BARRIERS AND BRIDGES FOR PLANTING AND GROWING CHURCHES
Barriers
1. Tribal, Religious, Ethnic Prejudices
2. Other Political, Religious, or Ancestral Allegiances
3. Differences in world view
a. (Experiences, Realities, and Nature of God and His creation.
b. Truth (Its nature, origin, and its interpretation)
c. Beliefs (Who, What, Why, and How they should be expressed)
d. Values - What is of most worth, desirability, and utility
e. Practices - What are the customary normal actions that give respectability
f. Emotions - What are the ways that are most sanctioned and of whom
3. Lack of knowledge of God, Christ, Man’s condition in sin, grace, and faith
4. Resistance from traditional religions
5. Resistance from local authorities
6. Resistance from carnality of Christians
7. Resistance from Islam
8. Resistance from cults and occults
9. Resistance from the evil powers of the world, flesh, and the devil
10. Man’s natural resistance to change
11. Relationships that may appear to be threatened
12. Culturally accepted beliefs and views
13. Cultural Distances between the missionary and the people group
14. Geographical and ethnic barriers
15. Theological misunderstandings
16. Lack of goals for church planting and church growth
17. Unawareness of the implications of the truth for eternity and the consequences of sin and disobedience.
18. Credibility, and trust of the messengers and their message
19. Lack of training in church planting, evangelism, and church growth
20. Poor character of the missionary
Bridges
1. The word of God that accomplishes the will of God through His Spirit
2. Prayer for the convicting, enabling, and guiding ministry of His Spirit
3. Research of the people’s customs, culture, and world view
4. Developing trust, rapport, and love for the people and their felt, perceived and real needs
5. Study the history of the people’s culture, history, and traditional views of God
6. Emphasizing essentials about God, Christ, The Holy Spirit, Sin, Heaven, Hell, Man’s Condition, Grace, Faith
7. Giving respect, honor, and consideration to the local authorities
8. Pointing out the cause and effect relationships between the needs of the people and Christ’s ability to satisfy them and solve their problems
9. Showing the gaps between the realities of the people’s experiences and the ideals of scripture
10. Refusing to condemn a cultural practices, but allowing the Spirit to bring conviction of real sin not just differences of opinions
11. Balancing your concerns between the people, the processes of presenting the gospel, and the product of starting and growing a church
12. Learning lessons of culture, language, and customs from the people as a means of showing love and trust for the people
13. Directing, equipping, and praying for gifted people to serve as full-time church planters who can work through seed families
14. Encourage church members to take on particular daughter church planting projects with their offerings and prayers
15. Use theological students during their long vacations as well as during the weekends to show evangelistic films and start new churches in cooperation with local church authorities
16. Help the people by setting up dispensaries, schools, and lay leadership
Questions to Ask During Contextualization Ministries
A. What would you suggest in using good cross-cultural And Biblical principles to advise these people and why?
B. What are the norms, forms and meanings that need to be understood before one cold properly give advise in this situation and why?
C. What are the realities, assumptions, allegiances, beliefs, values, truths, behaviors, perceptions, and emotions that need to be understood properly by the people involved and why?
D. What are the cultural barriers that must be overcome and why?
E. What are the means, messages, channels, filters that need to be understood on the sender’s part and why?
F. What are the means, messages, channels, goals, filters that need to be understood on the receiver’s part and why?
G. What are the role, ranks, goals, and status considerations that need to be considered in this process and why?
H. What are the social, economic, political, educational, age, gender, spiritual, cultural, or historical considerations that must come into play in solving this problem and why?
I. What are the kinship or family considerations that must be brought to bear upon this problem and why?
J. What are the cognitive, linguistic, motivational, personality, contextual, affective, behavioral considerations that need to be considered in this situation and why?
K. What are the power, authority, force, or influence factors that need to be considered and why?
L. What are the ways that this problem could be solved by enhancing trust, rapport, and mutual edification-love between the parties and why?
M. What are the negative cultural factors that could effect the resolution of this problem and why?
N. What are the positive cultural factors that could effect the outcome of this situation and why?
O. What are the best ways that one could practice face saving procedures in this situation and why?
P. What are the best ways that one could enhance positive promotion in this situation without violating cultural norms and standards and why?
Q. What are the tribal or ethnic factors that could help us understand this situation and its participants better and why?
R. What are the non-verbal factors that could help us sort out the cues
that are being sent in this situation and why?
S. What are the levels of moral, intellectual, or institutional development involved between this people and why?
T. What other examples from similar cultural models could help us solve this particular problem and why?
U. What cultural avoidance goals are in operation in this situation and why?
V. What cultural decision-making factors are involved in this situation and why?
W. What are the historical or traditional factors that need to be brought out in this situation and why?
X. What are the ways that the participants will be influenced by their views of time and timing in their decisions and why?
