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Of Issionaryresearch Contextualization: the Theory, the Gap, the Challenge Darrell L Vol. 21, No.1 nternatlona• January 1997 etln• Contextualization: Mission in the Balance u st when the coming of A.D. 2000, with its latent verted to Christianity out of Buddhism, I became so aggressive triumphalism, stirs talk of fulfilling the Great Commis­ and felt forced to turn my back on my Buddhist family and sion,J here we are bringing up the nettlesome issue of denounce my culture. Now I realize ... that I can practice a contextualization. In the lead article of this issue, Darrell cherished value of meekness, affirm much of my Thai culture, Whiteman recalls a student at Asbury Seminary who had and follow Jesus in the Thai way." wrestled with feelings of alienation toward her Thai family and In our pursuit of authentic contextualization we may be culture. Is she typical of converts in Buddhist lands? Does a lack privileged to discover in other cultures a foretaste of the trea­ of contextualization help to account for the fact that after four sures that will strengthen and guide us for faithfulness in the centuries of Catholic mission and a century and a half of Protes­ kingdom. tant mission, barely one percent of the population of Thailand has been attracted to the Christian Gospel? G. C. Oosthuizen follows Whiteman with a detailed account of the runaway appeal of the Zionist churches among South On Page African blacks. Soon, reports Oosthuizen, half of the population 2 Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the of Christian blacks will be members of Zionist-type African Challenge Independent Churches. Meanwhile, according to the SouthAfri­ Darrell L. Whiteman canChristian Handbook, Western-oriented churches in South Af­ 8 Indigenous Christianity and the Future of the rica attract a significantly smaller portion of the Christian popu­ Church in South Africa lation than they did three decades ago. The losses from the G. C. Oosthuizen mainline churches are mostly turning up in African Independent Churches, of which the Zionists account for about 80 percent. 13 Missions and the Magic Lantern Western-style Christianity among South African blacks-how­ Donald Simpson ever effective it may have appeared in the past-has not been 15 My Pilgrimage in Mission able to relate authentically to the taproot of African traditional Clayton L. ("Mike") Berg, Jr. religion. But the Zionist churches have. 16 Noteworthy The contextualization issue came to mind when we read a report last year from the Evangelical Missions Information Ser­ 20 The Legacy of Robert Mackie vice about the state of the Christian community of Waorani Nansie Blackie Indians of Ecuador. The evangelical world remembers them as 24 Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission: Aucas, the people for whom Jim Elliot and his four companions 1997 gave their lives in 1956. After stirring stories of sacrifice and DavidB. Barrett spiritual breakthroughs over the last forty years, the Waorani church today is seen to be in danger of succumbing to the 26 The Legacy of John Copley Winslow encroachments of secular culture. For various reasons, "no self­ William W. Emilsen reliant church emerged among the Waorani," states the report. 31 Book Reviews Are contextualizationissues at the root of this tenuous situation? 33 Fifteen Outstanding Books of 1996 for Mission The good news is that when individuals like Whiteman's Studies Thai student hear about the principles of contextualization, they often experience a spiritual and cultural breakthrough. In her 46 Dissertation Notices own words, "It always seemed strange to me that after I con­ 48 Book Notes of issionaryResearch Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the Challenge Darrell L. Whiteman ontextualization may be one of the most important Buddhist." The notion that one could be bothThai and Christian Cissues in mission today. Unlike the "Death of God" was an oxymoron to many. My student at Asbury went on to movementin theology,contextualizationis no meremissiological confide, "It always seemed strange to me that after I converted to fad that will fade whenanother "hottopic" catches ourattention. Christianity out of Buddhism, I became so aggressive and felt Concern over issues of contextualization has been a part of the forced to turn my back on my Buddhist family and denounce my Christian church from its inception, even though the vocabulary culture. Now I realize through the insights of contextualization of contextualization dates back only to the early 1970s. It is a that I can practice a cherished value of meekness, affirm much of perennial challenge-one that Christians have faced every time my Thai culture, and follow Jesus in the Thai way." they have communicated the Gospel across language and cul­ Contextualization was the key that unlocked the door in her tural boundaries. The church has struggled with this problem understanding that had kept Christianity bound up in a West­ through the ages as it has evolved from one era to another. ernized room. But now, with this new insight, a burstof sunshine Essentially, contextualization is concerned with how the Gospel has