, ask open ended questions, that allow the other person a chance to express their thinking.

10. Let the ‘learner” do the talking
This is very hard for me, since I like to talk so much, but it is very important. Let them talk, sooner or later, the teacher will become the learner, and will gline very important information that can aid his teaching.

11. Use story methods
Most people in the world are not fully literate. Use story methods to convey truth. This is what Christ did, and it is very affective in the developing world, and inter-cities of the first world.

12. Understand how the people group learns-
Every group gains and learned new information differential. Study and find the way that local teachers present knowledge. Find successful public communicators and try to study the style or form in which they communicate. Find out if they think from practical to theory, or theory to practical, so on and so forth.

The point of it all is the communicating of the truths of the Word of God, and Jesus Christ, in ways that are understood by the local people in their own context. This will help the missionary to be seen as reaching people where they are at, instead of seeming to present a foreign gospel that only speaks of foreign problems. If the world is to be reached, it must be reached by people that have really been changed, and have embraced the gospel as their own.

*** For further study in Cross Cultural Communication- the reader can prices David J. Hesselgrave’s book. It is available at http://www.amazon.com/.

(EXTRA POINT)- The reason most missions have adopted African Traditional Music styles (i.e. drumming, dancing, and performance, that is straight out of ATR) is that they present such a foreign Gospel, that the people complain of the church being non-African. The missionary without knowing that his gospel presentation and preaching is based more on Western style and thought progression, moves to a less dangerous area in his mind, music. Soon he adapts his music forms to ATR music, and then social harmony seems to return.

What’s the Bible Say about Contextualization?

If anything is going to be useful to a missionary, it must be Biblical. And if it is Biblical, then it must have a strong foundation in the Bible. So, the question remains, is contextualization in the Bible. All it takes is a Concordance to prove that this long word does not appear in scripture, but does the proper idea of contextualization appear.

Here, I want to make a point. Most liberal missionaries, start this discussion with the following verses: 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

With this starting point they say that we must become just like others to reach them. But, they conveniently miss a phrase in these verses: “being not without the law to God, but under the law of Christ”. They forget that though somethings in style, form, and presentation can be changed, they are not lawless. If they change the message or methods of the Bible, they are just opening the door to syncretism. They will not have a faith that is relevant to the new person, but a new faith!

With this point made, lets move to the Bible, which is the sole authority for faith and practice. Does the Bible make a case for context or against context? We will bring three witnesses to the stand, and let the Bible speak for these witnesses and their actions.

The first Witness is… Jesus Christ himself.
Jesus Christ being Himself totally God, is not limited to man's culture. He is the embodiment of heavenly values, teaching, and truth. We see in his earthly ministry, that he always placed the truth of the Bible over the culture of man, even Hebrew culture. We see an example of this in Matthew 15:1-6

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

Here we see that Christ strongly condemns the braking of scripture to make way for tradition and/or custom. This passage is speaking against syncretism, not context. Does context, have any place in Christ’s ministry?

The scripture does tell us that Christ did put his message into a context. It was put into Jewish world view. Jesus spoke Aramaic, though Greek and Latin, where the world wide languages.

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Jesus Christ, wore clothes, wear prayer shallows, beard and sideburns, all in the manner and custom of the devote Jews. This is how the women at the well in Samaria, knew right away that Jesus Christ was a Jew, and that is why she thought he would condemn her for being a Samaritan. Christ ministry on this world, was spoken in a thoroughly Jewish context. The forms, styles, language, all prove this.

Also another point to consider is that Christ would vary the mode of his presentation of the gospel depending on the audience. This is seen in the Emmaus road trip, witnessing to the Syrophenician women, and witnessing to Nicodemius.

If Christ could allow His eternal, heavenly message to be shaped and influenced by the audience that he was speaking to, and in no way sin, because he is sinless, then there is a way as a missionary that we can do the same thing.

Witness Number Two… Peter

The Bible tells its reader that Peter had a specific ministry. Though he was the first person told by God, that the Gentiles should be reached, and preached to the first totally Gentile audience. He was given the ministry of the gospel to the Jews.

Galatians 2:7-9 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

This passage does not teach that there are two gospels. For as a person sees in Galatians 1:6-9, any other gospel, that is new or different, is not the gospel at all. This passage tells us that these men had different ministries, and that these different ministries reached people with different world views. The gospel was the same, but the way in which they presented and ministered the gospel was different.

Witness Number Three… Paul.

There is probably no great example for the missionary in the Bible, then the life of Paul. The book of Acts is a divinely inspired history book, that gives us great insight to the methods and means of the New Testament churches. In the book of Acts we can see clear examples of how Paul presented the gospel to different groups under different circumstances. Here, I will site a view example of direct quotes from the book of Acts, to see different ways in which Paul presented the gospel.

Example Number 1
Acts 13:14-43 We see the first full message that Paul preaches of the gospel. They are in a synagogue and preaching to a thoroughly Jewish group. Paul starts the presentation giving Jewish history and builds up through David, to present the coming of Messiah. He quotes many quotations from the psalms, which because of Hebrew worship in the synagogues, most Jews knew these passage by heart.

Example Number 2
Acts 17:22-31 We see the second full message of Paul recorded in the book of Acts. The location is Mars Hill. The audience is mostly gentiles, and gentiles that do not have a Jewish world view. Paul starts with their own idols, and speaks of their altar to the Unknown God. He makes us of quotations of their own secular poets. Brings these points to Christ, and their need for him.

