Contextual Ministry

"Though the converted natives tried to adapt their traditional Volcano Dance for Christian worship, it just wasn’t the same without the virgin sacrifice at the end." (Sacredsandwich.com)

"Contextual Ministry" is a so-called "ministry" that concerns itself with making the Gospel of Jesus Christ relevant to the context in which a person lives. What is living in a "context"? Such is the language of literary criticism. People who have adopted the language of literary criticism to explain their world view think of life as a "narrative". According to them we are living in an unfolding story, or context.

While there may be some value in adopting the language of the literary critic in explaining a world view, it is also disconcerting to use. I think this is at once obvious when we think how dissociative it is to speak of oneself as the subject of a narrative. Doesn't that feed into the postmodernist narcissism of the age? My ego becomes a character which I can stand aloof from and view it as if in a play. And just like any person in a play or written about in a novel, characterization can change contextually. That is, I can "write" new traits for my character depending upon the "context" in which I live. Or, can I?

I am reminded of a verse in the old testament book of Jeremiah, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (13:23) Can the Gospel of Jesus Christ be given a new context without violating the gospel message? If you think about it, that is what cults like Mormonism have done. They have rewritten the narrative of Jesus Christ to make it fit a particular cultural context. In the case of Mormonism, Jesus comes to America to preach to the people living here, and the story continues for them.

In Deuteronomy we read, "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you." (4:2) I find this verse interesting, because God isn't saying to His people that they can change His commands depending upon the "context" in which a person finds himself. For example, if you live in a nation where sins, like homosexuality, are not only tolerated, but no longer looked upon as sin, then the prohibition against such a practice as expressed in the holy scriptures does not change and we aren't free to change it according to context.

"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6) This scripture makes it quite difficult to talk about contextual ministry, I think. How does one change the narrative of the Gospel to fit a new context without adding to, or subtracting from, the word of God? Indeed, hasn't this been a problem in the past as recorded in the scriptures?

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1)

"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. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:6-9)

Don't get me wrong. We certainly can translate the scriptures into other languages without creating a different gospel and that same gospel can be preached and taught to peoples of many different cultures without changing the message. The point I am making is that the language of the literary critic used by some in order to promote evangelism is troublesome. We don't deconstruct the gospel and reconstruct it in a new context for a culture without changing the message. More importantly, adopting the practices of the culture around us to include in our "narrative" of the Gospel in order to make the message more acceptable, is much like trying to adapt the Volcano Dance of the natives to a scripturally based liturgical practice. It doesn't work and changes the liturgy into something other than Christian. It is just as absurd as trying to describe a spotted Leopard as being spotless in the name of a different "context".