Reflections From Sunday Evening

"Indigenization" - defined as "the fact of making something more native; transformation of some service or idea to suit a local culture". A number of years ago mission theory took a shift. There was a move from sending people of one nation to share the gospel with people of another to equipping people in the culture to be reached to share among their native country. (That was a tough sentence. You probably need to read it again). That puts the message in the language and culture of those being reached. This takes other forms. I recently mentioned our practice of taking a secular song and building a service and message around it. That is taking something from the culture we seek to reach and putting it in another culture (Christian) so the message is shared in the language of those we seek to reach. Indigenization! This is a practice that has been going on for some time. In 325 A.D. church leaders convened the Council of Nicea. From this gathering came the Nicene Creed. Feel free to look it up. It's basic thrust regards the nature of Christ. There is a word used that distinguishes orthodox teaching about the person of Christ. It is a Greek word. (You can feel free to look that up too). The point is not to do a Greek grammar lesson. The point is that the word was taken from the secular culture. It was a word used in the pagan world of their day. It was taken and inserted into this early Christian creed. That could have had the effect of making the Nicene Creed indigenous. A familiar word was given a Christian meaning. That is what we do when we seek to communicate the Gospel to a culture that is yet to embrace the faith. We speak in the language of the culture we are reaching. Of course there is a line drawn somewhere between relevance and missing the point. That is our challenge. For now we continue to look for ways to effectively communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ in ways that do not compromise the truth of our message yet more clearly relates to the culture. It's a challenge but also a joy. On another note... Only 15 more Chiefs games to try to sit through this year. But it could be worse. You could be a Cowboys fan! It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve