HOW TO TAKE OFF THE MASKS AND LET OUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN
Seldom are people willing to take off their masks of security without sufficient stimulus and reassurance. Many contextualizers have to come to a point of desperation, loneliness, or failure before they are willing to open their lives through disclosure. Few people have learned how to be contextually intimate across cultures. It is often painful to make disclosures of our weaknesses, fears, and past disappointments. How will people really know the richness of Christ’s love unless one is willing to disclose that love through openness? Contextualizers find their greatest openings when they begin to be open. The greatest results in Christ’s ministry came when He was open to the twelve disciples. These were the men who knew Him best and were able to minister because of the close association with Him. In Acts 4:13 people said of the disciples:
``Now as they observe the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled because they had been with Jesus.’’
When we become intimately acquainted with Jesus we are given the courage, love, and security to be intimate with others across cultures. Contextualizers need to see that aloof teaching produces superficial followers. Cross-cultural contextualizers need to be especially reassuring that they are creating an environment of safely, security, and protection for their followers. When they remain vague to their followers about how the Lord is working in their lives, they can only expect their audiences to respond similarly. Contextualizers need to feel a personal relatedness to the needy people they are working with. Missionaries have traditionally not done a good job in taking off their masks across cultures. As a result many services, prayer meetings, and Bible studies lack penetrating personableness. Superficialities abound in relationships on the mission field because of the fear of removing the masks that serve as barriers from hurt. Our lack of intimacy in the social and personal areas greatly diminishes our ability to communicate the deeper meanings of scriptural truth! Only then are we are able to live out Christ’s command:
``By this will all men KNOW that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.’’ (John 13:34,35)
When I pray with people across cultures, I notice that at the outset many people are apt to prayer impersonal prayers. They are afraid to remove their masks at first. Many of my students will pray for school fees, safety in travel, or for the recovery of a sick relative. Seldom, will they pray about a serious character deficiency in their own life or a deep emotional need. However, as soon as I share an intimate need with the group about something very close to my heartfelt needs, the group follows. Recently, I shared that I needed help with a very personal concern of mine. It was as if everyone in the room knew that it was safe to remove their masks and do the same. We had such an intimate time of sharing and prayer that most of the men in the room wept profusely. Many of the men were of the mindset that sharing personal concerns was only for women. They felt that being vulnerable was a sign of weakness. However, when they saw that I was willing and able to expose my needs, they gradually followed suit. Slowly and patiently this open attitude has penetrated my teaching, preaching, writing, and interpersonal relationships across cultures. This has allowed for many leaders, especially the young men in training, to characterize their ministries with openness, intimacy, and mutual disclosures to trustworthy brothers and sisters. If a contextualizers wants his audience to be open, he must begin to model it with his own life and ministry.
Risking rejection is a part of one’s faith expressions. Whenever I as a contextualizer try to pattern disclosures for Jesus’ sake, I find that it makes some uncomfortable. Many, in Africa, are prone to be suspicious and distrustful of others who are too open. They are conditioned to watch their back sides so that no one will get the better of them. Intrigue has become such a common part of African life that few are willing to make themselves vulnerable to anyone outside of their immediate families. No wonder there are few instances of solid qualitative growth in the fruits of the Spirit in many churches. Without the love shining through, the masks inhibit people from growing up into all aspects into Him - even Christ. Gradually, a contextualizer will begin to see a few of his followers confiding in him with their burdens, weaknesses, and problems. Broken hearts are eager to find someone to listen and console them. It may take six months, it may even take a year, but eventually contextualizers will find that the masks will be removed, the walls will crumble and the light of Christ will be allowed to penetrate the darkness. Warmth and personal concerns are some of the greatest keys to opening the closed doors across cultures. People need to know that they can really trust a contextualizer with their intimate secrets. By keeping confidences, a cross-cultural minister can gain entrance where few others have been able to tread. The encouragement, healing, and support this kind of contextualizer can provide is awesome. There have been times in my ministry that I have felt burned from being open, but I realize that the cost is worth the results. Many times, this will disrupt one’s plans in teaching, but if it enables people to share their needs freely it is worth a hundred lessons. The earnestness, sincerity, and freedom to open up it a privilege that will draw people to Christ by the thousands. Everyone wants to be loved. When people realize that the body of Christ is a safe refuge in the times of storm, many will quickly seek its shelter. Wearing masks only makes matters worse, especially in the church.