Y. What are the cultural factors that will weight heavily in effecting the strength of people’s decisions in this matter and why ?
Z. What contextual factors could be given greater priority in this situation and why?
AA. What factors will determine the greater relevance, interest, excitement, profit, availability, attractiveness, usefulness, efficiency, respectability, or credibility in this situation and why ?
BB. What factors will contribute to the greatest reduction of fear in this situation And why?
CC. What are the cultural factors that could effect the theological interpretation of this situation by the various parties and why?
DD. What are the cultural factors that could effect the philosophical interpretation of this situation by the various parties and why?
EE. What are the cultural factors that could effect the psychological interpretation of this situation by the various parties and why?
FF. What are the filters that are most likely going to have to be dealt with in the communication process in this situation and why?
GG. What are the world view (Realities, truths, beliefs, values, behaviors, emotions etc.) considerations that need to be brought to bear on this situation and why?
HH. How would western and non-western cultural perspective tend to differ in their response to this situation and why?
II. What are the contrasting differences between the ideal, real, practical, and existential perspectives on this situation and why?
JJ. What are the cultural factors that could effect the missiological interpretations of this situation by the various parties and why?
KK. Are there any cultural proverbs that could help shed some light on this situation and why?
LL. Can you think of any case studies that could provide insight into how this situation could be dealt with and why?
MM. What are the cultural factors that could effect the legal interpretation of this situation by the various parties and why?
NN. What are the cultural factors that could effect the ethnotheological (Such as African Theological) interpretation of this situation by the various parties and why?
OO. What are cultural factors that need to be researched and how would you go about it and why?
PP. What are the cultural factors that will most effect change in this situation and why?
QQ. What would some of the leading anthropologists-theologians (Kraft, Hesselegrave, Nida, Lutzebek, Bavinck, Malinowski, Mbiti, Imasogie etc.) have to say about this situation from their various perspectives and why?
RR. What community cultural factors would effect this situation and why?
SS. What would the other social or behavioral sciences (Sociology, cognitive anthropology, educational anthropology, psychology, philosophy, political science, etc.) have to contribute to this situation and why?
TT. What ways will culture tend to use marital factors in this situation and why?
UU. What Biblical principles will be influenced by cultural factors in this situation and why?
VV. What ways will theological systems be influenced by cultural factors in this situation and why?
WW. What will be some of the culture shock symptoms if the people are unable to respect the differences between their cultures?
XX. What are the points of cultural relativism that should be appreciated by the contrasting cultural perspectives?
YY. What are the possible abuses of ethical relativism that are in clear violation of Biblical absolutes and why?
ZZ. Why do you suppose that the prior question of trust, respect, and rapport is important in this case?
a. What norms seem to need changing in this instance and why?
b. What are the western and non-Western values that need to be bridged for better understanding, respect, and acceptance and why?
c. What are the norms regarding work, kinship relationships, courtship, marriage, raising children, eating, system of family leadership, attitudes toward leadership, diet, views about government, attitudes toward education, rural versus urban dwellers, power sources, transportation purposes, communication methods, use of language, religious attitudes, morning, afternoon, and evening activities, holidays, social-economic levels, historical views, retirement, suspensions, recreation-sports, music, leisure time activities, socialism, democracy, agreements, possessions, community responsibilities, youth versus elderly, animals, likes - dislikes, daily schedules, views of God - Christ - The Holy Spirit, attitudes toward the church, attitudes towards Islam, views about clergymen - laymen - church members, views about African Independent Churches, Views about African Traditional Religions, views about theological education, attitudes toward Christian parachurch organizations, views about cults and the occult, views about books - fiction, nonfiction, Biblical, theological, religious, how-to write books etc., views of men towards women, views of women toward men, attitudes of families toward children and vice versa, views about success - failure, views about good versus bad, views of time, views on business, views on war and violence, views about crime, views of particular ethnic-tribal groups, views toward the individual versus group, use of gestures with the hands, eyes, face, body, feet, arms, voice, mouth, head etc. views on visiting - hospitality, views about the purpose and method of meetings, views about greetings and farewells, views about accountability - rewards, views about speeches, views about newspapers, views about heaven - hell, views about eternity etc.
Case Studies
1. Musa started working in Kaduna in order to support his elderly parents living in the village. However, when he told them he met a girl from a another tribe in the city, they refused to give him their permission. When he married the girl anyway, the parents were disappointed, but were plotting to deal with him because he refused to send them money any longer. He now had his own family responsibilities that required all of his earnings. After two years, Musa’s mother visited him to see if she could reconcile their relationship, as she missed her favorite son. However, during the visit she was amazed at how Musa’s wife had changed her son. Musa, actually helped in caring for the baby’s feeding, bathing, and nurturing. To Musa’s mother, this was the mother’s responsibilities. She said to the wife, "You are a lazy woman. My son has to do your work for you." To this the wife reacted in anger and said, "You leave my house at once, you old woman. I never want to see your face again!" But, before, Musa’s mother left, she turned to Musa and said, "Until you get rid of that wife, never return to our village or you will be thrown out by force!"
