Transcript Mark Naylor FEBInternational and Northwest Baptist Seminary http://www.nbseminary.ca/churchhealth/cild/competence-intercultural-change-agents EXERCISE At your table make two lists: • What aspects of the gospel don’t make sense to the.

Mark Naylor
FEBInternational and Northwest
Baptist Seminary
http://www.nbseminary.ca/churchhealth/cild/competence-intercultural-change-agents
EXERCISE
At your table make two lists:
• What aspects of the gospel don’t
make sense to the kids (why not?)
• What images or pictures or
explanations of the cross resonate
with the kids (why?)
EXERCISE
Is this Penal substituation picture how you
understand the significance of the cross?
Do you see this as one metaphor of the
cross, or the essential meaning of the
cross?
What objections do (or would) teens
raise from such an explanation?
EXERCISE
Which of these images resonates the
best / least with you and which ones do
you think resonate the best / least with
Canadian teens. What would be the
reason for the resonance or lack of
resonance?
Conversions, Church Planting,
People movements
The only thing that counts in
missions is the one thing that
is impossible for us
– to change people’s hearts
EXERCISE
Well which is it? Do we come up with a
great gospel presentation that
connects?
Or do we just tell the gospel the way it is
and let the Holy Spirit do the work?
Pioneering Church Planting
This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. It began as the prophet Isaiah had written:
“God said, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you
to open the way for you.’ Someone is shouting in
the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord; make a
straight path for him to travel!”
So John appeared in the desert baptizing and
preaching. “Turn away from your sins and be
baptized,” he told the people, “and God will forgive
your sins.”
Mark 1:1-4 TEV
Our job is to make the path
straight, to prepare a road
People
Group
Contextualization
Only God can make a grape!
EXERCISE
Which principles for presenting the
gospel message in a Sindhi context also
are valuable for the Canadian teen
context?
EXERCISE
Summarize the gospel as the message of
the cross. Boil it down to the main
essentials.
Gal 1:6-9
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to
a different gospel-- 7 which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion
and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if
we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel
other than the one we preached to you, let him be
eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now
I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other
than what you accepted, let him be eternally
condemned! 10 Am I now trying to win the approval of
men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were
still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of
Christ.
EXERCISE
Steve Taylor’s (Proclaiming p. 104) idea
that the gospel is like a diamond – many
faceted. But is the gospel also “one”
(Gal 1:6-9). How can the gospel be one
and, at the same time, many? What is
the “one gospel”?
EXERCISE
Agree-Disagree: All truth is only known
from a given perspective.
EXERCISE
Spend 5 minutes and write down why the
cross / gospel message is significant for
you. Share at your table. Choose one
person to share their story with everyone.
EXERCISE
• Is the issue of sin a key part of what is significant
for you? If so, does God punish sin? Or does
God destroy sin? Does God cleanse us and
remove sin? Does God deliver from sin? Are
these different? How do each relate to the
sinner? What different images do they evoke of
people, of God, of what is important in life?
What do you base your answers on? What is
your metanarrative / driving metaphor? How do
you tell the story different using the different
motifs? How does God's role change?
EXERCISE
• What is God like? What description
resonates with what is significant for
you? What does not? Why not?
–
–
–
–
lover of an unfaithful wife
father
judge
creator
EXERCISE
• What are some biblical metaphors
• Which of the biblical metaphors
resonates with you? Why? Which
ones do not?
EXERCISE
• Why do people not accept the
gospel message? Brainstorm
reasons.
Contextualization: crosscultural gospel insertion that
leads to faith
Incarnational paradox = a bridge to something new
that is already part of the culture
Communication (new)
Relevance (bridge)
Resonance (already part)
Culture Metaphor
Folders!
Covey, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, p. 26
The country is Canada. The city,
Hockeytown – a city in which only
one sport, hockey, has ever been
played. It is the only sport that has
ever been imagined by the
residents. To them hockey is not
just one of many sports, but is what
defines sport. Bobb Yorr has just
returned from a visit to another city
in which he was introduced to the
sport of Tennis. Grett Ski has never
been out of his city and so, for him,
“sports” is defined by ice rinks,
hockey sticks and hockey nets.
EXERCISE
• How do you verbally describe love
or beauty or music? Do you have
someone in your life that you love or
find beautiful or music that moves
you? Describe how beautiful that
person is or how much you love that
person to others at your table or
what that music is like.
EXERCISE
• Why bother with metaphors? Why
not just tell the gospel story and
leave it at that?
EXERCISE
• Contrast Jon and Sarah’s research,
pointing out theological weaknesses
of both. Yet one works, the other
doesn’t. Why?
Worldview refers to the fundamental
beliefs a particular ethnic group have
about life, the universe and everything.
Why?
42
What Culture is
• Visible
• Invisible
Don’t stop at WHAT,
ask WHY?