Example Number 3
Acts 21:40-22:1-21 Paul hear is addressing the crowd that has beaten him in the temple. He speaks to them in Hebrew, and the Bible puts an emphasis on this point. He starts by telling them that he was a Pharisee, and gives his Hebrew pedigree; then moves to the way that Christ called him unto salvation.

Example Number Four
Acts 26:1-23 Here we have Paul last recorded sermon in the book of Acts. He is preaching to King Agrippa. Though he is a Jew, and would naturally disdain the king’s herodian lineage, he starts by giving him the proper deference that a person would give to a king. Here he speeches Greek, and comports himself in such a way that would be fitting to the case that he is in.

In these four example we can clearly see a Biblical pattern for contextualization. Paul never changed the message. He preach the authority of scripture, and the clear intent of helping the listener understand the propose of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But in each case, the language, starting point, style, and information used, varied as he presented the gospel to a new audience or people group.

I believe that the use of contextualization is very important. It helps to fulfill the very heart of 1 Corinthians 9:2-22. It allows us, under the law of Christ, to become all things to all people, so that we might WIN SOME!

Also I believe that the danger is very real if a missionary does not learn the context of his listeners. The mission field today is filled with this: unconverted, confused, followers of a Western thinking ‘gospel’.

In the next post I will show how conservative Christians have already embraced this idea of context, in minor ways, but how we need to apply it in a more fully in our modern missions.

Context- Helps to make Contact!

The longer that I live as a missionary, the more I learn that the context of peoples' understanding is very important, if I want people to understand what I am really saying. I want to give two stories to illustrate this point. The first is personal, and the second, I heard from the late Mr. Keith Kiser, one of my professors in Bible College The story comes from the time that he was a missionary in England.

Story #1
I had only been in Ghana for about four months at the time that this story took place. It was a Sunday morning, and the morning church service had just ended, and the national pastor and I where greeting the people that had come. I was chatting with a group of men from the church, and was trying to make small talk. I had noticed that one of the men had purchased a new pair of slacks. I had learned in the four months that I had lived in Ghana, that people always like a person to notice new things they are wearing, and they appreciate a nice compliment. So with my fledgling culture skills, I launched out.

I turned to the guy, in front of all his friends which numbered about five or six people, and said; "Are those new pants, those are really nice pants!" Now, to a Mid-Westerner from the United States this is a totally normal statement. But, what I did not know was, just because it made sense to me, or meant something to me, did not mean that it meant the same thing to the people I was addressing.

After I made the comment, all the men standing around started laughing at the man! If an African could blush, he was, and he kind of pulled away a bite. Everyone started speeching in Twi, I did not know a word of Twi then. It seemed like they where really making jokes at the expense of my friend and the 'broni', that's me. Finally after about five or six minutes of humor, the guy came around, and started laughing. Then, finally someone told me what was so funny.

See, here in Ghana, we speech a dialect of British English, Patty and I like to call it, "Twing-glish". Anyway, here men do not wear pants, they wear trousers. Pants are your undergarments. Basically, I had walked up to a group of young men, put my arm on one of their shoulders and said, "Our those new underwear, they are really nice underwear!". This was one of my first lessons in contextualization.

Story #2
Keith Kiser, was a missionary and fill-in pastor in England for a few years. He related this funny story to us in one of our Bible classes. He was in his church office, doing some work and arranging some minor things around the church. He had only been in England for a short time. While in the office, his head deacon called him on the telephone. After greeting each other, the deacon asked Mr. Kiser, if he was free to talk, to which he responded, "I am free, I am just peddling around the office!" The line went quiet for a second. Then the man said, "Pastor, what was that?" To which Mr. Kiser said, "I said I am free, I am just peddling around the office!" Then he heard a laugh through the receiver. Then the man explained that in England, when someone says 'peddling", it means that they are going to the bathroom. So, after a good laugh together, they talked for a while, and then the deacon said this, "Preacher, if y' need anythin'. just give me a tinkel on the fone." Mr. Kiser burst out laughing and said, "If I cannot piddle in my office, you cannot tinkel on the phone."

These are just two of meaning stories I can tell. I have heard these stories from missionaries in Ireland, from South Africans that have visited Ghana, even country people visiting urban area in America. All these stories just illustrate the fact, that context is very important to proper understanding. Context should become very important to a missionary, if he want his message to mean to the people, what it means to him.

The point of this post, is to introduce the importance of proper context in missions. I hope to write a short series on contextualization. Though the term is long, the definition is not complex. Here is a simple definition:

Contextualization can be thought of as the attempt to communicate the message of the person, works, and will of God in a way that is faithful to God's revelation, especially as it is put forth in the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, and that is meaningful to respondents in their respective cultural and existential contexts.-David. J. Hesselgrave

Basically put, making the gospel make sense, to a person, even though their culture and thinking is very different from the Bible and the missionaries' culture. In this pursuit the missionary has not right to change the truths and facts of the Bible, but he needs to know that the starting point, method of communicating, and body language and gestures, that he uses will all have a great affect on the listeners understand, appreciation, and acceptance of his message.

The next few posts, I hope to show the Biblical ground for this thinking, use evidence from our current outreach, and try to give some practical advise about proper contextualization.