come into her room that affirmed Buddhist teaching on and culture relate to one another across geographic space and meekness and reinforced her love and respect for her family, down through time. while at the same time strengtheningherlove for God as revealed Contextualization captures in method and perspective the in Jesus Christ. She is now working on a dissertation entitled challenge of relating the Gospel to culture. In this sense the "The WayofMeekness: Being ChristianandThai in the Thai Way." concern of contextualization is ancient-going back to the early church as it struggled to break loose from its Jewish cultural Three Functions of Contextualization trappings and enter the Greco-Roman world of the Gentiles. At the same time, it is something new. Ever since the word emerged This storyof myThaistudentsets the stagefor discussing the first in the 1970s, there has been almost an explosion of writing, function of contextualization in mission. Contextualization at­ thinking, and talking about contextualization.' tempts tocommunicate theGospel inwordanddeed andtoestablish the Contextualization is part of an evolving stream of thought church in ways that make sense to people within their local cultural that relates the Gospel and church to a local context. In the past context,presenting Christianity in such a way that it meets people's we have used words such as "adaptation," "accommodation," deepest needs and penetrates theirworldview, thus allowing them to and "indigenization" to describe this relationship between Gos­ follow Christand remain within theirown culture. pel, church, and culture, but "contextualization," introduced in This function seems at first to be self-evident, but it is clear 1971,and a companion term "inculturation" that emerged in the we have not always done mission in this mode. Why, then, this literaturein 1974,are deeper, more dynamic, and more adequate sudden burst of energy and excitement, at least in the academy, terms to describe what we are about in mission today.' So I about this notion of contextualization? I believe the answer lies believe we are making some progress in our understanding of partly in the postcolonial discovery that much of our under­ the relationship between Gospel, church, and culture, but we standing and practice of faith has been shaped by our own have a long way to go in everyday practice. culture and context, and yetweoftenassumed thatourculturally Contextualization is not something we pursue motivated by conditioned interpretation of the Gospel wasthe Gospel. We are an agenda of pragmatic efficiency.' Rather, it must be followed now beginning to realize that we have often confused the two because of our faithfulness to God, who sent God's son as a and have inadvertently equated our culturally conditioned ver­ servant to die so that we all may live. As Peter Schineller says, sions of the Gospel with the kingdom of God. "We have the obligation to search continually for ways in which As we have become more critical in a postmodern world, we the good newscan be more deeplylived,celebratedand shared."! have discovered how urgent the task of contextualization is In this essayIwill discussthreefunctions of contextualization everywhere in the world, including-or should I say espe­ in mission today. I will then look at the gap that exists between cially-inNorthAmerica. An exampleof contextualizationis the the theory and the practice of contextualization, and then I will WillowCreekCommunityChurchin suburbanChicago,Illinois, discuss two areas of resistance to contextualization. which discovered the need to contextualize the Gospel and the Last year one of our students at Asbury Seminary, studying church in order to reach a particular subculture of American with us from Thailand, said to me, "Now that I have been society in this location." studying contextualizationand have discovered how the Gospel My concern over why the mission of the church so often relates to culture, I am realizing that I can be both Christian and required people to abandon their culture is the main reason I Thai." On a recent sabbatical in Southeast Asia, I probed the trained as an anthropologist in preparation for cross-cultural question of how the Gospel was being proclaimed and lived out ministry. I initially expected my research and ministry in in a contextualized manner, and, frankly, I was disappointed. In Melanesia to help primarily expatriate missionaries figure out Thailand I heard over and over again, "T0 be Thai is to be the complex and diverse Melanesian cultural context. But it did not take me long to discover that when I talked about Darrell L. Whiteman is Professor of CulturalAnthropology in the E. contextualization with Melanesians, they became very excited Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury about the possibility of being Christian and Melanesian without Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky. He has mission and re­first having to become Australian, German, American, or what­ search experience in central Africa,Melanesia, andAsiaand is Editor ever the cultural origin was of the missionaries with whom they of Missiology.
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