Graveyard of Missions and Contextualization

Some of the places that have been called graveyards of missionaries in this sense are: Burma; the West Indies; Sierra Leone; Mosul; Suriname; Africa; Liberia; western Africa.

"1872 Baptist Missionary Mag. 52/6 o.s. (2/6 n.s.) (Jun.) 189 : Even in Arracan, the disappointer of hopes and the graveyard of missionaries, there was light. Mr. Ingalls went there in 1846. Soon there was one conversion. Then, one night in an inquiry meeting ten presented themselves for prayer—a rare thing indeed for Burmans. 1880 The Christian Treasury 441 : Fourteen brethren and four sisters had arrived to found a missionary colony at St. Croix, an island which Dober knew to be fatally unhealthy, and nothing but a rank wilderness. He looke dupon the colony as doomed to failure. A few months proved his fears to have been correct, as no less than ten of the settlers fell victims to the pestilential climate, and the rest had to take temporary refuge on other islands. It was many years before this “Graveyard of missionaries,” as Zinzendorff called it, became habitable, though now among the most flourishing and healthy of the missions in the West Indies."

The Church serves the kingdom by her intercession, since the kingdom by its very nature is God's gift and work, as we are reminded by the gospel parables and by the prayer which Jesus taught us. We must ask for the kingdom, welcome it and make it grow within us; but we must also work together so that it will be welcomed and will grow among all people, until the time when Christ "delivers the kingdom to God the Father" and "God will be everything to everyone" (cf. 1 Cor 15:24, 28).

In planting new simple churches it is important to follow Jesus strategy of looking for a “child of peace” or a “house of peace”. When found one, you can start a new simple church among their web of relationships.

The presence of God’s people in a given location will affect daily life as individuals experience a renewal of traditional social patterns. This renewal, however, will substantially be a renewal of the existing patterns. For this reason, planters must quickly learn the real life issues associated with the people among whom they intend to plant a church. What does it look like for people in this community to celebrate, mourn, confess and repent, encourage each other, and show love? Where do people go to have fun, relax, worship, grow, shop, and eat? These questions address issues of social-relational contextualization that are integral to reaching people from a culture that differs from one’s own culture. Understanding transition rituals, crisis rituals, and other types of rituals provides helpful insight for the church planter attempting to understand local life expressions, but may also provide an entry point for the pastor to minister in the midst of these crucial community and family processes.

In addition to right preaching, those early believers had right life-style. They actually practised what they
preached, and Acts 2.42-47 gives us a glimpse of that. Before we start to think that the early church was just a wonderful community centre looking after people’s social needs, let’s just look at v42 to see their priorities, … : God’s Word, holy communion, prayer. And because they were Bible-based,
prayerful people, the Spirit was doing great things among them, v43… They had an expectation that God could and would do miraculous things in their lives. Do you? I know lots of churches which have great social programs, but the Word of God is not central, nor is prayer. I also know churches where gospel preaching and prayer are at the heart, but there’s little social concern. Acts 2 shews we need both. Doesn't 3 James in his letter famously teach us that ‘faith without works is dead, being alone’ (ie useless)?

You will never build the walls of your life until you have first become greatly concerned about the ruins. Have you ever taken a good look at the ruins in your own life? Have you ever stopped long enough to assess what you could be under God, and compared that with what you are? Have you looked at the possibilities that God gave you in your life, and seen how far you have deviated from that potential? Like Nehemiah, you have received word, in some form or other, of the desolation and ruin there. When Nehemiah hears this report about Jerusalem, he weeps and prays for days, showing his intense concern. You will never rebuild the walls of your life until you first weep over the ruins.

Today, as in the past, that mission is difficult and complex, and demands the courage and light of the Spirit. We often experience the dramatic situation of the first Christian community which witnessed unbelieving and hostile forces "gathered together against the Lord and His Anointed" (Acts 4:26). Now, as then, we must pray that God will grant us boldness in preaching the Gospel; we must ponder the mysterious ways of the Spirit and allow ourselves to be led by Him into all the truth (cf. Jn 16:13).

The Cross in the Nuclear Age

Contextualizing the Power and the Glory

The Insider Movement in Missions

MISSION AND CONTEXTUALIZATION

from Graveyard to Vineyard

 Contextualization Revisited

Dependency

One of the most important issues in church-mission relations today is the challenge of finding enough resources to carry out the remaining task of reaching the unreached. Unfortunately, many mission-established churches and other institutions are economically paralyzed and feel they have little or nothing to contribute toward the remaining task. Hence, the resources for reaching the unreached are still being given to existing churches still dependent on outsiders.

