Say the word "contextualize" in a Southern Baptist Bible-belt church and you'll get a reaction equivalent to that of saying a cuss word.- Matt Chandler, Pastor of The Village Church, Dallas, Texas
Gospel contextualization is attempting to overcome the natural cultural barriers that bar the Gospel from having their fullest effect on the receiving audience. And it's something, that as a 2nd generation Korean-American, I feel very compelled to say my very itty-bitty two cents about.
After hearing the great message at KCM Chapel tonight and, especially hearing the story about how the Gospel ended up in Korea, I am more aware than ever now of the need to realize that the Gospel, when relating to Korean American, has so many cultural barriers to overcome.
I'm not really going to go into specifics about this because it's such a broad topic to talk about. But I do know this one thing. Jesus didn't come to the Earth to save only Korean Americans. This is an obvious statement, but it's one that, in my opinion, leads us understand that there is much to learn from other "ethnic" groups of Christians. Granted, many of us have been raised only in the Korean sphere of influence and thus, because that sphere in SoCal is humongous, are probably instilled with a sense of not really needing to understand others. And I'm not condemning that as a "false" understanding of the Gospel. Rather, I would ask you, brothers and sisters, to consider that, in many ways, the Gospel calls us to behave and act in a way "not of this world." (John 17:16) This applies to all areas of our lives, including the culture that we live in.
I'll try and share more of my thoughts about this later.
