The Apostle Paul’s Cross-Cultural Contextualizing Ministry - I Cor. 9:16-23
Paul believed in the POWER of the gospel to transform lives. Yet he also appreciated the COMPLEXITY of this process. He resisted any attempts to submit to the indoctrination process of Pharisaicalism. He combined an amazing ability to integrate the "continuous-supracultural" aspects of truth with the particular-immanent aspects of most relevant local truths. Over the years of ministry in Africa, I often reflect how the apostle Paul would have approached particular situations in contemporary Africa. Sometimes, it appears that his teachings and methods would be too harsh and polemic. Yet, Paul’s ability to become all things to all men that by all means he might save some would have made him an ideal missionary within Africa. The question seems to be, what kind of missionary methods, messages, and identities would he have assumed as a missionary strategist in our contemporary African seen with all its complex tribal, social, political, and religious tensions?
No doubt Paul would have become a serious student of African concepts of God, The Spirit, man, power, and spiritual forces and their effects on the affairs of people. He would have worked to draw linkages between the African concept of a High God and that of the knowable attributes of God through the scriptures. He would have loved to show fulfillment in many African traditional religious perspectives that God is a Lord of all power through the absolute power found in Christ, His words, and His Spirit. Because of his emphasis on connections, Paul would have deeply involved himself with the brethren from a number of tribes who would have served as mediators for the gospel across social and cultural lines.
Grace would have been interwoven into every interaction, lesson, and committee meeting with the elders so as to contrast the gospel with the law. Whereas Paul would have identified with the importance of the group collectivistic attachments because of his Jewish background, he would have laid emphasis to each individual’s responsibility before God. While he would have been able to support the African idea of the transcendence of God, he would have countered any notions of God being unapproachable, inactive, or reachable only through intermediary spirits. He would have accented the attributes of God’s holiness, creatorship, and Fatherliness to African who see family as the very center of life, nurturing, and identity. Yet he would have lovingly and firmly shown how the ancestral spirits cannot be manipulated in order to work favors for the family. Especially, Paul would have been bold to refute the concept that God does not have control over all of the spirits since they are too numerous.
Similarly Paul would reject the idea that people can be puppets for the spirits to work their deeds without the consent of their wills. Steadfastly clinging to the truth that power is not to be used for selfish ambition, Paul would encouraged more Africans to be self-supporting bi-vocational Pastors. Paul would constantly give examples in contemporary Africa of how he would support himself wherever possible so as not to be a burden on anyone. While Paul would argue that the power of God cannot be manipulated, His Spirit’s directing can still be discerned through the still small and sometimes subjective voice of calm. He would be open to the concepts that God still speaks today through people, through dreams, visions, and even through the exercise of certain spiritual gifts in the church. Paul saw the power of God as being given to certain people for the supernatural enablement to accomplish cross-cultural missionary work. Therefore, he would probably emphasize that some of God’s greatest blessings would continue to be found on the frontiers of missions, evangelism, and church planting ministries!
Paul would revel in the African holistic perception of life that refuses to separate the spiritual from the physical, philosophical, or social causes of man’s problems. The failures of many present day Pastors to teach the word with accuracy or without relevancy would give Paul considerable remorse since he told Timothy, "Study to show yourself approved of God a workman who does not need to be ashamed handling accurately the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:14) He would integrate the notions that our battles are not simply with ruthless military rulers who suppress the people for their own selfish gain. No doubt Paul’s ministry would encourage many young men and women to ascend the political ladders so as to become all things to all men in the government positions of leadership. However, Paul’s priorities would definitely reflect the Biblical emphasis on service to the spiritual aspects of man above all else.
Whenever Paul would hear of the following instances, no doubt he would warn those who practice such things that if anyone preaches another gospel besides the true one, let them be accursed. Paul would refuse to mince words with those proponents of African Independent churches who insisted on syncretizing the truth for the sake of compatibility with their traditional religions.
Example - The Nigerian Saturday Punch, Vol. 15. No. 16,466 of May 23, 1992 reported the following incident. "A prophetess of an Evangelical Church at Iperu-Remo, Ogun State (name withheld) has been arrested for allegedly beating a teenage girl to death. Punch gathered that the girl, Tolulope Sholuade was beaten to death because she was alleged to have been possessed by an evil spirit. Sources disclosed that the prophetess allegedly used some "spiritually treated" canes to flog the girl when she (the prophetess) and some pastors failed to exorcise the alleged evil spirit from the victim.
It was learned that the "spiritual flogging" which lasted four days made the girl to fall into a state of coma before she finally died and was hurriedly buried.
The aggrieved father, who reportedly got a hint of the incident through one of the church members, was said to have raised an alarm which led to the arrest of the prophetess and the victim’s mother. The Assistant Police Commissioner in charge of the Directorate of Investigation and Intelligence at Eleweran Police headquarters, Abeokuta, Mr. Solomon Anegbode who confirmed the incident, said the girl’s body would be exhumed for post-mortem examination."
This method is in sharp contrast with Paul’s encounters with evil spirits. Instead Paul took more of a teaching approach which characterized every phase of his ministry. Out of his resident teaching school ministry, God was pleased to work great deliverance ministries through Paul. Observe the approaches, timing, and perspectives Paul took toward the battle against the forces of darkness from Acts 19:8-20:
"Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publically maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas (A drachmas was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage). In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power."
