Call to missions
C. Cultural Barriers to the Gospel
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| C. Cultural Barriers to the Gospel When a missionary proclaims the Gospel , a listener may perceive two threats to his culture: 1. 2. The Message of the Bible, and The Culture of the Missionary. The Message of the Bible inherently is divisive. Those who follow the truth are divided from those who do not. Jesus said, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34). But many listeners are willing to follow the truth, if it is presented in away they can understand and accept. God has placed a longing for eternal life in people of each culture, and if people can understand that Jesus is the way to eternal life, they respond positively to the Gospel. If people seethe Gospel merely as requiring that they change their culture, they are unlikely to respond positively. Don Richardson says that within cultures, there is dormant spiritual understanding that can be awakened by redemptive analogy. Around the world, preachers use analogies when proclaiming Biblical truths regarding redemption. An effective preacher, if speaking to farmers would use analogies from agriculture, if speaking to doctors, would use analogies from the field of health and medicine. Jesus spoke in terms that his listeners understood he spoke of masters and servants, sheep and shepherds, sowers and reapers. Ina similar way, while serving as a missionary to the Sawi tribe of Irian Jaya, Richardson used a redemptive analogy to lead many in the tribe to receive Christ. According to the Sawi culture, in order to have peace between two tribes, a father must Page 2 of 5 MISSIOLOGY - Culture and Missions 1/7/2012 http://test.missionstraining.org/Missiology/Culture.html allow one of his children to be raised by a man in the enemy tribe. This child was a peace child When Richardson presented Jesus as the peace child offered by God to bring peace between God and man, the Sawi’s believed. Now seventy percent of the Sawi’s are Christian. Richardson wrote about this experience in his book Peace Child. He has written about redemptive analogies being used to help win people to Christ in various other cultures. People are more likely to believe in Christ when they see that the Gospel enhances their culture rather than destroys their culture. A second threat is that listener may think that a missionary is trying to force his culture on converts. If a missionary considers his culture to be superior to that of the listener, he may consciously or unconsciously communicate this. Naturally the listener balks at changing his culture to that of the missionary. Paul and Barnabas understood that in order to reach the Greek Culture with the message of the Gospel, the Good News should not hampered by adding Hebrew cultural and religious requirements (see Acts 15:1-31). To be effective, a missionary should identify with the culture. He will never be completely identical with those born into the culture, but he can seek to understand people, to listen to them, to learn from them, to laugh with them, to cry with them. An effective missionary is humble. Christ set the example for humility—giving up his glory in order to get on a human level (see Philippians 2:5-11). Serious threats to a prospective believer are the religious and civil laws in some places. A convert to Christianity maybe ostracized, persecuted, or even killed. Missionaries in such places must be patient. Converts must be sure that Jesus is the way to eternal life before they are willing to make such a sacrifice for Christ. Download 2.95 Mb. Share with your friends:
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