The Lord has taught me, over the last few years, that an incredible amount research needs to be done to effectively live out our Gospel-derived missionary identity in our local context. Many Christians mistakenly assume that this is something that needs only to happen in “foreign missions” but it is just as necessary in the local mission field. We must understand our local culture/context if we are going to relentlessly confront its’ idols with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We research our culture like a doctors researches his patient. We do it so we know where to insert the scalpel. This requires that we actively involve ourselves in the community God has sovereignly placed us. Here are few practical steps that I have personally found helpful.
Read…
• local blogs
• local mainstream paper
• local alternative paper
Pay special attentions to recurring issues, issues that cause celebration, and issues that cause woe. Moreover, be sure to read editorial sections in your papers as they focus on hot button issues and usually seek to draw lines between the opposing sides. This will help you understand the “said” values of your community. Also, it will inform you where the greatest resistance to the gospel will be.
Listen/Watch…
• local bands (Myspace is a great resource to track them down)
• local lectures (given at libraries, college, coffee houses, etc.)
• local concerts (big venues and small venues)
• local films (mainstream theaters and also alternative theaters)
• local plays (mainstream theaters and smaller theaters)
• local sermons (what type of preaching do people hear in your community)
Pay attention to the content of the songs, lectures, and performances as they will not only reveal the “said” values of the performers/speakers but also the “said” values of the participants.
Participate…
• local bars
• local pool halls
• local drive-inns
• local play groups
• local farmer markets
• local coffee houses
• local clubs
• local art galleries
• local wineries
• local gyms/YMCA
• local restaurant
• local parks
• local governmental meetings
• local churches
• local homeowner meetings
Pay attention to the demographic makeup of the local people. Lower, middle, or upper class? Black, white, Asian, etc.? Younger or older? Hip, unhip, somewhere between? Families or singles? How do the speak? Is sarcasm and irony welcomed or considered rude? Pay special attention to the men. Are they ultra-macho (aka thugs), healthy masculinity, or effeminate (e.g. metro-sexual, home-sexual, etc)? This will help you know the actual make-up of your community and will put a face on what would only be a percentage on a demographic report.
Engage/Ask
I could list a thousand questions to ask but it’s more important that I underscore the goal. The point is to investigate people “said” values in an effort to discover their “actual” values. What are their real fears, dreams, and hopes? What are the idols that they worship in place of their Creator? This will inform you in how to share the gospel (i.e. incarnate the gospel) to them. I will give my big three questions that I am trying to get answered as I develop relationships with new acquaintances.
• Why are you here? (e.g. job, fame, pleasure, family, etc)
• What do you think is wrong with the world/you? (e.g. lack of education, global warming, mankind’s nature, etc)
• How do you intend to fix it? (e.g. education, technology, meditation, etc)
Please note that I rarely ask those exact questions. I use lots of “smaller” questions that inch me towards a correct understanding of the people in my surrounding context. God will provide you with opportunities to invite people over for a meal. These shared meals are great time to ask the smaller questions. Where are you from? Why did you move here? Do you have siblings? How were you raised? Did grow up “religious?” Etc…
I hope you find this list helpful. Please share what you to have found to be a good way to research your God-given context.
M. Scott Foster is a former youth pastor and church planter. He currently is studying pastoral theology at ClearNote Pastors College in Bloomington, IN. You can contact or follow him on 
to continue your surgeon analogy. When a procedure is so intense and consuming it is very rare to see one go at it alone. The task you lay out, while necessary, seems impossible, implausable and downright arrogant to attempt solo.
we must also be careful of becomng to inculturalised as Bosch would put it, for then we start to addopt cultural values for the world in which we live, rather than the values that God wants us to live by. living in the world, not of it is something that must remain firm in our minds, for addopting other cultural values rather than gods is to betrya God, and offer the world nothing.