Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

culture without being syncretistic . Good mission strategy always starts with the Great Tradition and then contextualizes outward.

Belcher said, “It is as if the emerging churches want the fruit but not the roots from which it came. So in their attempt to be culturally relevant (which they are doing very well), their traditions are not strong enough, I fear, to resist being absorbed by the surrounding culture. There is simply not enough depth in the rituals, disciplines, and practices that are adopted.” 142 Emergings should be applauded for their passion to contextualize within Postmodernity. They exemplify the Holy Spirit’s work to guide the Church in an emerging age. However, Emergings must learn from the mistakes of past missionaries who tried to import colonial European culture to Africa, or Jews who forced Gentiles to be circumcised before becoming Christians. Emerging missionaries who are sent to non-Western cultures could be shocked to discover that indigenous people, especially the poor, have no use for philosophical conversations about Modernity, but simply desire to ally themselves with the Story given in the Great Tradition. Churches must be planted with indigenous expression of culture, not Postmodern ones. History has shown that the Church has faced multiple shifts in pre- dominant philosophy (see Appendix 5, “Six Paradigms of History”). It is human nature to believe that the latest philosophy is the final one. But it is improbable that Postmodernity is the final era of human philosophy. Unless the Lord returns, some other philosophy is likely to overtake Postmodernity. Therefore, Emergings should hold Post- modernity loosely.

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