2. Several years ago some international agricultural experts taught some men in Transkei, Africa, how to use modern fertilizer. However, soon the Transkei farmers complained that the Americans were exploiting them for their own personal gain. Furthermore, they felt that the Americans did not care at all about their cultural values, but instead were trying to impose their western values as superior. All of this perplexed the Americans a great deal. They wondered why the farmers reacted with such anger? Apparently, the Transkei farmers considered that the experts had cursed the surrounding farms where fertilizer had not been applied. The local people assumed that because the fertilizer allowed only that one farm to prosper that the other farms must have been inhibited from growing by some unknown evil spirit. Consequently, the people of that area of Transkei continue to thwart any outside attempt to assist them in improving their agricultural yields year after year.
3. A Bible School Principal received a $2,000 donation from a former missionary to help build a student dormitory. After the foundation and walls were successfully constructed, the Principal ordered the work halted. Everyone in the school asked the Principal, "Why did you decide to stop the work now, did you run out of money already?" The Principal said, "I have decided to take the remaining money, invest it in chicks and feed. When they are fully grown, we will be able to sell the chickens for a profit. Then we will take the original amount donated by the missionary and complete the construction of the student dormitory. However, just as the Principal got ready to sell his 500 chickens, a tragedy occurred, all of the chickens were killed by a mysterious plague that swept through the Bible School! Not only did the Principal fail to make any profit, but the student’s had to be turned away because the dormitory could not be completed.
4. A highly placed and respected church leader studied Islamic studies for his Master’s degree programme. He came out of the course behaving in a way other Christians view as compromising his faith. For example, he sends his children to Islamic schools to study the Koran in addition to regular schools. His own explanation of it is that he is adapting to the Islamic culture in order to be accepted by them and to witness to them. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 85)
5. A man was the head of a family of about 20 people. Five of his children accepted Christ. He used to stay by the gate of the house with a stick to prevent them from going to church. When the missionary met, him about the matter he said if he allowed his children to become Christians they would leave home and go their own ways just as those from the community who had become Muslims and left for the town. Other people also told the missionary that the man was a strong idol worshipper. The man said that his children would reject their traditional way of life if they became Christians. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 85)
6. A young girl refuses to become the second wife to a certain man in Zimbabwe, but her parents are unable to help her. Apparently, the father has leprosy which inhibits him from working or going to court on her behalf. When the matter is brought before the local chief, he gives the girl two options. First she can either work for him for two years which implies that she would also become his mistress. Or, she can become the second wife of the man. Several weeks later the missionaries hear that against their counsel, the girl has gone to be the man’s second wife. Upon further investigation, the missionaries discover that the chief is the uncle to the man so he would not render an impartial judgment in the case. Eventually, the girl marries the man, has a child and cares for most of the rest of the children in his family. She is prohibited from going to church, but says that she loves the Lord and reads her Bible. She seems to have outwardly accepted her role. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 87)
7. A missionary was making little progress in the language of the people he sought to convert to Christianity? Whenever, the people visited him, he would speak to his wife in their own language making the people very suspicious and distrustful of the missionary. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 87)
8. A missionary working in another culture from his own was on a committee of local Christian leaders. He discovered that the other members were using both good politics and bad sorts of politicizing. He had a hard time discerning the difference both culturally and Biblically. In some cases he felt that the members of the committee were making poor decisions because of an absence of facts and knowledge. In other cases he felt that the members purposely shunned important information for "Cultural Reasons". Whenever, he would offer suggestions on how to arrive at better decisions he felt that they would ignore or belittle his input. He felt that perhaps he should leave the country. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 87)
9. A male Christian worker found himself in a potentially sexually scandalous situation. While working in a cross-cultural situation a fellow female worker wanted to shake his hand while greeting. He did not see this happening in the local culture and felt very uncomfortable with her "so-called" advances. He wondered if he should confront the woman with her behavior or simply ignore her. Since, the woman was his superior he felt even more threatened that he might lose his job or chances for promotion if he handled the situation wrongly.
(Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity, p. 87,88)
10. A missionary worked among a people who spent a lot of time drinking palm wine. It seemed that the men were constantly beating their wives. When the missionary tried to stop the fights, the elders told him to leave them alone or he would get beaten up by the husbands for intruding. The elders wait until the fights are over before advising the couples. The missionary did not want to offend anyone, but this behavior inhibited his communications of the gospel. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity p. 88)
11. In a certain culture in Africa, young girls are tortured by having their two front teeth removed as a rite of passage to maturity. They claim this guarantees the ability of the girls to bear children. The missionary working among them has a daughter who is at the age of this extraction of teeth. Since she has not had this done her age mates as well as the parents in the village are starting to reject the missionary and his family. The villagers continually pester the missionary to have his daughter’s teeth extracted soon. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity p. 84)
12. A missionary working in a remote village found the work very hard. He was often sick, but none of the local people came to his assistance. Neither did the local people visit him when he was well. He noticed that at funeral there was a lot of drinking and merry-making. He concluded that these people did not care if someone was sick, because they knew if he died they would have a lot of drink and enjoy the celebrations. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity p.84)
13. A girl became pregnant and had to marry the boy in a traditional marriage ceremony according to the customs of the boy. She invited the members of her evangelical church to come for the wedding after all the sacrifices to the gods had been made, but the church refused to attend. The couple still comes to the church services to hear the gospel but have not made a decision to receive Christ as their Savior. (Kornfield, Cross-Cultural Christianity p. 84)
14. One Pastor assumed that the people in his new church were interpreting his spiritual terminology correctly. One day as he served the elements of holy communion he said, "This is my body which was broken for you, take this in remembrance of me. This also is my blood which was given for you, drink this in remembrance of me!" However, some of the people in the church thought that the Pastor was really saying, "I have sacrificed one of my body parts and some of my own blood as a offering for your sins." They inferred that very soon the Pastor would be requiring some of the members of the church to do the same. They felt that they must run away from this Pastor quickly or he will require them to sacrifice some of their body parts and blood for the sins of other church members. It was a real surprise to the Pastor when some of his new members tried to poison some of his children in order to force him to leave the area.
15. Some of the members of the World Health Organization felt frustrated that few of the people would come for vaccination against the six killers diseases - diphtheria, cholera, polio, meningitis, tetanus, and tuberculosis. Finally, the consulted some of the traditional rulers to find out why the women all refused to receive their injections. Then the truth came out. The traditional ruler told the health official, "Many of our people have a fear that you are trying to vaccinate them in order to cut down on our population. They are afraid that if they receive their injections, they will become infertile. Furthermore, they are afraid that the vaccinations will cause more diseases than they will prevent since they have caused other people to react violently to the medicine. Even though the federal government has sponsored the free vaccination programmes, a large percentage of the local people refuse to submit to the orders of the authorities. As a result, large epidemics of these diseases break out every year throughout the country of Nigeria causing thousands to lose their lives.
16. When the missionaries insisted that the converts in Burundi quit drinking banana beer the people lost must of their social contacts. Beer had traditionally served to refresh those who had labored long on their hot farms. Beer provided for great social conversation and information sharing opportunities. Without the stimulus of beer social festivities, the community suffered from important preventative interactions. However, the missionaries tried to introduced substitutes like coffee and tea, but they failed to catch on. The ban on beer for Christians seeking church membership caused many people to forsake their Christian commitments. It also contributed to the missionaries deep frustration over the responsiveness of the people to the scriptures. As a result the qualitative and quantitative growth of the church in certain parts of Burundi has been hampered by this problem.
17. A certain man failed to gain a promotion for seven years until he got married. Immediately, he received a three grade promotion allowing him to purchase a TV and obtain a substantial car loan. Within, several years, he had three children and the extended family wanted him to take care of several young children’s school fees, feeding and accommodation costs. He hesitated because he would soon be just as poor as he was before his promotion. He soon found that he was not following the societal norms for the way he was treating his colleagues, friends, and peers in entertaining them with his new found luxuries. This soon led to his rejection of acceptance in certain circles at his work. What he failed to realize, is that each promotion involved hidden expectations that he was not prepared for.
18. Failure to understand the cultural aspects of polygamy can result in the rejection of both the missionary and his message. William Reyburn shares a revealing instance about the abuse reaction toward second wives following the introduction of Christianity in one African country. When becoming a Christian became the norm for a certain tribe, the men felt that they must become monogamous. Instead of building a second house for the additional wives to inhabit, the men came up with a more financially profitable scheme to "dispose" of their wives. Since many of the wives had been inherited from brothers, the men felt they could make money by selling their additional wives for money in order to benefit the extended family. They secretly took their wives to remote villages and sold them as "house servants" and kept the money for themselves - in the name of their families. They still considered the wives as their property on loan to the buyers. They said, "This keeps our wives from becoming prostitutes at least, plus it gives them a decent home to live in." They lamented, "The missionaries forced us to get rid of our wives in order to become members of the church." In effect the men were skirting their moral obligation to take care of their wives. By using Christianity as a veneer, the men were using this opportunity to gain money, power, and a greater network of friends. As a result others wanted to become Christians for selfish reasons rather than upright motives.
