Contextualization

Contextualization

            Contextualization amid mainstream society is widely demonstrated through the use of popular music forms and church structure that reflects a CEO led business. Examining the New Testament it appears to demonstrate that contextualization is a normative practice within Christianity.[1] Dean Flemming, noted New Testament Professor, asserts, “Contextualizing the gospel is inherent to the mission of the church.”[2] When considering the concept of contextualization amid the marginalized people of Portland, Oregon the New Testament presents a trajectory of contextualization.

The trajectory of contextualization in the New Testament begins in the Gospels with Jesus, the Christ by presenting a descriptive Christology. George W. Peters, Professor of World Missions, writes about the issue of contextualization amid the Gentiles. He asserts,

It must be realized that there is no real gospel message – good news – for the Gentiles before the cross and resurrection of Christ. In his cardinal and redemptive facts of incarnation – sin-bearing, death and resurrection – Christ identified himself with mankind. In his life, culture, and earthly ministry he identified himself with Israel as predicted in the Old Testament.[3]

Flemming makes a statement that supports Peters’ assertion that contextualization of the Gospel began with Jesus, the Christ’s identification with humanity through the incarnation,

The incarnation of Jesus serves as a key paradigm for a contextualized mission and theology. The New Testament declares that the eternal word of God was enfleshed in Jesus of Nazareth (Jn 1:14). Through his incarnation, Jesus explained or “exegeted” (exēgesato) the Father to us . . . he embraced the human context in all of its “scandalous particularity.”[4]

Flemming goes on to elaborate about contextualization in the New Testament, but moves the trajectory from the Gospels to include the book of Acts, he asserts, “The book of Acts tells the story of a church whose very identity involved expressing the good news about Jesus in multiple settings and among new groups of people.”[5] Contextualization is demonstrated through the incarnation of Jesus, the Christ in the narrative Gospels and continued to be demonstrated in the narrative of the church. The need for contextualization of the Gospel exists in contemporary societies as it did during the first century. Marginalized people are culturally distinctive beyond the reach of the institutional church’s ability to influence them. In order to reach marginalized people in contemporary society, contextualization of the Gospel offers the opportunity to create and sustain dynamic relationships, but it is not enough in and of itself. Theological praxis is the driving force of contextualization.

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[1] For further reading concerning contextualizations relationship with Christianity and culture refer to Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions; Dean E. Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission (InterVarsity Press, 2005); David J. Hesselgrave and Edward Rommen, Contextualization: Meanings, Methods, and Models (William Carey Library, 2003); Hiebert and Meneses, Incarnational ministry; Hunter, The Celtic way of evangelism; Paul G. Hiebert, Robert Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou, Understanding Folk Religion: A Christian Response To Popular Beliefs And Practices (Baker Books, 2000).

[2] Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament, 25.

[3] Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions.

[4] Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament, 20.

[5] Ibid., 41.

PDX Culture and Context

“Keep Portland Weird;”[1] These bumper stickers on vehicles throughout the Portland Metro area resound the native declaration about the culture within this regional area. The moniker, Keep Portland Weird, was intended to help support local businesses, but has become a major cultural theme. Weird, as unique, is a fitting description of the Portland Metro area. The culture of Portland is pluralistic, diverse and unique: “Weird.” Portland demonstrates that it is culturally a postmodern and post-Christendom metro region through its resistance to Christianity that is pervasive in the general culture. Portland, Oregon is the third least churched city in the United States of America with 42 percent of the population “of whom had not been to a religious worship service in the last six months,” as well as, the second in the lowest share of self-identified Christians at 71 percent.[2] Deviance from mainstream cultural norms is not necessarily viewed as negative in the diverse segments of Portland, Oregon.

Portland is known for being a haven for a large number of sub-cultural groups such as the punk movement, hardcore, crust punk, anarchist and subgenres movements.[3] It is also known for the prolific sex trade industry with more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas, “the largest legal sex industry per capita in the nation.”[4] Portland culture has a significant Gay, Lesbian, Transvestite and Transgender population with a strong activist mentality.[5] Portland offers significant opportunities for the gospel, but the atmosphere of the general population is not open to the traditional or institutional church with the prevailing postmodernist and post-Christendom shift.

