One of the final charges the Apostle Paul gave to Pastor Timothy was that he “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5). Certainly, this charge includes a call to boldly and humbly proclaim the message of the Gospel, but is that all that is included in this work? An important part of this work should be learning ways to create understanding with the particular people to whom God has called us to minister. While this is something that all believers in Jesus must do as they desire to get the treasure of the Gospel out to others, it is especially true for those who minister cross-culturally.
Class Paper Becomes Amazon Booklet
To complete a doctoral class final paper in 2019, I was burdened to type up some key thoughts that would assist cross-cultural workers seeking to communicate the Gospel to people with a Folk Buddhist worldview. After the class, my professor strongly urged me to have the paper professionally edited, which I did. By God’s grace, it was published on Amazon as a short 42-page booklet in September 2020: Do the Work of an Evangelist: Context-Sensitive Gospel Communication to Those with a Folk Buddhist Worldview is available in both paperback and Kindle versions.1
After a brief introduction, the first section of the booklet describes the term Folk Buddhist worldview and discusses several challenges this worldview has had historically for Gospel communication. The second section looks at specific ways to be more context-sensitive with the methods we use (or the how). The final section addresses the need to carefully contextualize even the message we communicate (or the what) and proposes a flexible two-part track for cross-cultural workers to run on when they share the Gospel with those coming from a Folk Buddhist worldview.
Here is a brief description of some of the challenges and some practical ways for cross-cultural evangelists to contextualize both the how (methods) and what (message) in this context.
Challenges for Gospel Communication: Folk Buddhist Worldview
Besides the normal spiritual obstacles of mankind’s depravity and his rebellion against God, the broad categories of difficulties peculiar to Southeast Asian Folk Buddhists2 include historical, linguistic, intellectual, religious, and cultural challenges. Regarding one’s methods, an example of a historical and cultural challenge is that missionaries of the past predominantly evangelized using a direct confrontational style and focused on one-on-one interactions (i.e., typical Western methods) instead of utilizing a more relational approach focused more on the family and community (i.e., Southeast Asian methods). Regarding the message, a common linguistic and religious challenge is how Southeast Asian Folk Buddhists often perceive improperly popular Western presentations of the Gospel that have been translated into their heart language.3
Contextualizing the How: The Methods of the Evangelist
The word method refers to general approaches and strategies to use when proclaiming the Gospel. Four key strategies are described in the booklet:
- Begin by using dialogue to place oneself in the position of a listener.
- Use local forms of communication (e.g., concrete stories, illustrations, poems, and proverbs coming from the local culture).
- Communicate the importance of relationships and community through one’s words and actions (i.e., emphasize the natural community of the church as we worship, pray, and serve together).
- Allow time for communication of truth. This fourth point of allowing time is critical because it goes against the dominant Western value of wanting quick results. The cross-cultural evangelist must recognize that evangelism is a process, or there will be many negative results, including syncretism.4
Contextualizing the What: The Message of the Evangelist
Historically, while many have readily acknowledged the need to adapt the methods of communication when ministering cross-culturally, they often do not see the need to adapt the message as well. There are core historical truths that do not change, but the starting points, the emphasis and order of how things are communicated, the illustrations given, the questions answered, the specific words used and how they are defined—all might need to change somewhat for more effective communication to happen and for understanding to be achieved.
Regarding this necessary contextualization of the message, it is helpful to have a flexible track for cross-cultural evangelists to run on when sharing the Gospel.5 A clear example of contextualization of the message would be when explaining the meaning of sin. The Buddhist concept of sin is radically different from the Biblical concept. When Cambodians or Thai people hear the word sin in their language, they are thinking only in a singular dimension (manward) and not in terms of two dimensions (against a personal God as well as man). They also focus only on the actions of the hands or the speech of the mouth; they are not thinking about the thoughts in the heart and mind. Their concept of sin is much like the English word demerit. To rid themselves of demerits, they simply need to offer enough merits to cancel their demerits. This is just one example among many that needs to be further explained given their worldview.
Adapting Methods and Message Biblically
Knowing the challenges to Gospel communication in the cross-cultural evangelist’s context and his need to adapt both the methods and message to his hearers to create understanding, it is crucial to remember that contextualization is limited in two ways:
First, the cross-cultural evangelist might have all the proper methods and message, but this is still insufficient. He is always dependent on the Holy Spirit to work in people’s hearts and must prayerfully beg God to do a special work as he seeks to share the treasure of the Gospel.
Second, he must remember that God can work in a person’s heart despite failures and weaknesses regarding methods and message. These two realities, once realized, will result in both humility and hope in the task of cross-cultural evangelism.
1 For an AI-generated podcast summary of my book, see https://untilthenetisfull.com/english (scroll down to #3).
2 Often the word folk is attached to Buddhism to describe the belief system of most people in Buddhist Southeast Asia (e.g., Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar) as a syncretism or mixing of several different belief systems. In these countries, the “high,” or more formal and ritualistic religion is Buddhism. Yet the “low,” more informal, practical, day-to-day belief system of the people is Animism and ancestor worship. Animism and ancestor worship often impact their behavior even more than Buddhism.
3 For a specific illustration of a particular Western gospel tract that causes confusion to the typical Folk Buddhist, see my booklet: Do the Work of an Evangelist: Context-Sensitive Gospel Communication to Those with a Folk Buddhist Worldview (2020, pp. 7-9).
4 Veteran missionary in Cambodia, Forrest McPhail, warns, “If we are in a hurry to lead people to a decision for faith in Christ and are willing to pick unripe fruit, syncretism will be one of the byproducts. This is one reason why patience is a vital character quality required in preachers of the Gospel.” See McPhail, F. (2015, 40). Pioneer Missions: Meet the Challenges, Share the Blessings. KDP.
5 Do the Work of an Evangelist describes in great detail two tracks: pre-evangelism and evangelism. The pre-evangelism track describes three pieces of track on which to run (using cultural points of contact, answering common objections, and answering common questions). The evangelism track describes four pieces of track for cross-cultural evangelists to run on (who is God, who is man, who is Jesus, and the responses to and promises of the Good News) with specific points to emphasize when evangelizing Folk Buddhists.