Culture clash

Culture clash

1. Yeshua went to the Samaria where he made His disciples eat bread, drink water and stay in Gentile homes. This was totally against their Jewish culture. He did not impose Jewish culture on the Samaritans but rather he taught His disciples to merge with the local culture. He also chose a characterless woman as the ‘man of peace’. (John Ch. 4)

2. Barnabas was a Jewish missionary to the Gentile church at Antioch. He went and brought Paul who knew Gentile culture. Some Judaizers followed them and tried to impose Jewish culture, which was not approved by the Jerusalem council. (Acts 15:20)

3. Churches are planted in the context of the local cultural worldview. Jewish churches were planted in the context of the expected Messiah, which meant nothing to Romans who worshipped Caesar as Lord. Indians are ‘Guru’ oriented and Yeshua must be projected as the ‘Sat Guru’ (truth teacher) to satisfy their quest for truth.

4. The indigenous tribals are animists who believe in spirits that exert ‘power’ over their lives. To them salvation by grace through faith means little. All the NT churches and most of the emerging churches in India and other countries were planted following a “power encounter”, such as a miraculous healing or deliverance from demons. To them, Yeshua needs to be projected as the “Super Power”. (Rom. 15:19; 1Cor. 2:1-5)

5. Hindus worship ‘Ishta Devta’ or “favorite god”; amongst many gods, but like the Jews they also believe in the “Most High God” whom they call Mahadeva.

6. The Great Commission tells us that we should make disciples of all ethnic and cultural groups. Every cultural group has its own marriage, family, government and social mores. No group has the right to impose its culture on others. Syncretism violates the Gospel. Paul accused the Jews of syncretizing their culture on the Gentiles, just like the modern churches impose their church culture upon others, which is nothing but Western culture. 

7. Many people, especially women and youth cannot get baptized for sociological/economic reasons. Compelling such people can cause serious problems. The word ‘baptism’ needs changing to a more culturally acceptable term like ‘bath of purification’. Western ‘church culture’ is a major obstacle to conversion, resulting in millions of non-baptized, real believers in the world. It is not the lack of baptism but contempt for baptism that condemns.

8. The word ‘Christian’, which was a derogatory word, should be substituted with local word like ‘Yesu Bhakta’ (Worshipper of Yeshua) or follower of Baliraja (King who was sacrificed), or Sat Guru Margi (Follower of True guru). They should be taught to follow indigenous forms of worship which includes “bridges” from their sacred texts. Originally Christians were known as the ‘People of the way’. (Acts 9:2; 18:25)

9. Even the word “church’ can have a negative, Western, colonial connotation. Good, local, replacement terms include jamaat (gathering) and sat sang (Truth gathering).

10. We are not here to destroy their worldview but to project the gospel into their existing context, just like Paul did when he told Athenian intellectuals that he had come to tell them about their own Unknown God.