We begin to strip off our masks when we know how much the Lord loves us. When I was a young man in secondary school, I used academic excellence, golf, and speech awards as my mask to cover my feelings of insecurity. It felt good to be acceptable and commended for what I had excelled at. However, this simply reinforced my inner insecurities. When I got drafted into the Vietnam war in 1971, my masks were instantly stripped away. I found myself in an environment where no one knew me. Worse than that, no one cared about my background, I was a nobody. For the first time in my life I felt alone, vulnerable, and afraid without a legitimate mask to hide behind. It took this kind of crisis to bring me to Jesus Christ. It was during those times of forced disclosure that I cried out to God for His protection, security, and salvation. Contextualizers can look for crisis points in the lives and cultures of the people to whom they are ministering. Often, the Lord is the one who initiates the stripping away of peoples’ false barriers. He knows how and when and through what mechanisms to perform this delicate surgery. Prayer is the key that will often set this process in motion when contextualizers enter their new environment for church planting, evangelism, and church growth ministries!
When I first came to Nigeria, eleven years ago, I found myself putting on new masks that tended to inhibit my contextual communications. At first, I used the masks of my individuality and educational background. Gradually, I could see that most of my mature students who had Pastored for more than 10 years saw through this thin veneer. They challenged me about the realities of the truths I was teaching. Calling for greater contextualized relevance from my lessons, they badgered me until I felt like quitting. Finally, I learned that I had two choices. Either I could continue to teach on a superficial level and avoid the scrutiny of the students or I could risk removing my masks for the sake of great contextualization. I sensed that choosing the former path would only lead to frustration on all levels so I gradually abandoned it. Now my classes are moving more toward open discussion periods where the students have chances to interact on a personal level about the materials presented. Since, many students are eager to learn, this task has become easier through the reciprocal willingness to strip away masks in the sanctity of our seminary classrooms. This way, no one feels like a fraud. We all know that we are learners, including myself as the teacher. We are in the process of overcoming our inadequacies together through Christ. We are giving a living model daily of how God can overcome our weaknesses through the open disclosures and integrations of the material with the intimate experiences we are sharing in the ministry. No one is allowed to belittle another in the discussions. Instead we are trying to affirm each person’s worth and their willingness to grow emotionally, socially, intellectually, as well as spiritually. Love provides the safety net for all of us to experiment!
Since many people have grown up with negative influences, there is a need to recognize the processes of loving self-disclosure. When most of us were growing up we experienced criticism, fighting, and hostility from our parents and playmates. Although we all may be skilled in covering over the hurts from our past, many of us are used to secretly belittling our strengths. Worse yet, we are unaware of our thankless attitudes towards what we have in Christ. It is painful for me to admit that I not as open as I would like to be in my cross-cultural relations. Last night, someone from Lagos, Nigeria, came to my door whom I had never met before. When he asked me to speak at a church growth conference in Lagos next month, I told him, ``NO!’’ Then I became convicted by the Spirit about my masks of busyness etc. Eventually, he told me about his ministry, his conference on church planting and church growth coming up in Lagos. I felt the Lord has given me many things worth sharing and it would be cheating God and His people not to be willing to share these blessings. I could have missed a great opportunity unless I was willing to share my time with a stranger. Even the scriptures tell us,
``Do not be negligent in showing hospitality, for in doing so some entertained angels without knowing it.’’ (Heb. 13:2)
Being open to new people, ideas, and new opportunities is part of expressing great faith. Contextualizers must be able to express their faith in tearing away the masks that inhibit the flow of light to the dark corners of this world. When we disclose truths to people we must be sure that we share our convictions about these ideals. Without passion, truth is hard to swallow. When a contextualizer is able to preach with great excitement, he is convincing. So many missionaries who were successful in the past may not have been articulate, but they were passionate. They were open with their feelings, emotions, and attitudes about the Lord, His word, and His will. Most contextualizers will find that they communicate far more with their heart than with their heads. For seven years I worked as an associate Pastor of youth in Southern California. Consistently, the greatest effects of my ministry came through the open-intimate times of sharing-caring with a few people. These 15 people are now in full time Christian work as missionaries, Pastors, and teachers. No doubt, many of them were helped with my teaching, but most were disciplined through the close associations they had with Godly leaders. Heb. 13:7 gives us a tremendous insight into the importance of sharing our convictions intimately with our cross-cultural followers when it says:
``Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith!’’
If contextualizers want people to remember their ministries of faith, they will have to strip away the masks to let the light shine forth unhindered. It is a mistaken notion that contextualized Pastors, missionaries, and teachers need to hold in their frustrations. Instead, Jesus openly shared his frustrations, anxieties, and feelings of sadness with His followers. This human side of the ministry seems sinful, but it is not. More than anything, it communicates a solidarity with your audience. It gives them a window into your soul. They are able to see that you are communicating the whole of Christ in and to and through you. The greater your disclosure of Him through your life, the greater will be your ministry!
