Gospel and Context in Creative Tension

1. Gospel and Context in Creative Tension Solent Gospel Partnership 15th November 2010

2. Three Realities of the Global Church • A global church (Operation World, 7th ed.) • World population (2010) of 6,908m • 2,229m Christians (self-designating) • 546m Evangelicals, found in every country on the planet • Very few from major world religions – most fruitful ministries in the Global South have been among primal peoples • The church in Europe in rapid recession

3. Christendom—A Crumbling Civilization • fourth century to mid-twentieth century • state recognized dominant organized church and church legitimated rule of dominant class • territorial division into parishes

4. Post-Christendom Shift • church attendance and influence in the lands of Europe, N. America (except US?), and Australasia has been in marked decline • “a culture in which central features of the Christian story are unknown and churches are alien institutions whose rhythms do not normally impinge on most members of society” (Stuart Murray) • church moved from centre to periphery • Acts 1:8

5. A Translatable Message • gospel message is inherently translatable • believers in Antioch (Acts 11:20) • church to be doctrinally exclusive but culturally inclusive (Acts 15) • missions under Christendom • ‘Christianity, commerce and civilization’ (Livingston) • post-colonial reappraisal

6. The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture Two principles in creative tension (Walls): • ‘indigenizing’ principle • a place to feel at home • the particularizing factor • ‘pilgrim’ principle • no abiding city • the universalizing factor

7. Gospel in South Asia

8. End of first session, and the beginning of the second

9. Muslim majority - Pakistan and Bangladesh • more Muslims in India than any other country after Indonesia

10. majority of the world’s roughly 959 million Hindus live in South Asia – mainly in India and Nepal • resistant peoples

11. Traditional Approaches to Muslim Evangelism • focus on doctrine and apologetics • comparison of Islamic teaching with Christian teaching • argumentative and confrontational • frustration with little fruit

12. ‘Whole World Mission’ in Gaziville since 1955 lack of fruit in 1970s review of methods by team Phil Parshall’s ‘New Paths’

13. Financial relationships with nationals • Missionary lifestyle was to change • Islamic dress • beards • simple lifestyle • Islamic diet - no pork • approach to time • picture-taking and visits discouraged

14. 3. Islamic-style worship practices adopted • place for washing before prayer • removal of shoes • sitting on floor • Bibles placed on folding stands • Muslim-style prayer

15. Christian words were set to Muslim tunes and chanted • pragmatic setting of days and times for worship • fasting • homogeneous churches would be planted • church organization along lines of mosque

16. Muslim names would be retained • ‘followers of Isa’ or MBBs • Bible study, prayer and fasting • converts choose their own leadership • the propagation of the gospel would be centred along family and friendship lines

17. Bangladesh India Philippines other countries The Model Spreads

18. More Radical Approach • not MBBs but Muslims (‘one who submits’) • may continue to attend the mosque for prayer to Isa • may continue to say the confession (shahada) • attempts in at least Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, southern Thailand and Malaysia

19. C-Scale for Muslim Contextualization • C1 Traditional Church Using Outsider Language • C2 Traditional Church Using Insider Language • C3 Contextualized Christ-centred Communities Using Insider Language and Religiously Neutral Insider Cultural Forms

20. C4 Contextualized Christ-centred Communities Using Insider Language and Biblically Permissible Cultural and Islamic Forms • C5 Christ-centred Communities of ‘Messianic Muslims’ Who Have Accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour • C6 Small Christ-centred Communities of Secret/Underground Believers

21. defining Hinduism Orientalist paradigm defining ‘religion’ and ‘mysticism’ Hinduism as a civilization caste - the fundamental social order incarnational approach to presenting Christ to Hindus New Paradigms for Understanding Hinduism

22. H-Scale for Hindu Contextualization • H1 Traditional Christians separate themselves from everything “Hindu” • H2 Traditional Christians renounce Hinduism but still accept some non-religious Hindu cultural practices • H3 Hindu Christians renounce Hindu religion for Christianity, but adapt Hindu religious and cultural practices

23. H4 Hindu disciples of Christ do not develop contextual expressions of discipleship • H5 Hindu disciples of Christ seek to develop contextual expressions of discipleship • H6 Hindu disciples of Christ recognized as such by other Hindus but remain unassociated with other disciples of Christ • H7 Hindu disciples of Christ keep faith completely private

24. Responding to Post-Christendom • post-Christendom - a God-given opportunity • loss of biblical literacy • little or no experience of church • need to drop ‘Christianity’? • an intentionally missional approach to wider society • but ‘mission from below’ • critical realistic approach to knowledge • points of contact

25. Uniqueness of Christ in a Pluralist Society • 1 Tim 2:1-6 – church and state • 1 John 4:7-12 – the church as an alternative community • gospel as subversive message • but may our approach to our pluralist society be pluriform?

26. Ecclesiological Responses to British Multicultural Society

27. Default Monocultural

28. Ideal Multicultural

29. Pragmatic Multicultural

30. Strategic Monocultural

31. Evaluating Our Strategies • each of these strategies have advantages and disadvantages • not equally helpful • need to come to our conclusions from a thoughtful reflection on Bible and context • Ephesians 2 • Revelation 7:9

32. if we recognize the validity of such minority groups can we extend this model to other ‘communities’? • what do we mean by ‘community’? • nation-state as project of modernity • ‘Balkanization’ or post-modern fragmentation of society

33. community becomes primary reference point: • identity • values • beliefs • customs • statistical groups, societal groups and social groups • bounded sets, centred sets and fuzzy sets

34. Paul Hiebert & Set Theory