Missiology: An International Review

Vincent Donovan's reflection on his evangelism among the Masai highlights a culturally unencumbered gospel, stresses Christianity's universality, and challenges Western preoccupations with development. The role of culture needs more reflection, however, for no evangelism can be free of cultural expression. Moreover, Western missiology needs to move beyond the guilt complex and realize that all human cultures are able not only to distort the gospel, but to amplify it as well. The creative flowering of African Christianity helps us see that ultimately the gospel, not missionary strategy, is decisive for the life of the church.

If pastors, church leaders, or missionaries promote use of the trade language in Christian contexts in an area where a minority language is the language best understood by church members, the result may be a linguistically neglected segment of people within the Christian church. This assertion is supported by data from two case studies in northern Nigeria. Responses to an interview schedule administered in one ethnic group indicated that 21 percent of those who claimed to be Christians lacked knowledge of Jesus. Suggestions are made for expanded use of local languages in Christian contexts.

This article applies the three-cultures model to the evangelistic distance model developed by McGavran and expanded by Wagner and Winter. Using cultural difference as the criterion for evangelistic distance, a cross-cultural strategy is developed. This strategy places the responsibility for effective evangelism on those who are culturally most similar to the recipients. This leads to the conclusion that cross-cultural missionaries should focus on enabling and equipping local people. So equipped, cultural insiders can then communicate more effectively the gospel message in ways that will match receptor needs.

Conversion to Christianity for a Muslim in the Middle East usually means expulsion from family and community. As an alternative, a “Muslim followers of Jesus” model is being tested in the Bethlehem area. In this model, being “born of the Spirit” is seen as a process, rather than as a crisis event. Some of the Muslims in this process are best described as “tentative believers,” rather than as converts. This process is discussed as a “dynamic equivalent” to conversion.

Quality control is important in the church and in industry. Two methods for maintaining quality control in the church are membership criteria and external persecution. Traditional societies, Hellenistic Judaism, and the post-apostolic church exercised quality control through the monitoring of minimum standards maintained during the transition phase in rites of passage. Candidates during the transition phase lose their former status and so seek new identities and acquire new skills to qualify for new statuses. Few other occasions in life provide a more significant pedagogical opportunity for promoting personal development and spiritual growth. It is the universal method par excellence for maintaining quality control in societies.

Marriage and traditional morals have changed drastically for the Adioukrou of Ivory Coast in the past forty years. Many Adioukrou are concerned by the breakdown in family structure. While it is typical that rapid culture change threatens the stability of societies, one must ask why biblical teaching on marriage and morality has not filled the void in this group that has identified itself as Christian over the past seventy years. This paper is a diachronic study which traces significant factors that have led to the current state of affairs. The final section recommends a plan of action. It is hoped that this case study will address the concerns that many other cultures are facing.

In crossing a cultural boundary a missionary comes from one background with a network of symbolism to another place with a different system of symbols. That can be either a confusing mishmash, or it can be a creative activity bringing new meanings. If the missionary learns a new language, that is an act which has symbolic significance. When the missionary communicates according to the demand of the gospel, a new vision of things is opened up. The new vision gathers up the loose threads of world events from the perspective of the ultimate. The true missionary, indeed, has an ultimate commitment, while he or she works through the symbolic matrices of cross-cultural interactions.