Dealing with this sociological construct of a culture that is closed to Christianity has created significant issues for the contemporary institutional church that is seeking to engage the milieu. The use of mass evangelism within Portland only seems to exasperate the forward movement of the gospel. The plurality, diversity and high level sub-cultural marginalization does not create an atmosphere that is receptive to the Attractional, Propositional and Colonial Church. In the milieu of the marginalized in the Portland Metro area there are some expressions of ecclesia that have been successfully created and sustained. Forms of alternative missional ecclesia amid the punk culture, homeless, anarchists, the unwanted tribe, and the sex workers, as well as, amid the burnt over areas that were considered high target areas for church planting.

This paper is about these exceptional forms of alternative missional ecclesia that have found expression amid the marginalized people, thereby establishing that the institutional church is not relevant amid marginalized people. The question is simply, “how”? How were these ecclesial expressions created? What sustains them? Are there certain practices and strategies? Is it just innovation and experimentation that has allowed them to continue? Is there biblical and historical precedence for the praxis of these ecclesial groups? What theological praxis is at work amid these churches? Is there a common thread, praxis, behavior, or story that unites each ecclesia? What is evident is they offer unusual solutions to paradoxical problems for the institutional church.

Each one of the forms of ecclesia that are part of this study has one initial common characteristic; they unknowingly have engaged the Positive Deviance Approach in relationships amid their marginalized communities. The leaders or practitioners in the ecclesia practice and behave in manners and ways that go beyond innovation and experimentation. They demonstrate an intuitive sense for cultural context that brought about an effective contextualization of the Gospel amid the marginalized through their theological praxis. Contextualization involves a focused concern in order to create an environment of trust amid the marginalized.

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[1] The website for Keep Portland Weird reads, “Keep Portland Weird is about supporting local business in the Portland Oregon area. We want to support local business because they make Portland stand out from other cites and make it a more unique place to live. They do this by providing consumers a wide range of products that represent the different cultures that make up Portland. Local businesses also have pride in our city and are driven to make Portland a better place to live and enjoy.  What does the word weird mean? Webster states ‘of strange or extraordinary character.’  Weird in this case means unique. “Keep Portland Weird!”, n.d., http://www.keepportlandweird.com/, (accessed October 8, 2011).

[2] “The Barna Group - New Barna Report Examines Diversity of Faith in Various U.S. Cities”, n.d., http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/435-diversity-of-faith-in-various-us-cities, (accessed October 9, 2011).

[3] “Portland Culture | Portland Living”, n.d., http://portlandliving.org/about-portland/portland-culture/, (accessed October 8, 2011).

[4] “Portland Emerges as a Hub for Child Sex Trafficking - ABC News”, n.d., http://abcnews.go.com/US/portland-emerges-hub-child-sex-trafficking/story?id=11690544, (accessed October 9, 2011).

[5] “Portland Culture | Portland Living.”

Church in Culture

   Church in culture is not a new concern or conversation surrounding cultural contexts and the contextualization of the Gospel. There is a general fear and concern by the church that by engaging marginalized people in contextualization via culturally relevant activities, the church will succumb to syncretism. Culture in itself is a constant factor in human society, as well as, in ecclesia / church. Defining culture in broad general terms William Kornblum writes,

We can define culture as all the modes of thought, behavior, and production that are handed down from one generation to the next by means of communicative interaction – language, gestures, writing, building, and all other communication among humans – rather than by genetic transmission, or heredity. This definition encompasses a vast array of behaviors, technologies, religions, and so on – in other words, just about everything thought or made by humans. . . . A society’s culture consists of all the ways in which its members think about their society and communicate about it among themselves.[1] 

 