19. A Muslim man accepted Christianity in order to get his children into a special Christian school. Since, he had many children, the missionaries gladly provided for his children’s tuition, feeding, and accommodations.
However, as soon as his children completed school, he return to Islam. He admitted that he was trying to extract personal advantages from the missionaries and felt very clever for doing it. When he was asked why he did it, he said, "I would only leave my religion when I felt that another offered me something better. Since my only needs, frustrations, and problems were money to provide schooling for my children, I temporarily consented to becoming a Christian, but only on the outside. Most missionaries are only looking at results in terms of decisions and churches planted. They fail to be concerned about the real problems of our people. They continually deny that many of our problems of the spirit world are valid. The "good news" that they preach is not really good news at all in my perspective. It is nothing but propaganda. Why can’t the missionaries pay less attention to their message and more to the receivers of that message? Missionaries are just interested in their personal profit in taking advantages of our people. As long as that is true, many of us will continue to pay lip service to the Christian message, but not really believe it in our hearts.
20. Two women missionaries to Central America grew frustrated at the "hardness" of the nationals. After seven years, they failed to see one convert through their ministry. Finally, the women prayed, "Lord show us what we are doing wrong or direct us to a people who really want to know you!" Just then, their house girl asked them a question, "Excuse me, but why do both of you insist on drinking lime juice every morning?" The older woman turned to the girl washing dishes and said, "It is the only source of vitamin C that grows naturally in this area. Without a good source of Vitamin C we would be susceptible to many different kinds of diseases!" The young girl paused for a moment and said, "Do you realize that limes are used by women for only one reason?" This fascinated the woman missionary who said, "Tell me, what do you use it for?" The Indian girl paused and said, "Women in our village only use lime juice for a contraceptive (To prevent them from having any children). The main reason why our people have rejected your message about Christ is their fear that you want to make them just like you - single women without husbands, children, or families. No one in our village wants to be lonely, isolated, and disrespected like you two!"
This cold truth cut through both of the women like a hot knife. For seven years they failed to consider the obstacle of their message could be something as simple as a glass of lime juice. As soon as they understood the full implications of their actions, they changed their diet and saw several young women receive Christ as their Savior. Suspicions and mistrust gave way to acceptance of both the messengers and their message. They were able to see that the gospel must be couched in terms that the people value it in their terms, perspectives, and experiences. God works within cultures, social structures, and people’s backgrounds to construct a church suitable for every people group.
21. Missionaries who are skilled in contextualization and cultural anthropology can act as mirrors and catalysts for change. Jacob Loewen shared that on a village to a certain village in Peru, he put away his anthropology lecture notes and spoke about how the Lord helped him overcome some divisions between some of his Christian friends and family members. Being led by the Spirit of God, Jacob Loewen did not realize that he was speaking exactly to the central issue bothering the people. They listened with such rap attention that he spoke for over four hours without interruptions. When he finished, one of the men in the audience stood to his feet and asked, "How can I reconcile with both God and man when I have wronged both seriously?" This provided a platform for the communication of the gospel’s message that sparked reconciliation between everyone in the village. Unknowingly, the Spirit of God has provoke Jacob Loewen to act as a mirror and a catalyst for change. Many missionaries, Pastors, or theological teachers tend to prefer a more direct means of communicating the scriptures. They insist that to emphasize experience over the prescriptive truth of the scriptures is a dangerous precedent. They are afraid that future Christian leaders from the village will preach from their experiences more than from the scriptures.
22. One of the greatest difficulties in practicing good cross-cultural anthropology and contextualization is the risk of self-exposure (Making oneself open to those who are different from one’s own people). Willingness to allow others to know one is a vital prerequisite in cross-cultural ministries. Sometimes, cross-cultural workers are interested in knowing the details of other cultures without risking sharing the intimacies of their own background.
The openness to admit personal struggles and defeats is essential in creating a trust with people from different cultures. One missionary-Pastor could not bring himself to admit his shortcomings to the people. He felt that if the people saw him as a sinner, they would lose all respect for him. This inability to practice self-exposure inhibited the man from gaining a deeper level of trust and reciprocity in his relationships with the people. Whenever, the people wanted to spend long periods of time in his house, he discouraged them. He felt that his principle ministry to the people should come through the preaching of the word from the church’s pulpit. As a result the people never understood the true wholistic message of the scriptures until, he left the field. Finally, he was replaced by a local Pastor who assumed the same roles and aloofness of his missionary predecessor. It did not take long for the people to go back to their traditional forms of religion as Christianity lacked the power and answers to their problems that were promised to them by the missionaries.
