Contextualize This! The Gospel in a Worldly Context

Effective contextualization is important.

Culture is inescapable. Each an every one of us, who claims the name of Christ has been called to exist within the diverse cultures of this world and to do so as Aliens.

Citizens of a heavenly realm inhabiting earthly kingdoms. To inhabit this world faithfully is to contend with a culture that is in many ways foreign to the Kingdom of God. The tension created by this engagement is called contextualization.

Contextualization has been a buzz word and heated topic for some time now, I have written copious amounts on the topic, because it is near and dear to my heart. My team has summarized some of that here, with links to past articles.

Simply put, Christians are called to share the gospel in every nation and culture. The effectiveness of our sharing is often, in part, determined by the way in which we learn, respect, exegete, and communicate to, the culture in which we are living.

Below we have organized a series of posts together on ‘ins and outs’ of contextualization-- why we do it, why we need it, and its benefits and its dangers. Read more