How does the church do ministry in this culture? How do we do ministry in a cultural context throug
h the lens of the five Ministry Purposes? Andre Rogers helped us think through these questions, and shared many examples from his own ministry.
The church planter must help determine how these biblical purposes should come to expression in the unique Ministry Focus Group being served. This means that one of a church planter’s tasks is to discover the stylistic expectations of his culture and, as appropriate, embrace them, adapt them, critique them, or reject them. At the same time, we should be using our own stylistic decisions to serve the cause of the gospel.
A church planter from Ukraine shared a story with us about planting a church in the western part of that country. The culture is more traditional there than in the east (which is near Russia). Even though both areas can be broadly called “Ukrainian,” they have different needs. A more traditional style of worship resonated with people in the western part of the country, while more contemporary services worked in the east. On the other hand, in the west a contemporary service seemed disrespectful, while the east would have found a traditional service out of touch. The different cultures necessitated different styles of worship.
So we need to adapt our style to the culture of our Ministry Focus Group. The goal is “contextualization without compromise.” Where this isn’t being done, we’re probably guilty of one of two errors. The first is under adapting to the culture. The root cause here is probably ethnocentrism. We feel that our own style preferences are best and seek to impose those views upon our Ministry Focus Group. The second error is over-adapting to the culture. This is called syncretism, and involves embracing all of the style preferences of your Ministry Focus Group (including preferences that might hard your proclamation of the Gospel).
So how can we know what to embrace and what to reject when it comes to style? The Lausanne Covenant has some helpful words: “Because man is God’s creature, some of his culture is rich in beauty and goodness. Because he is fallen, all of it is tainted with sin and some of it is demonic.” In other words, there are no easy answers here. Church planters must be able to determine what stylistic elements they can pull from the culture in order to serve in the proclamation of the gospel.
Keeping the following points in mind can help us determine what styles to embrace:
- Go where the wind is already blowing. If there are already successful churches in the area you hope to reach, then find out what they’re doing right. Don’t be afraid to “jump on the bandwagon” so long as those styles can be adapted to serve your Ministry Focus Group.
- Choose ministry styles that serve your Ministry Purposes. We’ve already discussed the importance of having a clearly defined set of purposes for your ministry.
One more tidbit that a veteran pastor shared with us during the conference session: “We should not be defined by what we are against, but what we are for.” This doesn’t mean that we never critique culture. It just means that we should be known for the cause we serve and not the things of which we disapprove. Keeping this in mind will help us reach those who disagree with us with the gospel without compromising our integrity.
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