Innovative Ministries

and slow, tongue-tied and fluent, cerebral and artistic, English speaking and not, and everyone in between – and to find ways for every one of us to be not audience members, but full participants in the life and the worship of the church. Nathan Nettleton is pastor of the South Yarra Community Baptist Church in Melbourne, Australia, and teaches liturgical studies at Whitley College in the University of Melbourne. Alison Sampson is associate pastor of South Yarra and a public health expert. The article contains excerpts from a paper presented to the BWA Commission on Baptist Worship and Spirituality. The full paper was published in Baptist Faith & Witness, Book 5.

mission. Unexpected global migration and development of traffic and communication provide unprecedented opportunities that had never been dreamed of in the days of the apostles. At the same time, globalization spreads the idea of equalitarianism to all nations, ethnic groups and cultures and, as a result, nationalistic attitudes have been fortified.

T As a direct result, Christian missionaries are seriously restricted in

their access to some nations and to engage in ministry. Hermeneutics, theology and communication formulated by a Western worldview, which were once taken for granted, are gravely questioned. Since the era of Christendom, colonial rule and imperialism, Western Christianity assumed a triumphalist attitude, consciously and unconsciously. The values triumphalists attempt to preserve are not the Word of God, but are theological and cultural understandings that emerged from Western perspectives. As we move into the new era of globalization, non-Western

congregations those songs and hymns from the global church. When a local church neglects hymnbooks it is in danger of falling into what Methodist Theologian Justo González dubbed “heretical,” in the sense of looking at Jesus only from their own exclusive perspective. Thus it is necessary to discern how to use the various hymnbooks available in order to enrich the worship service. New songs must be present as well as old ones, national and international, in order to more faithfully perform the triple task of worship: cultural, counter-cultural and trans-cultural. If more than 80 percent of the hymns you know have been translated into your language, there is a pressing need for more expressions of faith in your native language. Those translations may be beautiful, but they are still translations. There must be a place for international songs in Christian worship, but the core of our singing should be produced originally in our language. Furthermore, the current production of “praise and worship” songs is generally too weak in theological foundations. This is another reason why more original hymns must be written. Most of the songs used today are focused on the individual and not the community. Most do not address the communal nature of the Christian faith. Most lack any reference to the social dimensions and implications of the Gospel. Joel Sierra is a past vice president of the Baptist World Alliance

people are challenging Western Christianity to reconsider two things. The first is to make Christianity their own by taking off the shell of Western culture and putting on their own. It is to demand new issues and different understandings from those of Western theologies. Evangelicals have failed to meet both of these requests. Some evangelicals have been so concerned to preserve the purity of the Gospel and its doctrinal formulations that they have been insensitive to the cultural thought patterns and behavior of those to whom they are proclaiming the Gospel. They had not recognized that their understanding of the purity of the Gospel and doctrines were partially products of triumphalism. They failed to pay attention to cultural factors disturbing evangelism and church growth in the field, as Donald McGavran mentioned. The Willowbank Report states, “some people reject the Gospel not because they perceive it to be false, but because they perceive it to be alien.” The second challenge that demands new issues and dif-

ferent understandings requires more serious consideration. First, an illustration: Millard Erickson’s textbook on sys- tematic theology, one of the popular books for evangelical students, gives 22 full pages to explain the concept of trinity. However, in my estimation, in Asia where the idea of mystery is appreciated we need only one sentence of propositional explanation. “Trinity God exists as three Persons, but one God,” would be more than enough. It requires long explanation and polemics to satisfy

Western idealists perhaps, but Asians do not need such complicated polemics. Non-Westerners, rather, expect to know the different practical issues of the Bible, such as biblical teachings on poverty and injustice. Erickson’s thick textbook,

with more than

and pastor of First Baptist Church of Monterey in Mexico. This article contains excerpts of a paper presented at a meeting of the Commission on Baptist Worship and Spirituality. The full paper was published in Baptist Faith & Witness, Book 5.

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pages, never mentions such issues. The absence is not because the Bible doesn’t mention these issues, but because those are not matters of interest for Western (Continued on next page)

APRIL/JUNE 2016 7

CONTEXTUALIZING THE GOSPEL TRANSFORMING THE WORLD By Timothy Hyunmo Lee

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oday, “globalization” is a notable feature of the world. Globalization is both a blessing and a problem for Christian