It is the significance of
the act that counts
Worldview Constructs
Sort the following words into categories
God
lawn
cow
sky
death
sculpture
man
angel
goodness tree
earth
sea
girl
miracle
love
economy
demon
bread
spirit
water
garden
wheat
blood
house
unicorn
soccer
judgment
music
Worldview Constructs
Four Aspects
(Blah, Blah, Blah)
1. Role of God
2. Identity of Humanity
3. Relationship between
spiritual and material
4. Eschatology (telos)
Worldview Constructs
Materialist
WYSIWYG
absolute
GOD
Material
World
powers
Angels,
Satan,
Jinn, etc.
Eschatology: Death is end
Worldview Constructs
Animist / Pagan
Haunted
Absolute GOD: absent / uncaring
powers
Angels,
gods,
Satan,
spirits
Jinn, etc.
Eschatology: spirits may return to impact
the living. Peace in netherworld
Worldview Constructs
Pantheism / Monism
Omnipresent Supergalactic Oneness
Absolute = creation = personal
Karma
powers
Reincarnation
Angels,
Satan,
Jinn, etc.
Eschatology: loss of identity into God
Worldview Constructs
Cosmic Dualism
Dualing Yodas
Creation =
material expressions
powers
GOOD
Angels,
Satan,
Jinn, etc.
Eschatology: Eternal tension,
we choose our allegiance
EVIL
EXERCISE
• Draw your worldview
Worldview Constructs
Monotheistic
Biblical
Absolute = Personal
GOD
Creation
powers
Angels,
Satan,
Jinn, etc.
Eschatology: harmony,
judgment
Options
How do you deal with people whose God is
too small to appreciate the gospel?
a. Challenge their worldview intellectually
b. Assume and teach according to your
own worldview and let them work out
the cognitive dissonance
c. Give resonating metaphors that
demonstrate what God is like.
EXERCISE
• Does this redemption / ransom
metaphor appear in our culture? Is
there anything in our culture that
speaks of the possibility of / or need
for / or of a value for redemption?
Gen 2:20-24
[There] was no companion suitable for him. 21 So
the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep
sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up
the place from which he had taken it. 22 Then the
LORD God made a woman from the rib and
brought her to Adam. 23 "At last!" Adam
exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone!
She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken
out of a man." 24 This explains why a man leaves
his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and
the two are united into one.
Gen 15
Then the LORD told him, "Bring me a three-year-old
heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-yearold ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10
Abram took all these and killed them. He cut each
one down the middle and laid the halves side by
side. He did not, however, divide the birds in half.
11 Some vultures came down to eat the carcasses,
but Abram chased them away. 12 That evening, as
the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep
sleep. He saw a terrifying vision of darkness and
horror.
Gen 15
13 Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be sure
that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign
land, and they will be oppressed as slaves for four
hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation that
enslaves them, and in the end they will come
away with great wealth. 15 (But you will die in
peace, at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations
your descendants will return here to this land, when
the sin of the Amorites has run its course."
Exo 24
When Moses had announced to the people all the
teachings and regulations the LORD had given
him, they answered in unison, "We will do
everything the LORD has told us to do." 4 Then
Moses carefully wrote down all the LORD's
instructions. Early the next morning he built an altar
at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve
pillars around the altar, one for each of the twelve
tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent some of the young
men to sacrifice young bulls as burnt offerings and
peace offerings to the LORD.
Exo 24
6 Moses took half the blood from these animals
and drew it off into basins. The other half he
splashed against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book
of the Covenant and read it to the people. They all
responded again, "We will do everything the LORD
has commanded. We will obey." 8 Then Moses
sprinkled the blood from the basins over the
people and said, "This blood confirms the covenant
the LORD has made with you in giving you these
laws."
Luke 22:20
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you.
Heb 7:15-22
And what we have said is even more clear if
another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 one
who has become a priest not on the basis of a
regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the
power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is declared:
"You are a priest forever, in the order of
Melchizedek." 18 The former regulation is set aside
because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law
made nothing perfect), and a better hope is
introduced, by which we draw near to God.
Heb 7:15-22
20 And it was not without an oath! Others became
priests without any oath, 21 but he became a
priest with an oath when God said to him: "The Lord
has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a
priest forever.' " 22 Because of this oath, Jesus has
become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Why is Jesus’ death necessary?
• Covenants are sealed by the bond between life and death.
– in the OT covenants, always a blood sacrifice
•
•
•
•
we are dead = separate from God (spiritual death)
For separation to be healed it takes a substitutionary death
Jesus enters into / identifies with our death,
One with humanity in the consequence of death, he then
raises to life those who are “in Christ”
• In Jesus, this covenant is unbreakable and deals with the
essential problem: separation from God.
• Fits Jesus’ own description that he “mediates” the covenant.
– stands in between the two parties and makes it effectual
EXERCISE
• Does this covenant understanding
of the cross have any resonance in
our context today? With teens?
Why or why not?