23. Cross-cultural workers need a deep desire to know the people as well as the ability to allow others to know them. In a church in South America, one of the unmarried daughters of a church elder became pregnant. Even though the missionaries wanted to see the girl disciplined, the elders refused to take action for fear the father would react against them. This frustrated the missionaries who felt that unless this girl was disciplined, immorality would spread like a cancer throughout the church. Finally, the missionaries confronted the Pastor and the elder about the problem. The Pastor said, "All of this is the fault of the missionaries. You are the ones who offered scholarships for these young girl to come to secondary schools. You plotted to try to find good wives for our future Pastors in this school. Because you brought the girl into this school, discipline should first be given to those who initiated the problem. Failure to adequately discuss and involve the national leaders created confusion in the minds of the leaders. The missionaries’ supposed motives for training the young girls led to a terrible dilemma.
24. Cross-cultural workers need to understand their own limitations. Overcoming resistances to one’s messages may involve honestly evaluating people’s opposition to the messenger or the medium of the message. Jacob Loewen shares that a wife of an Indian Pastor in Panama became desperately ill and there was no medicine available. Suddenly, all of the elders and the missionaries were called together to pray for the woman’s healing. However, a sharp debate broke out over which kind of oil should be used - castor, olive, or engine oil. The missionaries insisted that olive oil should be used as this was used in New Testament times. As the woman immediately experienced some relief, the missionaries and the elders returned home. However, the next morning, the woman had a serious relapse. This time the elders refused to call the missionaries to pray over the woman. The next day, the woman was completely healed, but the missionary was suspicious that the elders used traditional medicine and charms to restore the woman to health. The missionary accused the elders of using more than just Biblical means of bringing healing to the Pastor’s wife. When he asked them, why he was not invited they said, "You don’t have enough faith." That reproof hurt the missionary so much that he eventually left the field discouraged, frustrated, and bitter towards the people.
25. There are numerous causes of separation and divorce that stymie the growth of the church in Africa. One man kept his wife in the village in order that he could enjoy his life at a theological seminary. However, during his time in the city, he acquired two mistresses to keep him company. When he was caught, he said, "My wife is barren and she wants me to find a concubine who can give our family a child in order to save face with our relatives. Furthermore, if I took either one of these concubines to my wife for approval, it would show what a weak man I am. My family has been pressuring me for many years to have male children. To reject my own family’s wishes would result in being ostracized. This plan to use concubines to produce sons is a better idea than separation or divorce from my wife. At least it preserves the extended family unity in the least harmful way. What I have done it to choose the path of the lesser of many evils. Surely there can be no wrong in that. This allows my wife to pursue her interests while I follow mine happily. Both of us have our needs met in ways that are pleasing to our families. I am tired of being looked down and challenged as a weak man for failure to have my own male offspring. Most of the men in my village and family are accusing me of becoming impotent when I chose to become a Pastor. They insist that this is a sign that I have offended the ancestors!"
26. Ability to follow Biblical absolutes that clash with culturally correct or ethically relativistic values requires courage and wisdom. Several years ago, Pastor Shewagu Jabai of the Evangelical Missionary Society felt challenged by the Boko people’s insistence that he follow their cultural practices. When Boko women get pregnant they are required to spend at least two days each week in a special smoke house. The people believe that the specially prepared smoke drives away any demons residing in the unborn babies. The Boko people believe that failure to perform this important ritual could create untold horror for the people of Boko land. When Shekwagu’s wife became pregnant, the elders of the village insisted that the missionary tell his wife to sit in the smoke house along with Boko women, but he refused. They threatened Pastor Jabai, that unless he complies with their cultural directives, that he may be driven out of the village. Shekwagu believed that to submit to their cultural values would be violating scriptural truths, so he stood his ground. After Shekwagu’s wife delivered the baby, everyone was afraid to associate with the missionary, for fear that they would be possessed by demons from the new born baby. However, after six months, everyone in the village observed that the child was perfectly normal, free of any demonic influence.
This so affected the beliefs of the Boko woman that they refused to sit in the dirty smoke house from that day forward. Many of them received Christ as their Savior as they could see proof that the God, Shekwagu was preaching, had greater power than that of their gods. Still, many of the men believed that their cultural practices represented sacred truths that could not be violated. As a result many of the wives fought with their husbands for freedom to do what they liked during their pregnancies. Some of the men staunchly refused and accused Shekwagu of causing division in their families.
