Recently I was challenged by this quote from the Lausanne Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture:
We believe that the principal key to persuasive Christian communication is to be found in the communicators themselves and what kind of people they are. It should go without saying that they need to be people of Christian faith, love, and holiness. That is, they must have a personal and growing experience of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, so that the image of Jesus Christ is ever more clearly seen in their character and attitudes.
Above all else we desire to see in them, and especially in ourselves, "the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:1), in other words, the humble sensitivity of Christ's love….
First, there is the humility to acknowledge the problem which culture presents, and not to avoid or over-simplify it. As we have seen, different cultures have strongly influenced the biblical revelation, ourselves, and the people to whom we go. As a result, we have several personal limitations in communicating the gospel. For we are prisoners (consciously or unconsciously) of our own culture, and our grasp of the cultures both of the Bible and of the country in which we serve is very imperfect. It is the interaction between all these cultures which constitutes the problem of communication; it humbles all who wrestle with it.
Secondly, there is the humility to take the trouble to understand and appreciate the culture of those to whom we go. It is this desire which leads naturally into that true dialogue "whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand." We repent of the ignorance which assumes that we have all the answers and that our only role is to teach. We have very much to learn. We repent also of judgmental attitudes. We know we should never condemn or despise another culture, but rather respect it. We advocate neither the arrogance which imposes our culture on others, nor the syncretism which mixes the gospel with cultural elements incompatible with it, but rather a humble sharing of the good news—made possible by the mutual respect of a genuine friendship.
3 comments:
There are many good thoughts here, well worth taking to heart (especially about love, listening, and humility). Indeed, if we don't take them to heart, we may be refusing to look at sin in our lives.
I do wonder about one statement in this quote. Are we really "prisoners" of own culture? We are obviously influenced and even shaped, to some degree, by our culture, but for especially for those who are in Christ, we don't *have* to be prisoners of it. Christ enables us to see, think, and reach out beyond, our own culture. The idea that we are prisoners of our culture(s) resembles the gender/ethcic/other minority group political thinking that I was taught so much of in college. Having said that, we in the Church really do need to take almost all of the statements in this quote and work them into our thinking, actions, and most of all, hearts-- which requires serious, thoughtful prayer. May we all carefully take the time in our lives to pray in this way. I know that I need to do so. Probably, a lack of such prayer is part of why this quote convicted me as it did...
Chris,
I think his only point with this is that we can't divorce ourselves from culture - impossible to do.
z
I understand and agree with his point, stated in that way, Zach. His point is true for Christians (and all people), and we should take it seriously. It makes me especially sad for the non-Christian people I have known who seemed to be virtually *trapped* in their culture(s) and also in how they thought about culture (or didn't think about it). Without Christ, we truly are hopeless, in *every* way, including our thinking. I really need to pray more about lost people, and about my own heart in being attentive and lovingly active concerning them... it was not so long ago that I was lost myself (5 years). It's good that this is a special season of prayer at DSC (not that I shouldn't be praying about these things all year long)!
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