CONTEXTUALIZATION

Written by John T. Pierre

STATEMENT

The missionary's task is to share Christ across geographical, cultural, and linguistic barriers. Contextualization involves presenting the gospel in an understandable and relatable manner (1 Cor. 9:19-23). Such contextualization is vital so the hearer might believe the gospel unto salvation and grow in grace. Proper contextualization displays courage, humility, respect, and sensitivity. Improper contextualization distorts, corrupts, and compromises the timeless truths of Scripture.

In his book Contextualizing the Faith, Scott Moreau explains that contextualization lies at the intersection of faith and culture. Contextualization is not just about gospel proclamation or even theology but involves all aspects of life and practice. Everyone is engaged in contextualization wherever they are. The issue is not whether one will contextualize but whether one will contextualize responsibly.

This responsibility becomes more challenging in a mission context. A missionary crosses geographical, linguistic, and cultural borders to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who do not know Him. The missionary goes to live in a place that is foreign to him, learns a language that is not his mother tongue and lives in a culture with many strange behaviors that the missionary may not recognize or interpret correctly. All these factors affect the missionary’s efforts to present the gospel effectively. 

Missiologists rightly assert that contextualization is essential to effectively reaching a people group with the gospel. At the same time, contextualization is controversial in many mission circles today. Because of this, it’s helpful first to think through some general guidelines. 

General Guidelines for Contextualization

First, missionaries must allow Scripture to govern contextualization. Responsible contextualization never allows what Scripture forbids. 

Second, biblical truth is not bound to a particular time, culture, or context. It is always and everywhere timeless, culture-shaping, and relevant. And yet, biblical truth needs to be expressed in understandable cultural forms. So the task of missionaries is to preserve and protect the truths revealed in Scripture while adapting their presentation of that truth for the people they seek to reach. Put simply, they need to learn contextualization.

Elements of Contextualization

When presenting the gospel, missionaries should strive to make it understandable and relatable. 

The term “understandable” means that our hearers can intellectually comprehend what is being said. Missionaries should use terms and concepts that convey the gospel message's meaning correctly and coherently. The most important first step in achieving this goal is a difficult one: language acquisition. Missionaries should seek to master the heart language of those they seek to reach to ensure their presentation of the gospel is understandable. 

The term “relatable” means that our communication does not feel foreign to the hearers but rather connects with their lives. This means that missionaries should remove all unnecessary cultural elements from their home culture that might hinder the hearers’ ability to connect with the message. They should note cultural patterns and linguistic expressions that might make their hearing of the gospel “click” better. Paul did this, summarizing his approach by writing that he sought to become “all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). The second half of a previous verse, 1 Corinthians 9:12, is crucial in understanding this text. Paul writes, “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” Paul was willing to do whatever necessary to remove obstacles from hearing the gospel. 

For example, Paul had the right to eat meat, but if eating meat would offend one of his hearers, he would refrain. For missionaries today, this might involve taking off one’s shoes upon entering a host's home. Eating meat or wearing shoes indoors has no bearing on the gospel message. Nor are they forbidden in God’s Word. However, if they’re done in a context where these things are culturally frowned upon, a missionary may cause the gospel to appear unnecessarily offensive. Missionaries should be willing to give up all such things to enable their hearers to “better hear” the gospel.

Missionaries must recognize the significance of relatability. This is why Paul spoke with Gentiles differently than with Jews. The Jews could relate to the Old Testament background of the gospel, so Paul often included the Old Testament when sharing the gospel with them. Most Gentiles, however, could not relate to the Old Testament, so Paul started with more relatable matters. For instance, when speaking to the Athenians in Acts 17:22–31, Paul mentions both their worship of an “unknown god” and one of their poets who seemed aware that humans come from God. These issues were contact points to more effectively connect the gospel with Paul’s hearers. 

The two terms—”understandable” and “relatable”—refer to different elements of presenting the gospel, so missionaries should give  attention to both. When done well, people will better hear and understand the gospel message of salvation so that they might believe it.

