The Precarious Pit of Culture (Reflections on missions, part 2)

Yesterday, I wrote about my kids throwing dirt in a bucket of rainwater, and ruining some of the only water they had, because they were unaccustomed to the way of life in that village.

Not knowing or understanding the way of life and culture of the people that one is ministering to can be dangerous, with results far more devastating than not having any drinking water.

One of the hardest thing that a new missionary faces is understanding the culture and ways of the people he is ministering. Even if they speak the same language, each country, and tribe, and even community has different cultures and values than others. Sometimes they can be subtle, like the way you greet someone, but that doesn't mean that they aren't important. Some of the most subtle and unnoticed customs can be some of the most important ones.

For some, it can be very hard to simulate a culture that is very different from their own. Hudson Taylor, a famous missionary to China, spent years working against a culture, until he finally realized how to work with the culture. For others, the pitfall is allowing the native culture to change the basic fundamentals of gospel, saying that culture is more relevant than those teachings, such as the way we dress, our actions and attitudes towards others, etc.

However, the most dangerous part of culture on the mission field, is actually not a culture unlearned, but rather a lack of discernment as to what actually is culture. And too often, it is not the culture of the ones we minister to, but our own culture, that trips us up and causes us to stumble and fall.

What do I mean by that? Too often, as americans, or any 'first world country' missionaries, we tend to think that we have all of the answers, that we have all the answers, that we do everything right. And too often, that tends to come across in our preaching and teaching.

Time after time, I have heard someone preach that a certain aspect of the culture that they are ministering in is wrong, and not because it goes against the bible, but rather because it goes against their own culture, or what they are accustomed to. There is no quicker way to turn of people to our gospel, than to say that what they are doing is wrong, because I say so.

It is important to teach the biblical truths and values, even when they go against the culture we are living in, but in a proper way; with love, backed by scripture, and in the proper time and setting.

The other pitfall, is something I have seen over and over personally, with the local pastors and leaders we work with, and it really upset me. When we teach our own culture as if it where the gospel, we begin to shape and form the national church after the churches that we have back home. So many local pastors here do things because thats the way the missionary did them, or thats what the missionary told them to do, and rather than building their church and ministry on biblical teaching, they are forming it after the american church and american culture. In the book of Acts, each gathering of believers faced their own trails and struggles, but they also reached those who were within their own culture. Paul, when preaching once, saw that the people who had hundreds of altars to hundreds of gods, saw that they had another altar to the unknown god. Rather than preach at them that they were wrong for worshiping so many gods, he told then that he had come to preach to them of the Unknown God, the one and true Creator of heaven and earth. Because he embraced their culture and taught them scriptural principles, many were converted that day!

I love using the story of a missionary somewhere in the South Pacific Islands. As he was teaching the tribe that he was ministering to about building their life on the Rock, Jesus Christ, they told him that he was totally wrong, because everyone knows that if you put the poles for your house on top of a rock, the wind will blow them away! You have to stick them in the sand, where the point will go in deep, and it will be secure in the strongest storm. The missionary then and there changed the analogy, and many of the tribe stuck the poles of their life deep in the sand, Jesus Christ! Another story tells of a missionary who for years tried to teach about repentance, and the fact of how our heart needs to hurt when we sin; but the tribe never understood him. One day, when a young man, a friend to all, died, one of the villagers approached the missionary and told him that his throat hurt. The missionary started to check him over, but the native told him no, my throat hurts because the young man died. The missionary suddenly understood that he had found the analogy he had been missing! The tribe, rather than expressing pain as a heart ache, expressed it as a throat ache!!

I understand that we are not to add or subtract to Gods word, but culture in context is a very important part of biblical study and preparation, and should also be a very important part in the delivery of the gospel.

One of the most important thing for a missionary, and where not enough focus is being placed, is in realizing what is biblical doctrine, and what is my culture. When we don't make that separation, we are endangering the national church and believers wherever we are. Culture in context, and an appreciation for the culture where we minister to, definitely needs to be a part of our lives on the mission field. Why is it called the mission field?! Check back in tomorrow!

TO BE CONTINUED...