Article Review on Consultation on Gospel and Culture - Lausanne Movement

 Introduction

 The Lausanne Committee presents a report on gospel and culture. The report was written in 1978 by missionaries and Christian leaders from six continents, and they objective was to understand the relation between gospel and culture and how gospel can be preached cross-culturally.  After consultation, they came up with a report which involves various important issues regarding culture and gospel. They touched issues on culture in biblical perspective, understanding the word of God in cross-cultural world, conversion and culture, church and culture and more.  In the Great Commission, missionaries are called to spread the good news to every nation. Today evangelical Christians should cross all the cultural barriers, recognize the differences, appreciate the diversity, create relationships and share the good news. In this report, evangelical Christians are called to engage in cross-cultural ministry in order to spread the good news to the unreached people and fulfill the Great Commission.

Summary section

 The Committee for World Evangelization presents a wonderful report on gospel and culture. In exploring  the relationship between gospel and culture, and  how to spread the gospel  cross-culturally to all the nations, the committee start by understanding the culture in  biblical basis  and they find that  the human culture is  rooted from  the  creation where God commanded  the human being to subdue the earth  and control the nature  after creation[1]. However, since man violated the law of God, the culture in human nature does not reflect God’s goodness but rather it reflects selfishness and self-centeredness. In biblical revelation, God’s expressed himself or in others words message was expressed through cultural materials in both Old and New Testaments. For example, the word of God was written by human beings but God   understood the authors’ cultural backgrounds as well as their knowledge[2]. The committee also state that in communicating the word of God, language need to be translated for people in different cultural backgrounds to understand.  In other words, the original word has both form and meaning (formal correspondence) but it is important to change the form (dynamic equivalence) in order to maintain the meaning of the message and help Christians   from different cultures understand the scripture deeply[3].

 In spreading the gospel, the committee put emphasis that evangelical Christians should give the exact message from the scripture. Even though a little change is done for cross-cultural communication, the word of God has no errors and thus, the essential meaning should be maintained. In trying to understand the gospel and culture, the committee affirms that cultural concepts are not only reflected in the scripture but they are also reflected on how Christians interpret the scriptures[4]. An important to note from research is that people understand the word of God in different ways. For example, some people use the popular approach by reading the word without awareness of the cultural context. Note that through this method, the reader does not only fail to understand the original context but also fails understand the real meaning of the scripture. Other big problem is that some people may understand both historical and cultural background and discover the meaning but they rests on traditional meaning, ignores contemporary cultural presupposition and fails to apply the message in contemporary life[5]. The committee recommends a contextual approach which encompasses both popular and historical approach and goes further to combine the biblical context with contemporary cultural context to derive the meaning[6].  The report from the committee also touches issues of gospel in terms of   context and communication. They state that in communicating the gospel, it is important to understand the central theme of the scripture such as Lord of all, Hope in Christ, God as Creator and more. Evangelical Christians should reflect the character of Jesus   through their characters and attitude. Love and holiness should be seen by other people and they should always ensure a humble service and maintain personal authenticity[7]. Other important issue that is presented in the report is the conversion and culture. The committee says that modern evangelists focus on traditional views than biblical views. The recommendation is that on conversion, the gospel should proclaim the resurrection of Jesus and the new life. Generally, the coverts should be allowed to understand the new ways of life and the mission in Christ. It is important to value culture in church formation as well as in communication. The church should express the image of Christ through own culture. However, they should abandon the cultural values which do not relate to the word of God and maintain the good things within the cultural context[8]. The last message communicated by the committee is that after conversion and positive cultural aspects in the Christian life, Christians’ lifestyle and behaviors should adhere to ethical standards and refrain from the world’s standards.  

 

Critique section

The Willowbank Report provides a cultural insight and how people from difference cultures can receive the message of Christ through cross-cultural ministry. Cross-cultural ministry is imperative in spreading the gospel to the unreached people in all nations. The report makes a call for a cross-cultural missionary since in the contemporary world there is an enormous unfinished task. The evangelical Christians should move to all nations not considering geographical boundaries[9]. The main purpose of the report is to inform the evangelical Christians that the word of God should be preached cross-culturally as much as tools for adequate communication are available. There are many unreached religious people in the world and this is the high time to embrace the cross-cultural evangelism in order to save the lost souls. However, dedication, resources and the power of God are necessary element needed in finishing the unfinished task. The report reminds the evangelical Christian that we are in a missionary era and it is the high time to unite in spreading the good news. Other important point is that evangelical Christians should be Christ-centered-meaning that they should maintain the biblical truth[10]. Note that when Christ was on earth, he created a cross-cultural ministry where   people from different background were included. For example, he preached to the Samaritan, the Canaanite among others.  This means that in modern world, evangelical Christians are expected to deliver the biblical reality and proclaim the message of salvation to all nations. Since they are many people who have not heard the gospel of salvation, evangelical Christian should avoid creating a ‘sacred-secular divide’.  The point is that a cross-cultural ministry encompasses all tribes and races and   aims at creating a positive interaction with diverse people.  In order to accomplish the great commission, there are must be cultural engagement which aims at removing the society conflict and implementing moral and spiritual truth[11].