Two Types of Improper Contextualization

Throughout history, missionaries have been guilty of both too little and too much contextualization.

First, some missionaries have not sufficiently considered their culture. As a result, they unwittingly present the gospel in the clothing of their own culture. 

One missionary couple fervently believed that women must wear dresses or skirts and may not wear pants. According to their church background, pants are men’s clothing, and for a woman to wear pants was breaking God’s command to distinguish between the genders by their dress (Deut. 22:5). This caused no small amount of consternation among the people they were seeking to reach because, in that culture, women usually wear pants. This couple’s culturally defined view of feminine modesty distracted from the actual offense of the gospel.

In short, missionaries must beware of contextualizing too little, carefully considering what in their own culture is not only unnecessary but may even distort the gospel's message. 

But missionaries can also contextualize too much. Some missionaries clothe the gospel with improper cultural material that dilutes or even changes the message. For example, some missionaries working among Buddhists will tell people that “Jesus is the way of release, nirvana.” This creates confusion, for while Christ did save His people from suffering, the Buddhist concept of “release” or “nirvana” is not in any sense related to release from the debt of our sins or deliverance from the dominion of the devil. If hearers understand nirvana in the Pure Land Buddhist sense, for instance, it would mean that Jesus is the way to reaching Buddhahood. Obviously, this would miscommunicate elements of the gospel, and Christ’s work should not be associated with it. 

A previous chapter has referred to the Insider Movement, which maintains that a person from a non-Christian background who has trusted in Christ can retain his original socio-religious identity.[1] In a Muslim context, a new believer can continue to worship at the mosque, read the Qur’an alongside the Bible, and even use the Qur’an extensively in evangelism. The goal is to avoid persecution and increase the success of evangelism. But the reality is that such converts are virtually indistinguishable from Muslims. This is a serious compromise of the gospel.

Missionaries must be aware of the danger of over-contexualization. If something in the hearers’ culture contradicts the truth of Scripture, then missionaries must not adopt it into their gospel presentation. Paul was willing not to eat meat (a matter not in conflict with Scripture) for the sake of the gospel, but he was not willing to accept the offering of a sacrifice from the people of Lystra (a matter that would conflict with Scripture; see Acts 14:8–18). Nor did Paul make any concessions to the Corinthians about their immorality (1 Cor. 6:9–11). 

While contextualization seeks to make the gospel clearer, some biblical truths will be completely foreign and cannot be “contextualized.” For example, when speaking with the Athenians about Jesus and the resurrection, Paul’s hearers said he was a babbler preaching “foreign divinities.” Later, when he again talked about the resurrection, some Athenians mocked him because they thought such a notion was nonsense (Acts 17:18, 31–32). And yet, despite their response, Paul did not then “contextualize” these truths so that they were more “understandable” or “relatable.” Proper contextualization never involves the distortion of truth.

No matter who we are trying to reach with the gospel, the most important thing we have in common with them is not our superficial appearance or our social status but our common condition in Adam. We are all alike under condemnation and alienated from God; we all need Christ and the forgiveness of our sins and a restored relationship with God. 

Furthermore, missionaries must remember that they are also quite different than their unsaved hearers. They love God; the lost love the world. They are children of the light; the lost are children of darkness. TMissionaries shouldn’t try to hide these meaningful differences. They should emphasize godly living  The more missionaries grow in Christ-likeness, the more they shine for Christ as a powerful witness before the lost. Overcontextualization dulls and dims that witness, so much so that they may lose their saltiness and be of no real use in Christ’s kingdom work (Matt. 5:13–16). 

Motives behind Errant Contextualization

Over-contextualization can be tough to spot. Those guilty of it mean to honor God and serve their hearers. Even though they have no ill-intent, they still need to evaluate their practices.

