I attend a very non-traditional church: Worship feels like a rock concert, secular songs are often used to help connect that week's message to the culture, and speakers go out of their way to explain words like tithe, redemption, salvation, justification--words that Christians usually understand, but sound like a foreign language to others.
As you can imagine, my church is a comfortable place for people who don't have a church background. However, I noticed something interesting. During worship, my congregation full of people with no church experience begin to raise their hands during parts of songs that say "Hosanna" or "Hallelujah." Now, to be totally honest, I have a Bible degree and I don't fully understand the meaning of those words.
So how did a congregation of people with limited church experience know that those songs were "worship cues" and respond by raising their hands?
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| Photo Credit: Tonya Christner (creationswap.com/dtcchc) |
I live in the middle of the "Bible belt," so even though my church attracts many people who don't normally attend church, they are at least familiar with Christian culture. This explains why people in my church are comfortable with unusual words like Hosanna and Hallelujah.
However, when a missionary begins ministry in a foreign culture, they not only need to learn a new language and culture, but they also have to learn a new church culture. The minister has to become a student of that church's culture. When adapting to that new culture, he must remember that different isn't wrong.
Example? Some people are very still and quiet in church, but will go to a foreign church that dances during worship. Maybe the missionary is from a culture that shuns alcohol, but is now in a church where alcohol is not taboo, maybe it's even used in Communion.
Church's Place in Culture
If the missionary ministers in a place where the church is not yet established, they will not only have to translate Christianity, but they also have to translate Christian culture--concepts like worship, prayer, fellowship, etc. This has historically given secular culture a very low opinion of missionaries, because missionaries confused aspects of their home culture as aspects of Christianity.
For example, missionaries have forced new foreign believers to begin to act Western after their conversion, because the missionary thought that culture shaped Christianity. This is also how cultures with strong military cultures became known as barbarians and savages.
The missionary is responsible to analyze Scripture, their home church culture, and the culture, and figure out what elements are truly Christian, what elements from the home culture need to be abandoned, and what elements of the foreign culture will help that society better understand Christ. Fortunately, this approach to culture is much more prevalent now.
Pray For Your Missionaries
Take a moment to think about the missionaries who have passed through your church. In order to be successful at their job, they have to be Bible scholars, culture scholars, language scholars, and extremely wise in how they balance each of these duties. Take a moment to pray for the missionaries who have visited your church, even if you don't remember them by name--before they can even begin ministering or evangelizing, they have to accomplish so many things that they probably never even considered before.
Let's Talk Culture
Take a minute to tell me about one thing in your church that definitely reflects your culture and wouldn't necessarily translate well to a foreign culture. Also, if you've heard any great missionary culture screw up stories, please share!