EXERCISE
• What would be the reaction of the
average teen to this image? What is
your reaction to it? These are
narratives, images of salvation given
by God. Why do you think God
gave these images? How do you
understand them?
Rom 9:18-22
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens
whom He desires.
You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who
resists His will?”
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to
God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did
you make me like this,” will it?
Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make
from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and
another for common use?
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and
to make His power known, endured with much patience
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
Eph 2:11-18
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are
Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by
those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that
done in the body by the hands of men)-- 12
remember that at that time you were separate
from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and
foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without
hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:11-18
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the
two one and has destroyed the barrier, the
dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh
the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man
out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this
one body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death their
hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you
who were far away and peace to those who were
near. 18 For through him we both have access to
the Father by one Spirit.
Col 1:19-23
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all
things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the
cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and
were enemies in your minds because of your evil
behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by
Christ's physical body through death to present you
holy in his sight, without blemish and free from
accusation--
EXERCISE
• How does Jesus’ cross, his physical body
“make peace”? What is the grand story
that makes the cross make sense? In
fact, Muslims say, God doesn’t need the
cross to forgive – look at the story of the
prodigal son. Why can’t God just say “I
forgive you” and welcome us back. Why
bring in the cross?
http://www.nbseminary.ca/church-health/cild/competenceintercultural-change-agents
Rom 9:30-32
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did
not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a
righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who
pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith
but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the
"stumbling stone."
Phil 3:6-10
[I myself have reasons for such confidence:] … 6 as
for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic
righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my
profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8
What is more, I consider everything a loss
compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain
Christ
Phil 3:6-10
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the law, but that which
is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that
comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like
him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to
the resurrection from the dead.
Rom 3:21-26
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,
has been made known, to which the Law and the
Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God
comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and
are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Rom 3:21-26
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,
through faith in his blood. He did this to
demonstrate his justice, because in his
forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to
demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to
be just and the one who justifies those who have
faith in Jesus.
EXERCISE
• Can this forensic view, this idea of being
declared right, work with teens? Can it
be reworked into a metaphor that makes
sense today, so that it resonates? Or
does there need to be a shift in the
metanarrative of the listener?
Sin Talks
• What biblical metaphors are being
referenced?
• Does it make sense to you?
• Does it make sense to teens?
• Should it be reshaped?
Theology of Communication
John 1:1-4
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was
with God, and he was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 He created everything there
is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. 4 Life itself
was in him, and this life gives light to everyone.
Ps 33:6-9
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Amos 3:1,8
Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the LORD
has spoken against you—against the whole family I
brought up out of Egypt…
The lion has roared—
who will not fear?
The Sovereign LORD has spoken—
who can but prophesy?
Ps 107:19,20
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
Ps 29:3-9
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks[c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
Theology of Communication
• God wants a relationship with the human beings
he created.
• God reaches out to his creation
• God elicits a response.
• God wants to be understood.
God’s strategy
•
•
•
•
•
•
Based on love, because God is love (relational):
Shows Respect and empathy towards us.
Uses our frames of reference.
Relates personally
Engages in two-way communication - dialogues
Receptor oriented looking for impact. He
–
–
–
–
–
develops high credibility with his receptors
demonstrates, not just speaks, his messages
deals with specific people and issues
leads his receptors to discovery, and
trusts those who respond to do the right thing with his
messages.
EXERCISE
• What are the implications for our
communication. If God communicates in
this manner, how should we then
communicate?
Genesis 3
Guilt
Sin
Shame
Fear
EXERCISE
How do the following biblical metaphors
reflect Muller’s dichotomies: Guilt-innocence
• Power Shame-honor
• Redemption
Fear-power
• Honor
• Covenant
• Innocence
• Sacrifice
• Innocence
• Propitiation
• Reconciliation • Honor
• Innocence
• Justification
BRIDGES
BRIDGES
INSIDER (emic)
OUTSIDER (etic)
Receptor oriented
What makes sense to the outsider is
shaped in a way that the insider gets it
BRIDGES
THE OUTSIDER (etic view) needs to find:
• A way to speak the Gospel that resonates
with the culture
• A way to represent Christ that appeals to
people
• A way to live that is recognized as light
BRIDGES
THE INSIDER (emic view) needs a message
that:
• Resonates with the known, not a pull away
to the unknown
• Utilizes significant relationships
• Results in appealing and reproducible
transformation
EXERCISE
• How do you do this in the teens context?
EXERCISE
• Make a list of all the aspects of form,
medium, context, environment, style (eg
music, video, lighting, etc.) that affect the
message.
EXERCISE
• Give examples where you follow these
principles in club talks.
• Agree or disagree: language can never
be precise and the understanding of
what messages mean is constructed by
the receiver rather than inherent in the
message.
EXERCISE
• Discuss how these realities impact the
way you prepare a presentation of the
gospel message
EXERCISE
• What is wrong with the world from the
perspective of teens? What do they
connect with as “Yes, that is wrong”?