 

 According to the Willowbank Report, cultural aspects are important in spreading the gospel. This is because; culture involves actions, agreement and how thing should be done.  Culture is  related with gospel in that in spreading  the good news,  the  evangelical Christian proclaim  salvation  to different  cultures while respecting  and maintaining  the cultural value as well as the  power of the  scripture[12].  In connecting the gospel with culture, evangelical Christians should   have mutual commitment and show love.  In cross-cultural evangelism, evangelical Christian should understand that culture has its origin from God’s creation. This means that culture has an ultimate meaning, it is associated with reality and normative, and help people as well the society create identity and dignity. Thus, since the creation, God has been revealing his character or cultural values through his deeds[13].  The point is  in today’s missionary work, evangelical Christians should understand the culture of God. The problem with modern missionaries is that they undervalues diverse cultures and views them with negative attitude.  They reflect on the fall of man and the sinful nature, but fail to discover the salvation in Christ. Thus, in spreading the gospel, evangelical Christians should always remember the culture that existed   before the fall of man and move forward to value the human culture remembering that Jesus died and washed way the sins[14].  Note that culture creates a social community where community people are unified, develops sense of belonging, developed identity and dignity.  A point to note is that in spreading the gospel to the unreached people, evangelical Christians  should  remember that the cultures reflect the image of God  and for this reason,  they should respect the cultures and show love in order to share the message.  On bases of culture, evangelical Christians are called to enter in the secular society and interact with non-Christians to tell them the good news about salvation[15].

 

 

 The first important things that evangelical Christians should know is that in  cross-cultural ministry, they  should understand the  form and meaning of the word of God  before sharing it with the multi-ethnic people. When interaction with ethnic groups, evangelical Christians should change the form of the message and maintain the meaning. This means that they should create a dynamic equivalence so that different people can understand the real meaning of the scripture and apply it to their life and live a Godly life[16].  Other important point is that evangelical Christians should know that the word is God is pure and thus should maintain the essential meaning. Even though a translation is required for cross-cultural communication, the formulation and explanation should have a normative quality. Today, the Willbank Report encourages the evangelical Christians to change the negative perceptions they have on the word of God. For example, majority use the traditional and popular approach which direct them toward understand thing the biblical context without the need discover the cultural background[17].  On traditional approach, people read the scripture and understand the historical and cultural background and how it relates with the Scripture. However, these approach  have weakness in that  failure to understand the  cultural context  misses  the real meaning of the word and  understanding  the historical cultural background  and relating it to the scripture  misses  the  deeper meaning  in the contemporary world[18].  In this case, the Willowbank report encourages the evangelical Christians to understand both historical and cultural background of the text and relate it to modern times in order to give the real meaning. The recommended approach is the contextual approach which involves reading the word of God, taking the positive elements and understanding the original context. Having gained knowledge on what the word says and historical background, there should be a dynamic interplay where awareness of concern is valued.  In other words, the word should be connected with personal situation, and cultural background and this will help get the deeper meaning.  The contextual approach leads to growth in knowledge and a transforming experience[19].

 

            Other area that needs change is on the content and communication. In the evangelistic ministry, evangelical Christians are encouraged to consider the content and spread the positive aspects to different cultures. They are called to understand the heart of the gospel else the central themes and offer theological formulation[20].  In fulfilling the Great Commission in cross-cultural areas, there are cultural barriers that evangelical Christians come across. For example, some cultures believe that the gospel will affects the solidarity and the stability of the society.  People also believe that the evangelical Christians from alien cultures violate the customs and cultural values by presenting their racial superiority and ways of life.  However, evangelical Christians should be aware of the local cultural values and create peace as Jesus did[21].   They should reflect the character of Jesus and move from negative cultural aspects to the love of Christ and salvation. The Willowbank Report makes a call and encourages the evangelical Christian to be humble messagers. In other words, they should show  humility  in  facing  the cultural problems , humility in accepting diverse cultural values, humility in communicating in unfriendly  social  conditions, humility in  translating the language and  humility in  following the Holy Spirit of God[22].   After showing humility, other important thing that evangelical Christians should adhere to is conversion and culture. When people are converted, it is the responsibility of evangelical Christians to preach the goods   news of salvation, news ways of life and the new life in Christ. In fulfilling the Great Commission, the inverted Christians should be taught that there is a radical change and the need to have fundamental convictions[23].  In addition, the converted Christians should reflect the character of Jesus by adhering to moral standards and refrain from forming relationship with the crooked generation. Finally, the church should connect cultural values with scripture   but not on historical views.  The point is that all that is evil should be abandoned and all cultures should reflect the good work. Cultures should be encouraged to adhere to moral standards, the love and truth.  It is role of the church to transform the culture and implement   good things that reflect the glory of God[24].

 

 Conclusion

 Willowbank Report had offered an important message on the importance of culture and how culture influences the Scripture reading, the gospel and the conversion. Evangelical Christians are called for a cross cultural ministry where they will move to the world and spread the gospel of salvation to the unreached groups. In spreading the gospel, evangelical Christians should value the human culture; understand the standards of conduct, customs and the ways of life.  Given than some people may resist the gospel due to fear that it will affect their ways  of life,  it is the role of the evangelical Christians  to transform the cultures and  encourage them to follow  what is good and refrain from  evil. The important thing is to understand the culture and be humble on the diverse values the culture presents.  This is also reinforced by the need to understand the scripture through historical and contextual approach in order to tranform the society from old ways to new ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. (1978). LOP 2 – The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture. Retrieved from: http://www.lausanne.org/content/lop/lop-2

 

 

 

[1] Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. (1978). LOP 2 – The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture.

 

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Ibid

[14] Ibid

[15] Ibid

[16] Ibid

[17] Ibid

[18] Ibid

[19] Ibid

[20] Ibid

[21] Ibid

[22] Ibid

[23] Ibid

[24] Ibid