I've written (often) on the topic of contextualization. It is an important subject. Some churches faithfully engage their culture and I am thankful for them. However, many go too far into culture while others don't go far enough. Keith Whitfield, newly appointed theology faculty member at Southeastern Seminary, lays out the case in this concise article in the Mission of God Study Bible.
In First Corinthians 9:20-22, Paul imposes a missional posture upon himself toward cultures and people so he can communicate the gospel clearly by disarming objections to it and building bridges for gospel engagement. We call this living a contextual life. Contextualization is adapting communication of the gospel to the forms and expression of another culture so that mundane obstacles to the gospel may be overcome. Contextualization must happen so the gospel is not seen as foreign to a culture. However, the content of the gospel must not be changed in this process.
Contextualization has largely been the work of cross-cultural missions. But as societies change throughout the world, contextualizing the gospel has become a necessity even for those sharing the gospel in their own cultural context. Because the gospel is about God's redemptive story confronting humanity's story of rebellion, everyone seeking to share the gospel faces barriers to communicating the message--whether linguistic, cultural, or both.
A culture is a group of people with shared social and linguistic identity. This identity is shaped by beliefs about what it means to be human, assessment of what is wrong in their world, possible solutions, and views on how to appropriate the solutions. A culture's prevailing worldview affects logic, prejudices what evidence one considers, and dictates what types of solutions are viable options. The task of contextualization is to use what is good, just, and beautiful in a culture to establish a clear communication of the gospel, in order to overcome obstacles to understanding and to confront idols that oppose the truth. By contextualizing our communication, the hope is to see people and cultures redeemed and restored with the gospel, that they may "turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1Th 1:9).
We find in Acts numerous examples of Paul contextualizing the gospel. He communicates the gospel in a synagogue to God-fearing Jews with the Scriptures and the words of John the Baptist (Ac 13:23-25). He engages working class pagans with the gospel by appealing to general revelation (14:16-17). In Acts 17, he enters another context where he provokes pagan philosophers to consider their own claims against the story of the gospel. In these texts, Paul communicates the gospel contextually and faithfully by accessing the native culture and emphasizing different biblical doctrines surrounding the gospel. In all of it, he communicates a universal, monotheistic God who is not served by human hands (17:24-29), but in fact reveals Himself (14:16-17).
Paul proclaims the sovereign goodness of God (Ac 13:16-22; 14:17), points to the work of God for salvation over against the works of men (13:37-38; 14:15; 17:18, 30), and confronts human efforts to save themselves through moralism (13:39) and idolatry (14:15; 17:23). All are called to repentance (13:39-41; 14:14-18; 17:30).
Contextualization is consistent with the call of Christians to be a light in the world. The church is called to love those who are living differing stories. The church is also called to persuade those who are living differing stories of the truthfulness of the gospel. To pursue this calling, our message must be understandable.
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