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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.
Gospel, gospel, gospel. Gospel this, gospel that. The word is thrown around quite frequently. Everyone seems to be into “gospel-centered” ministries and being a “gospel-centered” church. At first glance, this seems like something that we all should be filled with drunken glee about but Galatians 1:6-7 sobers us up. A somewhat stunned Paul writes regarding the state of the “gospel-centered churches” of Galatia,
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”
Apparently, Paul’s Galatian converts are quickly being seduced from the true gospel all the while confessing that they are gospel believers. I think we could argue that they are gospel-centered but just centered the wrong gospel. It is a different gospel than the one delivered by the mouth of the apostle. Thus, the most important question is then what we mean by the word gospel? What is the gospel? How do we identify the rich gospel soil into which we should anchor our thirsty roots? Without a doubt, some soil that is labeled gospel is nothing but dry sand from a barren desert. We need to proceed carefully then as we consider what is the biblical meaning of gospel. This a question we can and should explore without end. However, here are a few helpful places to start:
What is the gospel? by D.A. Carson (video)
What is the gospel? by John Piper (video)
Gospel-Centrality by Tim Keller (pdf)
God is the Gospel by John Piper (book)
I despise this not-so-new but ever so popular form of Christianity that prides itself in so carefully nuancing the Gospel that all hearers walk away still thinking that the bearers of the message of the cross are swell guys. It is as A.W. Tozer says:
The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted.
This great prophetic voice from the Windy City nails it. The truth is that all our nuancing has little to do with contextualizing the message of the cross and more to do with a wicked attempt to remove the offense of the cross. We don’t want to be labeled bigoted. We want to be labeled reasonable, respectable, and open-minded. We want the praise and acceptance of men. I long for an army of men who will speak the gospel with such a great clarity that no-one can walk away without having their heart shaken by Christ and his cross. We need loud voices crying out in the wilderness of dead evangelicalism. We must speak up and speak clearly. Don’t silence any part of the gospel. Silence is sin. Hear Tozer again:
Could it be that too many of God’s true children, and especially the preachers, are sinning against God by guilty silence?…I for one am waiting to hear the loud voices of the prophets and reformers sounding once more over a sluggish and drowsy church. They’ll pay a price for their boldness, but the results will be worth it.
Give us loud voices, Lord!
Ryan Benhase has put together a great post on everyday missionary methods for the “average believer” called, 7 Ways to Live Missionally in Everyday Life. I really enjoyed this quote from his concluding thoughts:
“I fear that sometimes we’re so obsessed with figuring out how we can turn a conversation into an opportunity to preach that we often forget the importance of meaningful relationships and neglect to invest in building them. However, if we were only better at making friends, perhaps we wouldn’t have to worry so much about coming up with sneaky transitions into evangelism. We need to lay off the bait and switch, knock it off with the marketing, and stop making excuses for our laziness when it comes to programming mission into our daily lives.”
I totally agree. Give Ryan’s blog, Missional Musings dot Com, some love. Also, if you find Ryan’s post helpful let me be ever so bold to recommend my a similar post I wrote a while back called, “Everyday Missionary Methods.”
I would like to share this quote regarding the proclamation of the gospel that I found to be quite stirring today:
“There is a tendency in some quarters today to promote a kind of evangelism without proclamation. Acts of service are done or people are invited to experience Christian worship. But without words of explanation these are like signposts pointing nowhere or, worse still, signposts pointing to our good works. The gospel is good news: a message to be proclaimed, a truth to be taught, a word to be spoken and a story to be told. The gospel is good news: a message to be proclaimed, a truth to be taught, a word to be spoken and a story to be told.”- Total Church
