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Crossing Cultures: Theology versus theology

From the series Ministering Cross-Culturally


I begin to see the limitation of most of our church workers, including missionaries, in that while we are good at the Bible and theology, we understand little of cross-cultural intricacy and dynamics. We are great at reading the Bible, but know little about interpreting people, especially in other cultural contexts, because traditional seminary training doesn’t touch that area… address(ing) this critical field and will equip Chinese missionaries with cultural anthropology to better understand their mission field and communicate the gospel more effectively. And this will certainly raise the quality of Chinese missionary movement.1

Some estimate that Chinese missionary attrition is as high as 85-95% within the first eighteen months of deployment.2 Understanding cultural intricacies and dynamics can help reduce the attrition rate and improve Chinese missionary efficacy. Part of that understanding requires distinguishing between Theology and theology.

Paul Hiebert suggests the ability to distinguish between Theology and theology is one of those critical dynamics empowering missionary efficacy. For Hiebert, Theology with a capital T is “a systematic description and explanation of the way things really are, the way God sees them;” theology with a lower-case t describes “human descriptions and explanations of reality that arise out of our study of the Bible.”3

Pastors and missionaries are equipped in seminary and through their ministries to understand Theology and have developed expertise in translating Theology into theology that communicates the gospel with power and impact in their mother culture. However, exporting that theology across cultures results in confusion and discouragement that can contribute to the misunderstandings, conflict, and confusion that often result in missionaries giving up and going home.

Some years ago, early on in my itinerate ministry in China, I was teaching Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore…” and used an American interpretive proverb—whenever you see “therefore” in the Bible you should ask “what is it there for?” In my mother culture, this phrase usually gets a few grins and provides a useful interpretive tool. In China—blank looks…several repetitions later…more blank looks. My patient and gentle translation partner let me know that “therefore” in this form did not exist in Mandarin. My culturally appropriate American theological phrase completely failed to communicate the profound Theology of Romans 12:1.

Contextualizing theology across cultures impacts long term pastoral and missionary efficacy.

Contextualization attempts to communicate the gospel in word and deed and to establish the church in ways that make sense to people within their local cultural context, presenting Christianity in such a way that it meets people’s deepest needs and penetrates their worldview, thus allowing them to follow Christ and remain within their own culture.4

That process of engaging culture with Scripture is called critical contextualization and is best accomplished in a hermeneutical community of mature and seasoned leaders who are led and inspired by the Holy Spirit to understand cultural insider and outsider perspectives to identify evidence of God’s presence already in that culture and use their Spirit-empowered insights.5

Acts 15 is an excellent example of a hermeneutical community in action. These mature leaders were experienced in Scripture, spirituality, and ministry. They had biblically exegeted their mother culture, and Peter and Paul and others understood and respected Gentile culture. They faced one of the most significant issues of Theology translated into theology: must all Christians become Jews? Their critical contextualization of who belonged in Jesus’s kingdom, who were the real Christians, freed the gospel from ethnic-cultural imprisonment, and opened the door to for an all-peoples church. Paul later called all-peoples inclusion the mystery of the gospel—that Gentiles are fellow heirs with Jews and members of the same body, full beneficiaries in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:3-6). Their first century AD Spirit-led contextualization impacts our world to this day.

Seminary trained pastors and missionaries already have the skills to translate Theology into theology in their local culture context. Missiological insights offer the tools and skills to navigate the intricate theological dynamics of ministering across cultural divides. The books and authors in the footnotes are excellent resources for developing the skills and insights to navigate the unknown territory of ministering cross-culturally. Those skills are critical for those crossing cultures to bring the good news of the gospel to those who have not yet heard. Those same missiological skills and insights can help overcome first term missionary attrition.

Endnotes

  1. Chinese Pastor W’s reflection following Darrell Whiteman’s “Anthropological Insights for Pastoral Ministry” consultation.
  2. Rudolf Mak. Personal email correspondence with DW.
  3. Paul G. Hiebert, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1986. Kindle Edition, locations 2414–2843.
  4. Darrell L. Whiteman, “Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the Challenge,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 21, no. 1 (1997): 2–7.
  5. Jay W. Moon and A. Moreau. Intercultural Discipleship: Learning from Global Approaches to Spiritual Formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017. Kindle edition, p. 36.
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Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Dr. Ken Anderson holds DMiss and MAGL degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary. From 2011–2021 he served as an itinerant extension biblical training missionary in China and Nepal. He is currently leading missiological training in Mark’s Gospel for an indigenous church planting movement in southern Nepal and serves on boards including …View Full Bio


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