The problem of dependency is at the heart of many other problems in the Christian movement as well. Dependent churches not only feel they cannot sponsor their own outreach, they feel they can't support their own service projects such as clinics, hospitals, guest houses and other things which the Christian movement is doing elsewhere. Economically paralyzed churches are also behind under-funded Evangelical Fellowships, Christian Councils, Bible Societies and interdenominational theological institutions, etc. In fact, sometimes their spirit of dependency also characterizes the governments to which they send their members as representatives.

In spite of this, the good news is that there are churches and other Christian institutions which used to be dependent on outsiders but have shown that positive change is possible. They have learned how to mobilize local resources adequate for their own needs as well as for outreach. But for the dependent churches, unless attention is paid to mobilizing local resources, they will continue to look to others to make provision for them, not just for outreach, but sometimes for their own survival.

Glenn Schwartz

Great problems

"The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the planet. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems -– the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease and ignorance -– can only be done through the Church." - Rick Warren

Communicate widely and broadly the opportunity and responsibility we have as a church and as global Christians to expand the Kingdom and influence the course of world history through reaching the nations.

To keep churches multiplying, they must mobilize many ‘tentmakers’ to do the five key ministries - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Few mission agencies mobilize true tentmakers; recruits raise full-time support, and merely pretend to be tentmakers. Make sure that any agency that you engage encourages true tentmakers. Too often nationals see a missionary living a lifestyle more costly than what he is earning from a business that he is using as a “cover” and they know for sure that he is either CIA, or–much worse–a missionary. This phony lifestyle causes severe psychological strain.

Christian evangelism today is rooted in a misunderstanding of salvation. People have been told they are Christians because they have confessed they believe Jesus died for their sins, but the total package is presented in such a way that it leaves their general life untouched… The problem is that we have been obsessed with this idea that the real issue is ‘making the cut’ to get to heaven. We have taken the discipleship out of conversion (quoted from Willard, “Rethinking Evangelism”).

The kingdom aims at transforming human relationships; it grows gradually as people slowly learn to love, forgive and serve one another. Jesus sums up the whole Law, focusing it on the commandment of love (cf. Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28). Before leaving His disciples, He gives them a "new commandment": "Love one another; even as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34; cf. 15:12). Jesus' love for the world finds its highest expression in the gift of His life for mankind (cf. Jn 15:13), which manifests the love which the Father has for the world (cf. Jn 3:16). The kingdom's nature, therefore, is one of communion among all human beings-with one another and with God.

The kingdom is the concern of everyone: individuals, society, and the world. Working for the kingdom means acknowledging and promoting God's activity, which is present in human history and transforms it. Building the kingdom means working for liberation from evil in all its forms. In a word, the kingdom of God is the manifestation and the realization of God's plan of salvation in all its fullness.

Families reaching Families

Two dilemmas face us: how to reach non-Christian families and how to turn on Christian families that have the spiritual blahs. But these are actually two parts of one dilemma! Non-Christian families are often unreached because Christian families have the blahs! But those two conversations so close together made me realize there is one solution that affects both problems. Get the "Christian" families to reaching the non-Christian families, and the unreached will be reached and the Christians may get over the blahs.

Church Multiplication

SIM (Serving in Mission) has seen this over the years as well - incredible multiplication of the Church, but with similar results as this quote from a missionary in India -

Christianity is growing at a staggering rate [in India]. Despite rising resistance and persecution, these new believers are also starting to take responsibility for the Great Commission. There are more churches being planted in this region of the world than ever before.

Good news, certainly, but it also presents a unique challenge. Young Christians are working to plant and multiply churches, reproducing new churches ahead of Bible training. Over 90% of them have no formal instruction and will never have the opportunity to get that kind of education.

There are two critical issues that need to be understood. First, when we use the term “reached” this does not mean that every person in that group has become a Christian, but rather that there exists an indigenous, culturally relevant community of believing Christians able to evangelize this people group. This community of believing Christians which is capable of evangelizing this group can also be called a church planting movement. It is not the existence of a single Christian group, or even many groups, but 
rather is a broad based movement of spontaneous multiplication of churches which is not dependent on outside assistance. 

The second critical issue is to understand that measuring the existence of a church planting movement is not that easy to do. It is our goal, but how do we know when it has happened? I would like to suggest that we have to look at the issue of “reachedness” as a continuum in the following way: 

completely unreached....................................(transitional area)...................totally reached

Missions a destruction of culture?