27. Learning the contrasts between cultures is to provide us with opportunities for understanding where to place strategic cultural bridges. Failure to do this can result in great confusion, resentment, and disagreements. When the Belgians colonized the Ngombe people in present day Zaire, they were shocked by what they discovered. The Ngombe people insisted that all adulterers have one ear cut off for the first offense, a second ear for a repeated offense, a hand hacked off for the third offense, and if the person were caught a fourth time, they would be driven away from the village forever. Seldom would other tribes welcome in such a perpetuator for fear that similar outbreaks of adultery might occur in their village. The Belgian officials abhorred such treatment and ordered it stopped. Instead, they ordered that adulterers be sent to prison. This treatment seemed lame to most Ngombe people. In fact many of them practiced rampant adultery as they could go to jail without any loss of prestige or loss of status in the eyes of their own people. As a result, the relatively low level of adultery skyrocketed. All kinds of venereal diseases spread throughout the region killing hundreds. One medical missionary reported, "If the premarital sexual freedom is allowed to continue, there will scarcely be a Ngombe alive in seventy years. The venereal disease also causes a drastic reduction in the successful birthrates throughout the region. Furthermore, the removal of the heavy cultural sanctions on adultery has led to a severe social disintegrating process.
28. Views of residences have different meanings in different cultural settings. One SIM missionary built his house on the top of a hill in northern Ghana in order to enjoy the cool breezes. However, after three years, the man realized that the village people never visited him in his home. Finally, he persuaded one of the elderly men to explain to him why people would only talk to him when he visited them, but did return the favor. The old man hesitatingly spoke, "You have built your home on the mountain of the demons. Everyone fears angering the demons by treading on their ground. Most of the villagers felt that you must have some special powers to live in their midst so they are listening to you more out of curiosity for your special power secrets. But they are afraid of angering the spirits by trespassing on their ground.
29. In contrast to the Ghana case study, Helen Griffin boldly believed that God had led her to evangelize the Gure-Rurama people of Kaduna State. When she went to the village, the local leaders were only willing to let her live in the juju forest and no where else. When she consented to build her house in the forests of the juju and dodo spirits, everyone in the village thought she would be killed within weeks. However, after one year of carrying on a successful medical and teaching ministry, the people drastically changed their minds toward Helen Griffin. Luka Bawa reports, "Because of Miss Griffin’s faith, the people of Rurama land believed that her God had more power than their own. They were eager to learn how they could gain the power she possessed. As a result many successful churches have spread throughout Rurama land. Miss Helen Griffin’s faith in an all powerful God convinced the Rurama people to become Christians forsaking their dependence and fear of the juju spirits.
30. Learning to communicate accurately with both form and meaning across cultures can be extremely difficult. Communicating across cultures involves understanding the right means of encoding a message according to cultural norms of transmission interpretation, formulation, correlation, function, perception, and usage. In addition a communicator needs to consider the proper channels and filters that must be negotiated for the message to be true, effective, and relevant. Some missionaries may speak the language with grammatical correctness, but fail to understand the connotative-nuances of the words. Take for instance, the missionaries who were translating parts of the New Testament in a West African country. When they came to the word grace, they chose a particular word that someone suggested was a Biblical equivalent for the local language. However, as the years passed, no one seemed to use the word in public - except the missionaries. For years the missionaries saw nothing wrong with using the word in public, but eventually a wise old elder told them of their err. He said, "The way you are using that word for grace makes everyone afraid of it. We only use that word when we want to cast a spell or curse someone. We dare not say it too loudly for fear that someone will accuse us of putting a curse on someone in their family." Probably the missionaries originally asked someone, "What is the word that the people use for what a spirit does to a person." The missionaries falsely assume that something done by the spirit must be good. However, the people assumed that the spirit usually does something bad - hence the wrong assumptions miscommunicate the true meaning of grace in their translation of the scripture.
31. Cross-cultural marriages are fraught with complication for the entire extended family. One sharp young man was given a scholarship to study at a prestigious university in America. Before he left, the elders of the village called him and warned him not be overcome with the ways of the white man. "Remember your roots", they all exhorted him. When he returned to his West African home with his Ph.D., he also brought back a wife. To most people in the village, he had betrayed his true identity and traditions, by marrying outside of his tribe, but to marry a white American woman was even worse. Had he forgotten everything he had learned to value in from his African culture. One day, his mother became seriously ill. Since, the man’s wife did not like living in the man’s village, they had to be summoned from the capital city. When they arrived two days later, everyone felt that the young man would now know exactly what to do in order to restore his mother to health. After, all he had spent eight years studying theology in America - surely he would be able to put his knowledge to practical use now in Africa. A large crowd gathered around the house of the family to see how the young man would apply his theology to providing a wise solution to this serious problem. However, when he saw his mother she said, "Son, I am so glad you are here. Now I know I will be all right." Within minutes, the young man sent for a vehicle to take his mother to a large hospital in the capital city. However, the elders said, "With all of your learning, can you not see that this is a case of spirit possession! Everyone in the village knows that. We just wanted to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your new found powers in driving away the spirits that are causing your mother’s illness." This confused and frustrated the young man since there did not seem to be anything in his theology that could deal with this contextualized problem. In addition his wife, wanted to return to her home country where she could raise her children in American culturally approved ways. To the elders, the young man had lost his identity, self-esteem, powers, authority, and even the control of his own household. They vowed never to allow another young man to be educated in a western country again.
