Over the years I’ve swapped some stories with people about how our context varies in different parts of the world. One I heard was about a British speaker at a youth camp who was rather old school in his vocabulary. Over there the word for a bundle of sticks is faggot. He got to the end of his message and suggested that collectively the teens at the camp needed to be on fire for Jesus. But his way of conveying that was to say “I want you to leave here as flaming faggots for Jesus”. An older gentleman in ministry who informally mentored me in my early years once took me to the county jail where he was going to speak to inmates. He opened the bible, preached the gospel and the eyes of young men were opened to the truth of God. One thing that struck me was that he used illustrations so out of date that he had to explain them to his audience. I was sat there thinking how far from cool this guy was. I thought about how out of touch that seemed. And yet, the guys were glued to his every word. They wanted to know the truth, even if the wrapper was a bit dated.
How is it that I can travel to the other side of the country and speak to a group of christian leaders who were nearly all very different from me and be accepted by them? They listened and engaged with what I had to say but they were urban and I am suburban. They were hispanic, black, asian, and I am none of those things. Now I can’t help but think of some dear friends who insist that if we are going to teach the Bible to people we have to contextualize it first. I did not though. I had no clue and still barely understand life in Central Phoenix (aka the ghetto according to one of the guys). Yet I also did not share a bunch of stories from my white suburban background. In fact I hardly shared any stories. The few I did were just simply snapshots of people’s lives, often mine. What I did was open scripture and let it speak to them. I read a passage and then gave them an interpretation of it making connections to the context it was in and suggesting how it might apply to our lives. Apparently I did not need a deep understanding of their culture to teach them the Bible.
Now, had I done the sort of thing that I had done years ago in speaking… namely tell some stories, make a point and sub points all the while supporting it with scripture, I think I’d have missed the mark entirely. What I would have come up with would have been very much a product of my culture and my context and that would need some translating. “Ya know how in the winter you cannot lick a metal object outside cause your tongue will stick to it?” At this point, speaking to folks in Arizona, they would be lost. “what the…?” would be the expression on their faces. I have for the most part given up those sorts of talks. They were more about me and less about Jesus. I don’t need to put cultural obstacles in the way of people understanding the truth of God. Context is everything if you are conveying your understanding of the Christian faith. Is it different when we are simply opening scripture and expositing it? I think so. I believe that is why some of the greatest preachers I know can travel to foreign countries and preach the same way they do at home. It’s God’s word that matters, not our stories nor our personalities. As long as we are opening scripture and not allowing our stuff to get in the way, it should be accessible across cultures.
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