Gospel & Culture

1. COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies, Hyderabad
Gospel & Culture

2. There are two levels of indigenization that happened in
India; one is “institutional indigenization” and the other is
“popular indigenization”. The missionaries and missions
agencies that had come to India initiated only
institutional indigenization that gave priority to the
expansion of their western type of Christian witness in
an Indian form. They neglected the popular
indigenization that is related to the indigenous faiths,
theology, and cultures (415-430). The Indian mission
practionars such as Sadhu Sunder Singh, Subbarao,
Father Devadas, Bakhtsingh, Dayanand Bharati, etc.
had given more importance to the popular indigenization
because they related their mission practice to the people
of other faiths in India.

3. Early Missionaries’ Ministry Approach
non-western cultures as inferior to western culture
No distinction between culture and religion
culture is essentially a religious act

4. “the Western Churches assumed that
they had the best culture and the
Gospel must be proclaimed to every
nation in the Western cultural forms.”
J. Mattam, “The message of Jesus and our customary theological language: An Indian
approach to a new language in theology and inculturation,” Exchange 34/3 (2005): 129.
Christianity was and is identified as a religion of
the West and it did not grow in the Indian culture
in a way that it could make a significant impact on
Hindu society

5. Elite Indian thinkers “rejected Christianity because it was
alien to the spirit and life of the people of India and it
was considered to be an ally of Western Imperialism.”
Y. Vincent Kumar Doss, “The Swadeshi Movement and the Attitude of the Protestant Christian Elite in Madras,” Indian
Church History Review XXXII/1 (June 1988), 15.
Christianity propagated by the foreign missionaries was
branded as a denationalizing force and the Indian
Christians as agents of western Imperialism.

6. L.H. Morgan’s “Stages”
Morgan saw all cultures
evolving through three
stages
– Savagery
– Barbarism
– Civilization

7. Cultural evolution models
• Every element of culture
moves from simple to
complex
• From “primitive” (tribal) to
“civilized” (modern
Western)

8. Viewing Other Cultures:
The Attitude Spectrum

9. Attitudes toward other cultures
Click the correct answer
Ignore Reject Tolerate Understand Embrace

10. Contextual Church planting: An Approach to Relate with Indigenous people
1. Denying/Rejecting the old cultural practices and beliefs
Local cultures, religious beliefs & practices were considered evil
2. Accepting everything that is in the local culture without questioning
3. Evaluates the cultural and religious practices critically and adopts those
that get along with Biblical values

11. Critical Contextualization
The minister does an “exegesis of the Culture”: The
culture of other faiths needs to be studied thoroughly
before passing any judgment
New followers of Christ should be given freedom to
evaluate their cultural differences in the light of
God’s word

12. Critical contextualization neither denies the
people’s old cultural practices nor accepts
them uncritically; rather it deals with the old by
studying and critically evaluating it in the light
of Biblical norms

13. 1 Cor 9:19-22:
“I become all things
to all men, that by
all means I might
save some.”

14. Mission Practice: How?
Relational

17. Contextual Church isn’t a monorail
event in which content is the only issue

18. Contextual Church Planting two
rails
 Content (Gospel)
 Incarnational
(Our lives)
Verbal + Visible

19. So, what’s incarnational about it?
 The unbeliever comes to see
Christ through His incarnation in
the believer
» Latin lesson: incarnation = “to make
flesh; infleshment”

20. Unit 4a: How & why do Hindus worship at home & in the mandir?
How & why do Hindus worship? As well as worshipping in
their homes at a shrine,
Hindus also worship at the
mandir.
What does the word “worship” mean?
Can you think of other words to describe what
“worship” means?

22. The incarnational rail
 “We have souls that thrive in
the warmth of kindred spirits. .
. .God wired us this way, and
because of that wiring we have
the capacity for relationships” -
-Doug Fields
Incarnational rail
Content rail

23. Contextual or incarnational
Church:
 Is step-by-step (but not the step-by-
step of the prophetic “the Bible says”
approach)
• “Conversion typically results from a ‘chain’ of
experiences. The number of significant
experiences in that chain is typically about 30
links.”
– Contextual Church creates those links

24. What were the links in
your life?

25. Contextual Church Planting:
1. Its intentional focus on friendship
places a high value on people
1. “Every person has a right to hear the Gospel in
a way that they can understand” – Jim Rayburn,
Young Life
2. Earns you the right to be heard
1. Relationship produces:
1. Respect
2. A sense of safety
3. Conviction that you care

26.  Recognizes God’s prevenient
grace is always present
– Latin lesson: pre-venir = grace
that “comes before”
– The Lord goes before us and
prepares the way

27. Contextual Church
Planting:
 Is an intentional transforming
journey involving a process
– Takes patience

28. The listening part of
Contextual Church
 Listen. Listen.
Listen . . .
And really
hear.
Listen to the Hindus, Hindu beliefs, practices
and cultural values

29. Dr. Pothana
bhaktapothana@gmail.com
+91-8309511427