Missionaries destroy cultures?  Do they go in with legalism and try to convert the locals away from their cultural practices to obey the missionaries’ practices?Missionaries westernize the indigenous peoples—change their dress, dance, diet and other cultural preferences?

Was that true? Is that really the face of missions? Is it just a narcissistic propagation of Western Christianity? Do missionaries really destroy cultures?

Christian missionaries destroy culture

Dormitories and the destruction of Aboriginal culture

From Creative Destruction Toward Creative Transformation: Mission Beyond Critical Contextualization In A Complex Global Era

Christian Development

Christian development organizations are actively seeking sustainable change in the world. They want to see lasting improvements in the lives of the poor. But how does change happen? At the core, what do Christian organizations believe about how change occurs? How is a Christian theology of change different from various secular theories of change? And what can Christians learn from secular development theories? What is it about a Christian approach to development that is truly distinctive?

Social change requires more than rules, legislation, and procedures. It requires nurturing and building people so that they can transform communities, and thus not simply solve or navigate problems but go on to uproot the causes of problems to create a new and vibrant society. Learning from community psychology, there are five essentials of community transformation that a social change agent should pay attention to, which are: 1) being a passionate facilitator embedded in the community, 2) defining the problem with the community, 3) using multiple methods and perspectives to measure the 
problem, 4) conducting collaborative implementation, and 5) being flexible to change when needed.

Evangelism and Social Action

While evangelism can be said to deal with a person’s ultimate need and destiny in terms of his or her salvation, social action is a missional response to the presenting need. Social action communicates hope to the individual that his or her situation can be transformed.

Here is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King - 

"In our day, we must connect the dots of problems like unequal access to quality education and economic inequality to the problem of gang violence. We must also connect the dots of the negative forces of gentrification to gang violence. According to a professor of urban studies at Portland State University, for many African Americans in Portland, urban renewal is Negro removal. Such vulnerability and transiency, where people are uprooted from their communities, makes a damaging difference. We must also connect the dots involving these problems to a prison system so often based on retribution, not reformation. How are people to be reintroduced to society and make a vital contribution to society if they are never prepared to become vital participants and welcomed back through networks of support? We must come together to right the wrongs of a prison system that enslaves black men (it has been argued that the percentage of black men in prison far outweighs their proportionate presence in society). We must also attend to the fatherlessness so rampant in our society. Do we honor the fathers and mothers in the home, the fathers and mothers in our churches, and the fathers and mothers in our society as a whole? We must make sure everyone is welcome at the table of beloved community and make sure that we bring honor not simply to Dr. King but to the fathers and mothers and sons and daughters who have marched in the band that King led as a drum major for justice. These marchers are here this evening. They include you. We must support one another in the ongoing efforts to build beloved community in our day."

Jesus provides a balance of motives for our sharing of our resources—he invokes both 

compassion (or ‘mercy’) and justice.

At the other end of the pendulum are the scholars of the Church Growth Movement. David J. Hesselgrave insists that the “primary mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel of Christ and to gather believers into local churches where they can be built up in faith and made effective in service thereby planting new congregations throughout the world.” Donald A. McGavran, in his reaction to the debate, insists, “Deeply as I sympathize with the problem and as long as I myself have ministered to desperate physical needs (for years I superintended a leprosy home), I cannot ally myself on this point with those who put social action first.” On the contrary, McGavran states, “My conviction is that the salvation granted to those who believe in Jesus Christ is still the supreme need of human beings, and all other human good flows from that prior 

reconciliation to God.”

 

However, Padilla--a leading Latin American evangelical theologian who incidentally contributed much in the shaping of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization position in respect to the relationship between evangelism and social responsibility--contends that --

"There is no place for an “otherworldliness” that does not result in a Christian’s commitment to his neighbor, rooted in the gospel. There is no room for eschatological paralysis nor for a social strike. There is no place for statistics on how many souls die without Christ every minute if they do not take into account how many of those who die are dying of hunger."

 

The Great Commission is not normally understood as a prediction of the success of the church in converting the nations, but it should be. The plan of the Great Commission is for the church to disciple all nations. It is Christ’s will that all peoples and lands be brought to believe in Him and submit to His authority through the Spirit-empowered ministry of the church. The church is to preach the gospel and disciple the converts so that the law of God becomes the law of men and nations. Will Christ’s will be fulfilled? Most certainly, for all authority is given to Him in heaven and earth so that He might conquer His enemies and bring all nations under His rule (cf. Ps. 2:8; 110:1-3). Since Christ has all authority in heaven and earth and the church goes forth in His name with His power, who or what can stop the church from fulfilling its task?

Are Evangelism and Social Action an Either/Or?

Balance of Social Action & evangelism

Servant Evangelism vs Social Action

The Great Commission: Social Work, Political Action, or Evangelism? 

The Best Balance - Social Action & Evangelism

Social Justice Vs. Evangelism | Earning the Right to Be Heard

Transformation

Recent decades have seen a tremendous increase in Christians' desire to minister in word and deed to the poor. But good intentions are not enough. It is actually possible to hurt the poor in the process of trying to help them. Embracing the good news of the gospel—in its fullest sense—is the essential pre-requisite for us to help the poor without hurting them . . . and ourselves.

One of the final statements in the Bible is, "Behold, I am making all things new!' That sums up what God has always been doing - making the entire world new.  The gospel begins the re-creation by transforming people from the inside out.  But the transformation doesn't stop until a sample of God's new kingdom is on display throughout whole communities.  Transformation is God making people truly new and doing it now.

Starting over as the learner

Culture shock is a much misunderstood phenomenon. Workers going on a short-term mission or visit of less than two months are unlikely to experience real culture shock.

The reaction that is often mistaken for real culture shock is what we might call the ‘wow factor’. This is an initial reaction on arriving in the new culture. It is the wide-eyed amazement at just how different everything is. It is essential for agencies to know the difference between the two phenomena and brief their
workers accordingly. Unfortunately many agencies and particularly local churches who send out workers, often fail in this area, sometimes with unfortunate and avoidable results.

The ‘wow factor’ is a confusing reaction that can range from delight to panic. Delight at the warm welcome or the open, smiling reaction of ordinary people to a foreign guest in their country. Fascination at the noise, customs, architecture, food and even the dress of people in their new surroundings.

Panic at the unaccustomed heat, the flies, or participants' reaction to the first time they have to use a ‘long-drop’ pit latrine, or even worse a ‘short-drop’ one!

Real culture shock is a more serious problem. It usually comes on after about six to eight months in the location, and lasts three to six months. During that time the worker may hate the location and everything to do with it. Some things that were novel, interesting and even fun to the short-term worker when they first arrived, can for the medium or long-term worker after six months become a serious source of irritation and contributes to an overall negative attitude. They will crave anything that was remotely to do with their own
culture. Food will be near the top of the list. Fawcett points out that the problem may well be the sense of loss of one's own cultural comforts more than an adverse reaction to the one being currently experienced. This is an interesting observation. It is certainly true that a longing for aspects of the home culture is one of the main symptoms of culture shock. Other symptoms of culture shock: homesickness, loss of interest, irritation, loss of appetite, poor concentration, tiredness, a feeling of guilt, anger, disturbed sleep, a
breakdown in good relationships.

Missionaries, who come from other churches and countries, must immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent, moving beyond their own cultural limitations. Hence they must learn the language of the place in which they work, become familiar with the most important expressions of the local culture, and discover its values through direct experience. Only if they have this kind of awareness will they be able to bring to people the knowledge of the hidden mystery (cf. Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:5) in a credible and fruitful way. It is not of course a matter of missionaries renouncing their own cultural identity, but of understanding, appreciating, fostering and evangelizing the culture of the environment in which they are working, and therefore of equipping themselves to communicate effectively with it, adopting a manner of living which is a sign of gospel witness and of solidarity with the people.

Blessing in the Incarnation

God pronounced an original blessing over the world at its creation. That blessing reached its perfect fulfillment in the incarnation, the mystery of the word made flesh. Jesus, although rich, emptied himself and made himself poor, so that we might become rich (cf. Phil 2:6-11; 2 Cor 8:9). As He went about His public ministry, He did so completely unencumbered: "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head" (Lk 9:58). Finally, on the cross Jesus gives himself completely to the Father for our sake. In Jesus Christ we see the pattern and the possibilities for our own relationship to the world and the things of the world: gratitude, simplicity, and generosity.

Nevertheless, in this "new springtime" of Christianity there is an undeniable negative tendency. Missionary activity specifically directed "to the nations" (ad gentes) appears to be waning.  Difficulties both internal and external have weakened the Church's missionary thrust toward non-Christians, a fact which must arouse concern among all who believe in Christ. For in the Church's history, missionary drive has always been a sign of vitality, just as its lessening is a sign of a crisis of faith.