It is worthy of note that Paul did not go out looking for demons to exorcise. Neither did Paul seek to confront the forces of darkness, but concentrated on preaching, teaching, and building leaders up in the truth. He saw every household, synagogue, school, community, and organization as a potential sending agency for the gospel. The note of Paul’s authority, freedom, and power is almost an after note, since it is almost assumed so he did not have to flaunt it before men. Many missionaries, preachers, and teachers allow the ministry to become a "power trip". It is as if they somehow think that they are the possessors of the power rather than the instrument through whom God has chosen to dispense His power. Paul resisted this tendency to become authoritative, manipulative, and irritated when things did not work out as he planned. In Paul’s contextualization ministry, there is a flexibility without being vacillating. Paul emphasized that the word of God is quick and POWERFUL able to discern the thoughts of a man’s heart and able to cut directly to heart of all matters. From this teaching, God allowed many miracles to pour out of Paul’s ministries. This Paul demonstrated in his life, works, and his oral ministries.
Another fascinating characteristic of Paul’s cross-cultural ministry is that he was sensitive to each context. Using local terms, languages, and references to particular needs, Paul would begin with an understanding of the peoples’ perceptions of truth, salvation, God, Christ, The Spirit, and the condition of man. Paul was especially aware that meanings were primarily in people and not just in language. His teaching was a dynamic interaction of the truth he received from the Spirit and its reflection to the changing conditions of the people. Consistently Paul used the Old Testament as a series of proof texts to reasonably support his teaching. Observe Paul’s approach as he uses Jewish history and the scriptures in Acts 13:16-31. His integrative teaching method shows how a teacher in Africa will have to be abreast of the facts of the social, economic, historical, political, philosophical, and religious elements of the day. Proverbs 24:3,4 says:
"Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense and profits wonderfully by KEEPING ABREAST OF THE FACTS."
With Africans Paul would probably assume the same approach as he did with the Lystrans when he said in Acts 14:15-17:
"In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycanonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to God. Contextualizers need to find out how cultures and youth sub-cultures inscribe ideas of friendship, sexuality, ideology, spirituality, responsibility, success, failure, acceptance, self-esteem, potential, views of the church, mentors, conventions of proper behavior etc. To discover these covenantal priorities is to gain an avenue into the heart of where most visions of greatness or mediocrity are shaped.
Young Adulthood - Communal Covenants - When I look at the book of Romans 12:9-21, I see the ideals of the contracts that young adults need to make in order to maximize the rest of their lives. This set of communal covenants begins like this:
"Let love be without hypocrisy (duplicity of motive), abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor others above yourself. Never be lacing in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’;s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. (A sign of brokenness or repentance that reflects an ancient Egyptian ritual in which a guilty person, as a sign of his repentance, carried a basin of glowing coals on his head. The meaning would then be as you returning good for evil you may cause another individual to repent or change his attitudes to you and the Lord) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Paul outlines the ideals to look for in cultures and in spiritual terms for young adults who are making marital, family, vocational, educational, parental, and community choices that will determine their lifelong directions. Thankfully, contextualizers have many positive and negative models in the pages of scripture and in society to illustrate the importance of right covenants.
Adulthood - Vocational Covenants - A mature physical and spiritual adult affirms and reaffirms the creative and re-creative promises of life such as to re-create the ideals of marriage from the scripture and his culture into reality. He renegotiate with his employer or employees about how to realize the maximum success in their vocational contracts. He reassesses his career goals in the light of present day realities alongside spiritual commitments. He readjusts the roles, responsibilities, and efforts he is making in parenting to his children. He rediscover the essential aspects of his lifelong goals, values, hopes, and needs in the light of the previous covenants that he has made. The Bible says to these adults, "Whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, serving the Lord wholeheartedly as to the Lord and not men." (Col. 3:23,24) Often, adults are hard to deal with if they have found that their previous covenants have yielded them pleasure and success in their own efforts. A degree of dissonance or dissatisfaction have to be injected into adults before they are willing to consider changing any of the allegiances to their present, past, or future commitments.
Maturity - Integrity Covenants - These mature elders are in a summaritive and reflecting stage of life. They are trying to resign the fact that some of the covenants were broken or misaligned with their life’s investments. In order for one to disengage from one’s life covenants in marriage, family, career, economics, and social responsibilities, one must be able to reconcile himself with his gifts and callings from God. Without the ability to assess his life’s contributions in light of his past covenants and the future covenants to God in eternity, this stage of life becomes depressive and filled with anxiety about death. Contextualizers can use these opportunities to help the elderly to strengthen their previous covenants to God, His will, and His kingdom’s growth in numerous physical ways (wills, testimonies, donations, teachings, foundations, endowments, inheritance etc.) and also spiritual ways (Spiritual disciples, churches, love, spiritual children, leaders left, theological schools etc.) By trying to align one’s spiritual and physical covenants toward one’s investments toward eternity, the contextualizer can enable these final day covenants to become some of the most significant!
Humans are covenanting creations of God that live successfully or unsuccessfully on the basis of our covenants. There is always a danger of becoming stagnant in clinging to certain covenants without realizing that we are in the process of growing through these stages of commitments. Developing individuals and communities around their covenants is a part of every society in the world from time immemorial. By respecting the covenants that have been made and are being made, we will be able to better gain respect for the contextualization of the messages of scripture. Neither the communities or the individuals’ covenants should take precedence over the other. Both are necessary for the church and the individual to grow up into all aspects of Christ. The possibility of falling short of one’s covenants are real for both groups and individuals. By observing the consequences of these failures, one can gauge the degree of motivations to fulfill covenants. Both are able to find full maturity in balancing the integration of one another’s covenants - physically, culturally, and spiritually (On both a universal and local level)
