Cultural-Context Ministry Is as Old as Creation

Ministry within a cultural context may be one of the newer phrases making the rounds in religious circles, but the concept is as old as God Himself.

"God did it," Jim Gustafson reminded a group of pastors gathered to discuss the challenge of planting new ethnic ministries. Gustafson is executive director of the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church. He was one of two speakers addressing the Hispanic Ministry conference dinner as part of the annual pastors retreat of the North Pacific Conference currently under way.

Gustafson provided a general overview of the challenges faced in ministering to people of other cultures. Walter Contreras, director of Hispanic church planting for the Pacific Southwest Conference, provided a closer look at Hispanic church planting. (See Contreras and Gustafson in accompanying photo.)

Gustafson reminded his audience that God did not require us to find Him, but rather He came to us. "He became flesh and lived among us," he said, quoting the John 1:14 passage of scripture. "Jesus is the model missionary for all of us," Gustafson said, noting that Christ went to the people and dealt with them where they were - in the context of their own culture.

"There is a misconception in the United States," Gustafson said. "We think we are one culture and that everybody else is different. That is not true. We are a collection of cultures." He said those involved in mission work often make the mistake of trying to make other people in other cultures "be like we think they ought to be.

"One travesty of missionary work is that we (Christian community) go out into a diverse world and plant the flag of Christianity and claim them as our field," Gustafson continued. "It is as though we are conquering territory. We think it's ours. That is not God's mission.

"There is nothing more important than God's grace," Gustafson declared. "That's all there is. That's cross-cultural ministry. Grace flows out to others through us."

Gustafson explained that the Covenant approach views world mission as partnerships, not mission fields. "God is not about finding a church in Thailand that looks like Chicago or Oregon," Gustafson explained. "We need instead to develop the vibrancy of the gospel in their own culture. Our job is not to plant what we desire, but rather to do what He wants." Using Thailand as an example - a place where Gustafson spent the majority of his years as a Covenant missionary - he said, "they need to be Thai and experience God's grace in the context of Thai culture." Put another way, he said it is important that the Thai people see Jesus as one of their own, not a westernized and imported deity.

Gustafson shared an experience years ago when he visited a Thai church. He was told to arrive early. As people started filtering in, spontaneous singing and dancing began. For an hour and a half people were engaged in Thai dances and singing Thai songs in praise of God. Another western observer was critical of the worship, noting the group had not sung even one traditional hymn familiar to the observer. That was Gustafson's point - if worship didn't follow a prescribed worship pattern, then it couldn't be real worship, at least not to that western observer.

One of the dangers Gustafson sees creeping into much of mission work is the push for uniformity in what is done. "We do not need uniformity - we need unity and diversity," he said, noting that the two concepts are often confused. "My fear is that the drive for unity can become one of uniformity - to be like me," Gustafson warned.

It is in the areas of unity and diversity that Gustafson sees great strength in the Evangelical Covenant Church, grounded solidly in a concept he calls "focused flexibility," where the unity of belief in the new life in Christ is the focus and the diversity of the church provides the flexibility.

"The great thing is that we are one in Jesus Christ," Gustafson said, "and that's not uniformity, that's unity. We need to affirm each other's culture."

Echoing Gustafson's message of ministry in a cultural context, Contreras called for pastors to be students of the culture, especially those involved in church planting. This is especially true with Hispanic ministry, recognizing that although Hispanics may share a common language, they come from very different backgrounds. The word Hispanic, in other words, is not a "one size fits all" descriptive term. Mexican Hispanics, culturally speaking, are quite different from Puerto Rican Hispanics, he noted.

"The church must be flexible in working with Hispanics, to respect their culture," he advised. He offered a four-step process for churches considering participation in Hispanic church planting efforts:

• Develop a project plan, including funding and implementation
• Consider methods of recruitment and assessing potential church planter candidates
• Determine the best method for providing training
• Establish coaching and monitoring processes, including coaching the sponsoring congregation

Hispanics face many challenges in making the transition to life in the United States, Contreras said, noting there are an estimated 32.8 million Latinos in this country, according to U.S. Census reports. "The church can play a role," Contreras said, stressing that the Covenant with its history of diversity and flexibility is particularly well poised to reach out to this growing population.

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