On September 22nd, Ed Stetzer wrote a nice article on contextualization. I have no issues with the article at all and I enjoyed reading through the comments that followed.

As a follow-up to Ed’s piece I thought I would open my site up to the practical side of contextualization. I would love to hear about some real life examples, by those working in cultures outside the US and those working in the States. If you’re in the US you may not realize it, but contextualization is at work. Some of it is good, and some of it is unnecessary.

Sometimes I feel that we, those of us in the evangelical Christian sub-culture, spend a good deal of time learning. We go to conferences, read books, listen to podcasts, and then share our experiences with those things. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with these things, but sometimes we focus too much on the learning and too little on the doing. That’s what I would like to focus on in the comments here…the doing…the ins and outs of contextualization.

And be sure to check out The Upstream Collective. They are putting together details about their next Jet Set tour which will take place next year in London and Paris.

The Christian subculture, which is now distinct from the prevailing culture of the West, is a hindrance to the rapid propagation of the gospel. In the United States, we have equated discipleship with teaching our families to read James Dobson in order to raise their kids, listen to Dave Ramsey in order to balance their checkbook, listen to Third Day for their musical enjoyment, and read Tim LaHaye for their literary enjoyment. None of these are necessarily bad things, but we have effectively created this “Christian bubble” that makes it impossible to engage in the rapid propagation of the gospel. Discipleship has been redefined by many Christians as acclimating converts to the Christian subculture. Moreover, one can be fully immersed in the American Christian subculture and have no connection to God whatsoever.

The Potential for Church Planting Movements in the Western World. By Ed Stetzer and David Garrison

David Phillips interviews Caleb Crider about ministry in a post-Christian Europe.

Jesus Christ didn’t have blue eyes or blond hair
He looked just like all those people that you want to kill
Spin your hell into a heaven you can sell
Make it look like California with a bible belt
Jesus didn’t look like the boy next door
Unless you live in Palestine
I wonder what you mean by the golden rule
I think it is a scary play on words
I wonder what they taught you back in Sunday school

I bet you think of him
As a nice clean long haired Republican, nah
He would be all locked up in Guantanamo Bay
If he were alive today
He would have been a revolutionary
Wanted by the CIA

I picture him in all the wrong places
Finding diamonds in the dirt
A star of David tattoo
And a Che t-shirt
Jesus Christ was a left wing radical Jew
Murdered by people like you

If Jesus was a Democrat like the bible says he was
I don’t think he’s going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you say and do in his name

If Jesus was alive he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
Someday he’s going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure ……
He is going to be angry
He is going to be angry

You want to know what I think?…….

I think Jesus would have been a card carrying liberal
If he was a young man born in the USA

He would not be “fiscally conservative”
And he wouldn’t vote for John McCain
All those so called Christians that you see on TV
Maybe they scare Jesus like they scare me
Kick you the hell out of my temple too
Too many elephants in the room

If Jesus was a Democrat like the bible says he was
I don’t think he’s going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you people do and say in his name

If Jesus was alive today he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
Someday he’s going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure……
He is going to be….mad
He is going to be angry
He is going to be….mad
He is going to be….mad

You say Jesus loves the little children
And I say I know that’s true
I say he loves all the Muslims and the Jews
All the addicts and the porn stars too
You say Jesus died to save us all from a fiery hell
I say Jesus died to save us
Save us from ourselves
Will you save me from myself?

If Jesus was a liberal like the red letters say he was
I know he would have big love for all the killers and the racists
And the bullies in this world

If Jesus was alive today
And you had a chance to meet him face to face
I’m pretty God-damned sure that you and your friends
Would find some way to kill him all over again
You would kill him all over again
Again and again and again
Just like you always do
You do just what you always do

Jesus Was A Democrat by Art Alexakis of Everclear.

You can listen to the song on the Everclear site.

So having cultural acumen would mean that a person possesses the ability to make good judgments pertaining to the culture in which they find themselves. I wonder how long it takes to build up acumen. I’ve been here a little over 2 years and there are certain things regarding culture that I feel like I can make good judgments on. But there are still things, even after 2 years, that I’m no closer to feeling comfortable judging now than I was then.

This all came to light as I was reading a colleagues website regarding acclimation to their new culture. This colleague recently arrived to the country and immediately started language training. Within the first couple of weeks this colleague of mine wrote about how the city (that I live in and they study in) is one of the most spiritually dark places they’ve been, that people walk around with blank looks on their faces, and spend their time wasting away in the bars.

While I would agree with the last observation, people really do like to drink here, I would disagree with the first two observations. First, this city is alive. There are not many blank looks on the faces of the people here. In fact, most seem to carry themselves as though they have no care in the world. They have immense pride in their city and country and know how to have a good time. These things can’t be noticed and truly appreciated in the first 2 weeks in a city. Another thing worth mentioning, this is not a spiritually dark city. Places like New Orleans and parts of San Francisco are spiritually dark. This city is spiritually indifferent, which may be worse than being spiritually dark. The overwhelming majority here have no thoughts towards religion. They can take it or leave it, and most leave it. As long as your beliefs do not infringe on how they live out their life they could care less what you believe.

So maybe my colleague mistook spiritual indifference for spiritual darkness. Which brings me back to my original question…how long does it take to gain an appreciation for and understanding of a culture? I don’t know that I have the answer, but I have some principles that I’ve followed in the 2+ years I’ve been here:

• be quiet. just sit, watch, and listen
• go where the people are – downtown, parks, festivals, restaurants
• plug in – sign up for an art or photography course, join a knitting group, get involved in some athletic group/team
• ask a lot of questions, be patient in waiting for response, don’t judge the response or the response giver and then repeat the first principle

These are just a few things I’ve tried to incorporate into my daily life as I try to develop my cultural acumen.

Here are direct links to the first 2 posts.

http://mentanna.blogspot.com/2008/05/invitation-to-table-part-one.html
http://mentanna.blogspot.com/2008/05/invitation-to-table-part-two.html

-shorty