According to Kornblum ecclesia is one aspect of a society’s culture. In his writings, Newbigin confirms this definition in a shorter version, he writes, “By the word culture we have to understand the sum total of ways of living developed by a group of human beings and handed on from generation to generation.”[2] Newbigin asserts the importance of the church in culture by placing both the church and the gospel directly within the culture of a society. He asserts, “There is no culturally neutral position. North American culture has its unique embodiment of the gospel.”[3] Newbigin more fully explains his statement about the lack of neutrality within culture, especially where ecclesia and the gospel are concerned, he asserts,

Every statement of the gospel in words is conditioned by the culture of which those words are a part, and every style of life that claims to embody the truth of the gospel is a culturally conditioned style of life. There can never be a culture-free gospel. Yet the gospel, which is from the beginning to the end embodied in culturally conditioned forms, calls into question all cultures, including the one in which it was originally embodied.[4] 

 

Newbigin’s diagnostic suggests that the difficulty the church is experiencing within culture is due to the embedded cultural orientation. Newbigin gives a further assessment in the diagnostic of the ecclesial struggle for identity. He writes, “The Christendom curse/context is the main context for Christian dialogue – this makes it extremely difficult to break out of the limitation imposed by Christendom upon conversation with non-western civilizations.”[5] This perspective represents Newbigin relating his personal missionary encounter within non-western cultures, but the transition in North America to a postmodern and post-Christendom culture correlates with his conclusion. The conclusion is the church in western societies is embedded completely within culture. The church in culture has lost its place as the central creative force. Louis Dupré, Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Yale University, in an interview asserts, 

. . . the West appears to have said its definitive farewell to a Christian culture. Little of the old hostility remains. Our secular colleagues are happy to recognize the debt our civilization owes to the Christian faith to the extent that the faith, having been absorbed by culture itself, has become simply another cultural artifact. Christianity has become an historical factor subservient to a secular culture rather than functioning as the creative power it once was.[6]

If Dupré’s conclusion is correct then it is no wonder the church in culture has lost its position of influence. Western culture in North America particularly has as one of its basic premises individual freedom. It is the radical individualism in the United States of America that has produced the cultural transition that has moved the church out of the center of culture.[7] The societal structure of Western civilization allows for individual freedom. Newbigin asserts, “Western civilization has created an individual centered culture rather than a community centered culture. ‘The autonomous human being is still the center – with total freedom of choice.’”[8] Individual autonomy in itself takes away any compelling reason to embrace any particular truth claim and opens opportunities for all truth claims to be treated on an equal basis. Dupré states, 

Culture itself has become the real religion of our time, and it has absorbed all other religion as a subordinate part of itself. It even offers some of the emotional benefits of religion, without exacting the high price of faith demands. We have all become atheists, not in the hostile, antireligious sense of an earlier era, but in the sense that God no longer matters absolutely in our closed world, if God matters at all.[9]

Dupré in this interview goes on to describe the lack of church in culture in the West due to the overarching triumph of over two hundred years of cultural transition. The subordination of Christianity was inevitable.

This subordination of Christianity in culture is exactly why the metro area of Portland, Oregon is the focus of this paper: due to the cultural characteristics of the inhabitants of this area. Portland provides a unique opportunity to examine the future of the church in a postmodern and post-Christendom culture and the development of alternative missional ecclesia amid the marginalized people. The challenge of contextualization of the Gospel amid the marginalized with a meaningful theological praxis should be of great concern for the future of the church in North America. The lessons learned through the practitioners who have successfully created and sustain ecclesia amid Portland’s marginalized people may hold significant influence upon contextualization practices and strategies.

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[1] William Kornblum, Sociology in a Changing World (Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003), 56.

[2] Newbigin, Foolishness to The Greeks, 3.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., 4.

[5] Ibid., 7.

[6] Louis Dupré, “Seeking Christian Interiority: An Interview with Louis Dupré”, n.d., http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=214, (accessed September 8, 2011).

[7] For further reading on the issue of radical individualism see David Myers, The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000).

[8] Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, 15.

[9] Dupré.