Paul Hiebert in his article "Critical Contextualization" describes three types of contextualization: Non-contextualization, Uncritical Contextualization, and Critical Contextualization. One can, however, say more. As Jackson Wu states in his book One Gospel for all Nations, "Contextualization is inevitable." That is, in effect, non-contextualization is still contextualization, just done very poorly. "David Sills drives home the …
Month: August 2017
High Context Evangelism
I was talking to my Cultural Anthropology class about high context versus low context communication. A nice source of information about High Context versus Low Context cultures is "The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business" by Erin Meyer. In terms of communication, high context can apply not only to certain countries …
Struggles with Short-Term Missions
A lot of Short-term Mission teams come from "The West" to the Philippines. And quite a few STM teams leave the Philippines to serve in other parts of the world as well. And they can do genuine good. When they come in as genuine partners of local ministries, when they come in with welcome skills …
Dark Night of the Soul
My son is a member of a theology club at the seminary he attends (that is coincidently the seminary that both my wife and I teach at). He led a discussion, while all were eating samgyeopsal, on Christian Mysticism. He sought to avoid the obvious stereotypes... Mysticism as "New Age" of syncretistic, Mysticism as Heresy, …
Is Conflict with Teammates Really the Top Reason for Missionaries Leaving the Field?
You’ve probably heard it many times. Simply put: The number-one reason missionaries leave the field is because of problems with coworkers. The trouble is, it’s not that simple. First of… Source: Is Conflict with Teammates Really the Top Reason for Missionaries Leaving the Field?
Multiplex Relationships Through the Church
Discussion can not only reveal new things... it can make old things more clear and vibrant. I was teaching Cultural Anthropology the other day, and I was talking about Simplex versus Multiplex relationships. Simplex means that there is only one relationship between two individuals--- for example, boss/worker. Multiplex means that there are several relationships--- for …