Missions and Cultures

Missions and Cultures

 By Kurai Chitima

Humanity exists in socio ethnic cultural groups. The work of Christian missions involves all people. All people were created by a mission focused God in his image. All people sinned and are in need of salvation (Rom. 6:23). Jesus brought redemption to all people. New Testament references of him having come for all and whosoever are numerous. He commissioned all his followers to carry the gospel and share it with all people (Matt. 28:18-20). We read in the book of Revelation that all people gathered before Gods throne (Rev. 7:9). The cultural mosaic that comprises the mission field and the mission force of the gospel demand expression of the Christian faith in ways that are relevant to the specific cultures it targets. The gospel messenger therefore faces the challenge to express the gospel to suit the recipient context such that all who need clarity and conviction to believe understand and appreciate the story.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded his followers to facilitate the Christian formation of (disciple) nations, ethne (ethnic) groups. Missio dei is therefore not only for the transformation of individuals, but communities. As John S. Mbiti put it, “full conversion is never a point in history: it is always a process affecting the inner man and his total environment. It may take several generations to reach maturity in a given community. (263)”. This cross cultural mandate has ramifications which are not within the scope of this paper to fully address. Missions are invariably cross cultural in nature. The mission challenge is further intensified by the fact that we live in times when globalization has created hybrid cultures through, for example, the migration of people across former people-group geographic boundaries. Lloyd observes that in Africa, due to modernization and colonization, new social groups, especially westernized [youths and] elites, have been created (13). They have become cultural groups that must be understood and to which the gospel must be relevant. Jesus, as illustrated in John 1:14 and Philippians 2:5-11, made the greatest cultural leap of all time. He crossed from living as God to being a servant in order to identify with humanity so that he could reach humanity. That is the example followers of Christ are to follow in leaving the comfort zones of their cultures to reach out to people of other cultures with the love of Christ.

REFERENCES:

Extract from Chitima, K. An Investigation of Public Leadership Formation in Select Zimbabwe Churches. UMI Dissertation Publishing(BiblioLabsII), 2011

Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. Oxford, Heinemann International, 1969.

Lloyd, Peter C. Africa in Social Change: Changing Traditional Societies in the Modern World. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1967.