Do not fall into the trap of simply revealing past difficulties, allow the present ones to have equal disclosure as well. Obscure presentations of Christ through you can be given when you are showing people only the victories overcome in the past. People live in the here and now. They want a Christ that lives with them in the present as much as in the past or in the future. Often, I have to really worked to get my African students to move their attentions from the past to the present. It is always easier to reveal things from the past, but it is more important to reveal present struggles. Paul said, ``Forgetting those things which lie behind, I press forward for the upward call of Christ Jesus.’’ (Phil 3:14) Contextualizers need to ask their cross-culturally audiences about their present struggles, needs, and feelings of inadequacy. The past has value in that it can clarify our present struggles. Contextualizers can gain tremendous insights into people’s present perceptions by studying their past histories, but it is not enough. We all make our decisions in the present, not in the past or in the future. This is the critical ground where contextualizers live, move, and minister.
Many contextualizers fall into the trap of repeating the same mistakes of their parents. When I was growing up I seldom remember hearing my parents, especially my Father complimenting me or expressing love. Even though I was pretty sure that my parents cared about me, they seldom showed physical or gave verbal indications of their unconditional love for me. Part of their German heritage was that physical and verbal displays of affection should seldom be shown. There was a false belief that if too much of this was done, people would become emotional, weak, and undisciplined. As a result it was hard for my parents to show much positive emotions toward my sister and I. Since my sister was the defiant one in the family she bore the brunt of my father’s ire. Even today, she bears the emotional, social, and spiritual scars of one detached by the numerous masks she wore to protect herself. She is unable to share her feelings with anyone except my mother in intimate ways. Loads of potential is locked up inside her because she is afraid to remove her masks to those around her. An inability to communicate with those around her has also hindered her ability to have a deeper relationships with God. There is an amazing verse in I John 4:20,21 which says,
``If anyone says they love God but fail to love their brother, they are a liar. For the one who loves God must love His brother also.’’
There is a reciprocal truth in that verse. If a person lacks the ability to give and show love to a brother, there must be something lacking in his ability to appreciate the love of God. A lack of self-disclosure skills will similarly limit anyone from becoming effective in communicating contextual messages to a needy world. We overcome our fears of self-disclosure when we are wholly trusting in His care, protection, mercy, grace, and unlimited powers!
Some contextualizers are good at disclosing certain areas of their lives, but not others. They are selective in the areas that they want revealed to people. It could be that some of us are afraid of appearing discreditable. We often fear that if some people know our weaknesses in some areas they will automatically assume that we are incompetent in all aspects of life. Such defensive ways of thinking indicate a lack of faith and a poor self-image. We must remember that regardless of people’s assessments, we are perfectly acceptable in the eyes of God through the transforming blood of Christ. When I lack the ability to open myself to my students or fellow professors at the seminary it hinders the flow of truth. My own protective feelings are limiting the scope of my ministry as I am blocking the flow of Christ’s power through me. Removing our masks will inevitably reveal Christ’s compassion, confidence, and power through a servant who gives of us best to the Master. It will encourage others to share their own problems in less defensive ways.
Naturally, the Bible warns us that we are not to disclose ourselves to anyone. Proverbs 27:5,6 says, ``Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of A FRIEND, but the kisses of enemy are deceitful!’’ This presupposes that we want to share our intimate ideas principally with those who are trustworthy friends. Throwing our pearls before swine defeats the purpose of contextually effective communication of truth. I naturally hesitate to take off my masks in front of people who have a proven track record of untrustworthiness. Even Jesus did not reveal everything about Himself to anyone. Recount how He guardedly acted in from of Pilate when it is written, ``And to the accusations of the chief priests and the elders against Him He made not reply.’’ (Matt. 27:12) Jesus knew the hearts of men and refused to answer them because He knew they would hear only what they wanted
to hear. Being discrete in whom we disclose ourselves requires wisdom that comes from above. It is better however, to disclose in faith than to hide behind our fears.
Contextualizers can use the following tool as an implement to aid in their ministry of disclosure. Johari developed his window to aid people in developing their interpersonal relationships. It reveals the hidden frustrations, fears, and insecurities that keep us from reaching our potentials. When a contextualizer is able to model openness in the following four quadrants it gives an example to others to do so. Contextualizers can use the following tools as a catalyst to greater credibility, authenticity, and genuine convictions about truth of the God’s word. The greater visibility people can see Christ through you, the greater willingness they will express in nurturing the Christ in them. Jesus confronted hypocrisy with condemnation because he knew how inhibiting it was for others to be real before believers.
1. Known to Self
2. Known to Others
3. Unknown to Self
4. Unknown to Others
Part of learning the discretionary skills of self-disclosure of our image in Christ is to learn about ourselves. It is true that contextualizer cannot know someone else’s culture without understanding his own. Likewise, he cannot expect to be able to successfully disclose his own convictions unless he learns about how they were formed and what they are. Here are some of the processes through each of the four quadrants:
1. The Unknown Area - There are things about each of us that no one except the Spirit of God knows. Perhaps the Lord gradually will reveal some of the unknown aspects at the proper time. I have seen God gradually take some of these unknown elements such as my gifts, callings, and parts of His will and move them the hidden area or the blind area. But apart of God’s plan for our lives involves trusting Him for the aspects of life that are beyond our capability of understanding. Isa. 55:8,9 and Deut 29:29 indicates that the ``Secret things belong to the Lord our God.’’ His sovereign and omniscient will knows what our finite minds can handle so He lovingly withholds certain information from each of us. Contextualizers must learn to trust God for this and not insist on knowing everything before they are willing to comply.
2. The Blind Area - Commonly missionaries are blinded to many of the cultural insights that insiders have to the cultural ways of communicating contextually. Contextualizers need to be open to the feedback that they get from their audiences in order to learn about these idiosyncracies.
Case Study - During the writing of this section, we lost electricity. When I went down to report the fault to the Nigerian Electric Power Authority (NEPA), I thought about all of my previous confrontations with the technicians at the headquarters. Frustrated for days that they would not come, I became annoyed and lashed into them for their supposed indolence. Through the years I have learned that my methods tended to make matters worse. Now I take the opposite approach with my friends at NEPA. This afternoon, I went in and smiled and said, ``I appreciate so much the tremendous job all of you are doing. We have enjoyed wonderful service from you for years. I realize how difficult conditions in the country are becoming for everyone. Let me just express my gratitude for your resourcefulness during these days. After greeting everyone, the boss jumped off of his desk and said, ``Is there anyway we can be of service to you?’’ I thanked him for his courtesy and said, ``Mine is small problem that your men will be able handle in less than five minutes. A small fuse has blown at our sub-station. If you will give me the services of one of your men for five minutes I will personally escort him to remedy the problem and promptly return him to you!’’ Within five minutes our entire compound enjoyed the restoration of power! I had to learn that one can catch more flies with honey than salt!
Although the aspects of our blind areas is obvious to others, we may purposely close our own eyes to our problems. In my case, I had to be willing to take the log out of my own eye, before the NEPA boys were willing to deal with the speck in theirs. We all need caring before we are able to face some of the flaws in our own character. Thankfully, the Lord sent some men with the Navigators along during those difficult days when I was drafted into the Vietnam war to believe in my potential. This enabled me to have enough secure feelings about my self-image to deal with some of the serious weaknesses in the blind areas of my character. Contextualizers need to come to grips by with their blind areas. It may take being in a protective, nurturing, and instructive environment like a theological school before some of these blind areas can effectively be dealt with. Jesus helped His disciples go through three years of nurturing in order to disclose some of their blind areas, like those of Peter’s impetuousness. Contextualizers will have to be patiently confident that God can work the same kinds of transformation in some of their converts before their churches develop their own leaders.
3. Hidden Area - Contextualizers cannot afford to be closed people. Hermits are people who enjoy living in solitude. Some of the early Christians formed monasteries thinking that this was the best way to get close to God, forgetting that there is a synergistic balance between our horizontal (Human) and vertical (Divine) relationships in life. Contextualizers who emphasize the divine without expressing love for people are cold-impersonal saints. Those who emphasize human fellowship while neglecting their communion with God end up being man pleasers. Do you have several people in your life who you are able to share your intimate feelings, ideas, and thinking? We all need people with whom we can reflect some of these hidden aspects with or we will be stymied in our growth. Just as God chose to share the mysterious-hidden parts about Himself through Jesus Christ, so we must be willing to lay aside part of ourselves for others. Through disclosing our purpose, calling, and concerns for others through our service, we are revealing the hidden parts of Christ to a world that He knows is lost. Satan wants these hidden aspects of the Lord shielded from the eyes of world headed for eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord. In many cases, contextualizers are some people best hope of having the power and salvation of God revealed to them. Are we so selfish and insecure that we are going to keep such a precious gift hidden?
4. Public Area - Many contextualizers are willing to disclose information only in this area to their audiences. This is the area that is known both to the individual and to the public with which he seeks to minister. If contextualizers are content to simply reinforce what is public knowledge, they are failing to disclose the whole truth of the scriptures. The smaller this box, the less the contextualizer has in common with his hosts. The larger it becomes the greater opportunity the contextualizer has to encourage the disclosure of all the attributes of Jesus to every person. I often think that a contextualizer who is really doing his job in disclosing the complete attributes of Jesus to the host culture will have a diagram that has 50% public area, 30% hidden area, 10% blind area, and 10% unknown area, as illustrated below. This contextualizer would be opening up new insights about the Lord and His will to his students, members, or followers through the encouraging of the removing of masks of unbelief, fear, and disobedience.