Missionaries, who come from other churches and countries, must immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent, moving beyond their own cultural limitations. Hence they must learn the language of the place in which they work, become familiar with the most important expressions of the local culture, and discover its values through direct experience. Only if they have this kind of awareness will they be able to bring to people the knowledge of the hidden mystery (cf. Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:5) in a credible and fruitful way. It is not of course a matter of missionaries renouncing their own cultural identity, but of understanding, appreciating, fostering and evangelizing the culture of the environment in which they are working, and therefore of equipping themselves to communicate effectively with it, adopting a manner of living which is a sign of gospel witness and of solidarity with the people.

When "white people" don’t recognize how our position of cultural dominance influences us – when we don’t know that we’re being white – we can be like bulls in a china shop, throwing everything in our wake askew without even realizing what we've done. For us, this understanding begins with learning a perspective of cultural humility and seeking to understand another’s experience without judgment. May more of us boldly begin to walk on this long and winding path.

"Love Jesus generously.Love Him trustfully, without looking back and without fear. Give yourself fully to Jesus--He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness."  -  Mother Teresa

This is the same Spirit who was at work in the Incarnation and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and who is at work in the Church. He is therefore not an alternative to Christ, nor does he fill a sort of void which is sometimes suggested as existing between Christ and the Logos. Whatever the Spirit brings about in human hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures and religions serves as a preparation for the Gospel and can only be understood in reference to Christ, the Word who took flesh by the power of the Spirit" so that as perfectly human He would save all human beings and sum up all things.

"He can fully identify with you, because He has also been tired, thirsty, hungry and tempted in every way. He can truly help you when you are tempted, for he too has suffered under temptation." -  Hebrews 2:14, 18; 4:15 John 4:6; John 19:28; Matthew 4:2

Incarnation: Prologue

The Incarnation of the Logos

World Need

If we develop a survey of world need, we can get a better strategic perspective on where Christian community development can start.

Let me suggest that a lot of what we are looking for is already being done at the local level - just move it forward, globally.

In a local church setting, here are the four aspects of surveying need that come into play.

1. Define the geographic boundaries of community to serve

• Target your resources to a specific area
• Designate landmarks that border the area

2. Describe the needs of the community, giving special consideration to the felt needs of the people living there

• Study the area's demographics and life situation
• Determine the food, housing, clothing, education, safety, job training, counseling and spiritual needs
• Identify which people to serve
• Survey the community and determine other programs serving area residents

3. Distribute resources and services to the community through relationships with the people

• Share resources, skills, and services to match the described needs
• Develop programs that allow people to build relationships
• Establish criteria for interacting with other agencies and churches
• Initiate relationships with other churches and agencies that wish to participate
• Create and use various ministries and programs to help distribute resources

4. Develop responsibility among people in the community, especially the youth, for its continuing development

• Target the young children to prevent damage from lack of education and drug addiction
• Use programs that develop Christian community leaders
• Raise up community members who walk with Christ, graduate from high school, pursue higher education, get jobs to provide for their families, find decent & affordable housing and become leaders in their community

All this and still remembering this truth - only when the Church is rooted in a vertical relationship to God in worship can the church's two ministries of kerygma (proclamation) and diakonia (service) be held in proper balance and tension. Only in this way, too, can evangelism and social responsibility be kept from degenerating into merely human activity and even propaganda. The mission of any church can fall into this trap.

The gospel, rightly understood, is wholistic. It responds to people as whole people; it does not single out just spiritual or just physical needs and speak to those. Christian Community Development begins with people transformed by the love of God, who then respond to God's call to share the gospel with others through evangelism, social action, economic development, and justice.

Critics seem to suggest that if only missionaries stay home, primitive people will be left undisturbed to live out the myth of Rousseau’s “noble savage.” In fact, David Livingstone was preceded by Arab slave traders; Amy Carmichael by victimizers who dragged boys and girls to the terrors of child

prostitution in the temples. At times, evil forces like these have destroyed entire peoples. In North America, not only California’s Yahi but also the Hurons—and possibly 20 other Indian tribes—were pushed into extinction by land-hungry settlers. On one occasion, pioneers sent gifts to a tribe, wagon loads of blankets known to be infected with smallpox.

More than any other person, perhaps St. Francis of Assisi caught that vision of world need and gave it new life. He once summed up the mission of the community he founded. “Brothers,” he said, “we have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.” The prayer attributed to him begins with the words, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

http://youtu.be/vp1F16_7lO0


 

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