The Gospel as Culture

Christ commissioned us to deliver His supernatural message to everyone, everywhere. He did not ask us to clone ourselves or our culture to the ends of the earth.

Don't ask a fish to describe water. They are so immersed in it that they don't even think about it. And we don't think about our culture. It is so much a part of our world that it becomes invisible to us. But, when we observe another culture it jumps out and grabs our attention. Why? Because it usually doesn't make sense to us. It is like Mincaye trying to understand golf. He can't fathom why anyone would cut down all the trees in a large area and then spend untold days cutting the grass short unless it had something to do with getting food. He assumed that the grass was being cut with a machete by people squatting on their haunches all day in the hot sun, because he didn't know about air-conditioned tractors pulling huge mowers. I tried to explain that people golfing were just "playing." But the Waodani don't divide life's activities into work and play like we do. For the Waodani it is just cae, "doing." So I explained to Mincaye that the golfers we were watching were looking for little white round things. Mincaye commented, "They must be really good to eat!" I told him the little white things were too hard to eat. He said, "Tell them to cook them longer." You see, in Mincaye's culture they have never known the luxury of having excess energy to spend on activities that are not intended to provide shelter, food, or protection for one's self and family. They don't have a concept of "play" or of "sport." When Mincaye was visiting us in the U.S. we went to an NBA basketball game. Mincaye laughed uproariously at the antics of these giant human beings that ran from one end of the flat place to the other end; violently throwing a ball through a net-bag with a hole in the bottom that the ball kept falling through.

I thought about trying to explain that for doing this activity (which Mincaye finally decided to call Ononki cae, "for no reason doing") these big men with the colorful clothes were going to be given paper that they would trade for huts and food and cars and airplanes. I did try to explain that there were actually two teams of men and they were competing to see who could put the ball into the bottomless net-bag more than the other ones. I could not make it understandable to Mincaye. It was just too complicated to explain certain activities that make sense to us, but not to a person from a very, very different culture. It is equally difficult to explain to single-culture friends from North America why the Waodani women premasticate manioc mash which they spit into a community pot of drink they call tipae. Everyone drinks from the big pot and no one worries about "no backwash." The Waodani really appreciate the luxury of drinking partially predigested manioc. It gives very quick energy - think "Red Bull Waodani style." To people from North American culture the idea of drinking something that other people have had in their mouth, mixed with their saliva, is totally repulsive. Why don't the Waodani find it repulsive? Because it is part of their culture. It is almost impossible for us to separate the Gospel from our culture. That makes it almost impossible for us to deliver the uncontaminated Gospel to people in other cultures. The Bible gives us principles to follow. Our culture gives us "preferences." We must learn to distinguish between the two. Our call to share Christ's Gospel is a call to share His principles without imposing our preferences. I remember, a very long time ago, thinking that going to church in the U.S. without a tie and coat showed disrespect for God. That idea was cultural, not scriptural. One culture had taught me that jeans were not compatible with church yet I had gone to church in the jungles with people who were totally naked. Somehow, my young mind switched from one culture to another.

You probably have a difficult time imagining naked people in church in the context of modesty. You probably also have a difficult time imagining jeans as immodest. After living in both cultures, I can tell you that modesty is not determined by how much of your body is covered, as much as it is your desire to call attention to yourself, and to do so in a provocative manner. Costume is a cultural preference. Modesty is a scriptural principle. In one setting I was convinced that it was inappropriate to get up during the service and go out to the bathroom. I was sure that whispering was wrong, too. But out in the jungles the Waodani came and went when they liked, and anyone who wanted would comment out loud on what the preacher was saying. Visitors from North American churches would have thought the Waodani services were chaotic - with several sermons being preached simultaneously. Mothers nursed their babies and sometimes pet a monkey or a puppy, while other people passed the long sermon grooming each other's hair for lice eggs. Men whittled blowgun darts and spears while others made string or wove net-bags. Now I go to church in Florida where some people show almost as much skin as the Waodani used to. In the same church service there are men wearing three-piece suits, others in shorts and flip-flops, and women... well, I better not go there. How did the Gospel change so much without us noticing? Ah, see, that's the issue we have to deal with. The Gospel didn't change just because the person up in front is no longer wearing a suit and tie. The Gospel didn't change just because the service is being held in a multipurpose auditorium with basketball goals at each end in a building built as part of a "strip mall."

Christ commissioned us to deliver His supernatural message to everyone, everywhere. He did not ask us to clone ourselves or our culture to the ends of the earth. To do God's will His way, we must understand our culture in order to separate it from the Gospel. Christ delivered His message wearing robes and sandals without even a simple sound system. Does getting the message from the internet via satellite downloaded onto an iPad make it less powerful? No, it doesn't! Same message, different delivery system. The Gospel message is sacred, but culture is not. A young Turkish woman named Gulhan put this issue of culture in its proper context. She told me, "When I hear about Jesus, I like Jesus. But I like my food, I like my drink and I like my dance." She was obviously uncomfortable trying to explain herself in English, though I thought she did a great job. She was explaining that she was attracted to Jesus and His message. But she somehow got the impression that she had to adopt Western culture in order to become a follower of Jesus. That is why we absolutely must learn to separate "our" message from our culture. When I asked Gulhan what she does (This is a traditional North American cultural question because in North America we are largely defined by what we do, what we own and even what we wear.), her eyes lit up. She said with great enthusiasm, "Now I giving Jesus, but I only giving Jesus."

This article was originally published in the Missions Dilemma Workbook.

Would you like learn more about this topic? Watch Session 1 of the Missions Dilemma by following the link below. [cm_button text="Watch Missions Dilemma Session 1" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fitecusa.leadpages.co%2Fmissions-dilemma-preview||target:%20_blank|" shape="btn-round"]

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The Gospel as Culture