And to your second comment…large churches that do not have an outward focused DNA from the very beginning will always struggle to let the larger body know what’s going on. While “Missions” is a nice “program” at your church, it’s not a key part of the DNA.

One problem with contextualization is that it’s based on the context of the culture in which you and I live. So to contextualize the Gospel here in Western Europe it will look different than contextualizing the Gospel in Texas. And maybe that’s why so few give examples…because the examples are hyper-local.

Have a read of Ed’s article and let me know your thoughts:
http://www.edstetzer.com/2010/07/calling-for-contextualization-2.html

I guess the difference for me I guess is that I have felt very convicted over the past couple of years to change things. I would guess that believers would all have this same conviction at one point or another and most ignore it. In particular, I’ve felt a burden for my community, my neighborhood. Having lived in a somewhat diverse neighborhood for six years, I have only invested in one life. I guess it’s because I like him, he is easy to talk to, and I actually took the time to get to know him, without which I would not have been able to have true compassion for him and share biblical truth.

I’m writing here because I would like to learn more about contextualization. I have already taken the first step to get to know the other neighbors (other than surface conversation), and I would like to better prepare for some good discussion as our relationships progress. Most of the published material seems to focus on international culture, yet I feel this is a universal topic. Your thoughts?

I sit on a missions committee that is doing some great work, but the rest of the church won’t hear about it because we only get one Sunday per year dedicated to missions. I will say that our missions program has improved drastically in every area over the last five years, but we still have a long way to go. FWIW, I think the missions program of a church should be the program that receives the most funding. Instead, it has the smallest budget and most churches only give the minimum to the CP.

Just a couple of the great things that are happening:

-’adopting’ an unreached people group on a remote island in Africa setting up 7 tribe churches and just approved bikes for the 7 pastors so they can join together privately for accountability, discipleship, and prayer.

-long term commitment to a city in Romania where there are no M’s, but a huge hunger for the Gospel. House church has gone from 3 attendees to 40 in one year.

I wish more than 5% of our church membership knew about these things. Our missions director’s policy is ‘if you have a heart for something/somewhere, share your heart, share your strategy, and we will support you 100%’.

To your point, M’s should enter into life and truth discussions, and they do daily. It is a picture of someone living out their calling. They not only feel encouraged to do so, it’s something they do everyday. What they are not encouraged to do is share their opinions, so the only forum in which they can express their concern for the SBC, IMB, or similar issues, is an anonymous comment on a related post.

History has shown that the IMB is not favorable to dissent. I think that is why you see an increase on comments on administrative topics. While it may be unproductive or a waste of time to vent on these things, if you don’t have this venue (as an IMB M), I would assume you would just suppress your feelings. That’s not good either. So, I think these discussions still need to take place. The unfortunate thing is that the IMB has not created any ‘open door’ platform to share concerns, etc. Until that happens, the only way for M’s to be heard will be in the comments section of blogs, in hopes that their concerns will gain attention and incite change.

No commitment (whether 2 weeks or 2 years) is insignificant if it’s in obedience to what God has called you to do at that point.

And who knows…maybe two short-termers will meet on the field – say somewhere in Africa – fall in love, get married and come back long term