Unfortunately, some missionaries improperly contextualize intentionally. They sincerely desire to win people to Christ but they don’t not believe God’s way is best for their situation. As a result, they intentionally make “harmless” adjustments to the gospel to get more people to “believe.” Some feel pressure to impress their sending church and supporters; others want to make a meaningful difference for Christ. So they prioritize practices that  tend to get more significant numbers and establish more churches. Either way, some missionaries intentionally twist the gospel to increase the apparent positive results of their ministries.

One missionary told me that his language instructor came to Christ. During our discussion, the missionary admitted that the instructor still believed in Buddha even while “trusting in Jesus.” The instructor assumed that believing in both would make her future even brighter. This missionary should have known that this was seriously wrong, but he argued that his instructor was truly saved even though she still looked to Buddha as something of a “co-savior.” This missionary told others, including his supporters, about the beautiful story of his language instructor becoming a Christian. 

Another example involves training leaders. I have seen churches in the country where I serve choose leaders with no reference to 1 Timothy 3 or Titus 1. They’d choose leaders based on their standing in the community. Sadly, in most cases, these men were not biblically qualified to serve as leaders. They became a poor example because they could not lead the church in a godly manner. 

Missionaries must avoid such impulses if they hope to contextualize in a manner consistent with God's will and build a work that lasts.

Why is a Statement on Contextualization Important?

God saves sinners through the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:14, 17).[2] As noted above, contextualization is a crucial component of effective communication. A failure to properly contextualize can cause serious problems. It can blur and distort the truths of Scripture. It can easily lead to compromise, to a different gospel altogether (Gal. 1:6–9).

Furthermore, contextualization does not stop after a person trusts in Christ. New believers must continually wrestle with what it looks like to follow Christ within their own cultural context. Missionaries can provide valuable assistance in this.

Virtues Displayed through Proper Contextualization

Proper contextualization isn’t just necessary for the sake of clarity. It also displays key virtues that can increase the effectiveness of the missionary’s work. Such virtues include: 

1. Contextualization requires courage, where the missionary bravely sets aside his known culture and seeks to communicate the gospel in a foreign culture. 

2. Contextualization calls for humility, where the missionary sets aside any attitude that his culture is superior and willingly seeks to understand the ways in which the host culture might conflict with his personal preferences.

3. Contextualization displays respect, where the missionary shows the people he seeks to reach that he esteems them and is willing to adopt legitimate forms of their culture to communicate with them. 

4. Contextualization demonstrates sensitivity, where the missionary desires to avoid unnecessary offense. 

In short, proper contextualization is vital. It displays courage, humility, respect, and sensitivity, which will make the gospel presentation more attractive.

Conclusion

Contextualization is important, but difficult. It requires time and patience. But even as the pressures and cultures may change, the goal is always the same: we want to be faithful stewards with the mysteries of the gospel that God in an understandable, relatable manner so hearers can believe unto salvation and grow in grace.

Recommended Resources

Please check out the resources listed below for further information on these matters.

Books

• Brotherson, Derek, Contextualization or Syncretism? 

• Moreau, Scott, Contextualizing the Faith: A Holistic Approach

Articles

• Ashford, Bruce, “You Already Contextualize the Gospel. Do You Do It Well?” Center for Faith & Culture, Mar. 18, 2019. Accessed from cfc.sbts.edu.

• Clark, Elliot, “Faithful Contextualization in Missions” Reaching & Teaching International Ministries, Nov. 29, 2023. Accessed from rtim.org.

• Graham, Don, “IMB Trustees Define Contextualization” Baptist Press, Nov. 16, 2007. Accessed from baptistpress.com.

• Ibrahim, A.S. “Understanding Insider Movements” Gospel Coalition, Dec. 28, 2015. Accessed from thegospelcoalition.org.

• Lounsbrough, Mark, “Contextualization in Missions Today” in Faith Pulpit, Summer 2016. Accessed from faith.edu.

• Pratt, Zane, “Four Biblical Foundations for Contextualization,” 9Marks, July 18, 2016. Accessed from 9marks.org.

footnotes

[1] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/understanding-insider-movements/

[2] See GCC article: “The Priority of Proclamation.”