32. Burial rites are extremely important in certain cultures. They give people a great insight into the heartfelt values of any people. One man recently lost his first born son to meningitis. Fortunately, he had just become a Christian before she died. However, since the father was raised as a Muslim, his family wanted to make Islamic burial preparations for the son in accordance with the codes of Islam. The father faced a terrible problem. Should he bury the son in the old Islamic way mixed with his traditional burial rites or according to Christian rites? Many of the father’s extended family now told him, "You see, this is the wrath of Allah for forsaking the faith. If you do not turn back to Islam immediately, Allah will take all of the rest of your family and your possessions as well. The father thought to himself silently, "Did Jesus really let me down? Did I really place my faith in a false god?"
Now that the Islamic Iman was coming to his house for burial preparations, what should he tell him? Should he just go along with Islamic burial procedures to please the extended family and appease the wrath of Allah and the community? Or should he take a stand according to his new Christian beliefs. This posed a great problem for the man since, the only Pastor in the town did not speak Hausa and came from Yoruba country. If he failed to comply with the Iman’s directives, he could be risking his own safety and welfare. Furthermore, the future marriages of his sisters could be in danger if he did not comply with the Islamic burial preparations and rites. However, if he really denied Christ publicly, he feared that his faith was worthless. Finally, he gave into the cultural pressures and had the son buried according to Islamic rites.
34. Many people see sickness as a struggle between sources of good and evil powers. In one African village, a man came down with a life threatening fever. Since, the people felt minor ailments can be cured with natural remedies, they knew that this disease must be caused by someone with great powers. While a white missionaries doctor insisted that the man be treated with anti-malarial drugs, the majority of the elders felt differently. They were not as interested in finding out how he acquired the disease, but WHO and WHY is the MAN SICK! The cause is always related to someone not something in their traditional perspectives. That night, someone saw an owl present which they believe it a foreshadowing of death in the village. To the majority of the people, sickness arises when some person is manipulating the spirits with magical powers. In order to effect a cure for this man, some form of counter-magic or sorcery must be quickly performed in order to save the man’s life. If only someone is able to perform white magic to exhibit greater good power, he will be handsomely rewarded for saving the life of the man. The spiritual causes must be dealt with adequately first in order to alleviate the physical symptoms.
35. Learning to make a transition from cultural dependencies to Christ can be confusing at times. A traditional medicine man named Wilaki found a woman named Monda vomiting and deadly ill. He sensed right away that Monda’s mother’s spirit was angry with her because she was bad-tempered and lazy. Kauya, Monda’s husband agreed with the diagnosis of Wilaki as he had seen Monda beating the children too regularly. Immediately, Kauyu directed his wife to confess her wrong-doing and ask God to send away the harmful spirits along with the sickness. He loved his wife and did not want to find another wife and mother for his children. In a moment of fear, Kauya blew softly on the painful parts of his wife’s body saying, "Mother, go out of her!" The next day, Kauyu picked some leaves from the garden where the mother had been buried. He tied them into a bundle and called to the mother again, "Put back my wife’s good spirits so she may become well!" Then he went back along the track to the village, stopping every few yards and placing an upturned leaf with the stem pointing to their home in order for Monda’ spirit to find its way. Again, when Kauyu got home, he beckoned the ancestral spirits to leave his wife alone.
The next morning, Monda was completely well. Kauyu returned to church the next Sunday, to share his answer to prayer. He told the missionary that he had paid the traditional doctor about N10.00 for his advice. This frustrated the missionary who felt that Kauyu needs to be brought under church discipline for his actions. However, the majority of the people in the church are eager to follow Kauyu advise in seeking healing for their extended family members now that they have seen his successes. (Taylor, p. 205)
Bibliography
1. Apeh, John Social Structure and Church Planting, Companion Press, Shippensburg, PA, 1989
2. Fritz, Paul 504 Sermons Illustrations For the Nigerian Pastor, Great Commission Publishers, 1989
3. Hiebert, Paul Case Studies in Missions, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1987
4. Mayers, Marvin Christianity Confronts Culture, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1974
5. Nida, Eugene Customs and Culture, William Carey, 1975, Pasadena, CA.
6. Taylor, Howard Tend My Sheep - Applied Theology, SPCK, Dotesios Printers, Trowbridge, Wilts, U.K. 1983
