I recently attended a conference and engaged with some colleagues on a trip to Asia. Such trips are so hard to discern as far as what is success and what does it mean for things to go forward, but I can say one thing for sure much more is learned on the ground than by staying at home.
People came to our table at a conference whispering different questions about contextualization, which can rarely be answered in a moment, but you share a source, follow up, dialogue, and try to understand each other even as you are trying to understand what it might look like to represent Christ to others.
One colleague asked, “How do you share the Gospel with X group?” I dodged the question but reflected about it for hours after. I managed to pass the colleague a Bible storying app in that language as well as later passed on a few thoughts about different groups and ways of sharing the Gospel, while emphasizing the importance of maintaining connection to family and community, as this group is from another religious heritage.
Additionally, I ran into a ministry, which on the surface serves the practical needs of different communities in their context. However, under the surface is a well thought out and orchestrated ministry, which truly empowers leaders at every level including Jesus followers and those who do not know Him. This seems to be what Kingdom ministry would truly reflect.
People behave in ways that the Gospel commands by taking care of the poor, the orphan, and the sojourner, and some of those sojourners, orphans, and poor later contribute to the ministry as leaders. However, beyond this rich view of leadership and empowerment is a deep understanding of contextualization and what it means to embody Christ. By that, I mean beyond merely a view where individuals serve one another, which is great, but imagine a collective organization that serves the needs of others and even steps back and allows those they serve to take the lead and direct.
This is what we mean by the term “alongsider”. A person who realizes that far more is and can be done by those who are inside their culture. For that reason, one of their leaders introduces people from that community who explain Christ in a contextual way, so that folks might consider maybe I, my family, and my community can also follow Christ. One is never sure how folks may react to this message, but it is more easily understood when it comes from someone who you have high regard for and who proves that they care about not only you but also your family and way of life.
This presents Christ in a way where one can truly think through him on their own terms and grow in understanding, because they do not have to learn a new language, vocabulary, or change their relationships. They can merely consider Christ from where they are and walk through gradual steps of what following him may look like. This requires time, shepherding, and patience. It occurs at a different pace than our typical understandings of Western evangelism. However, this pace allows us to get to know others to share our lives with them and learn who their lives impact. This slow articulation and embodiment of Christ’s words and ways help others to truly consider Christ rather than foreign religion or philosophy. However, to do that, we, the foreigner, must go deeply into another’s culture.
