I just got back from 8 days in Mexico City and one of the things that stuck out to me the most (in a sad, discouraging and appalling way), was all of the photos, paintings, etc. of a Euro Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes all over the city. That is what you get when you ignore contextualization and import some idea of who Jesus is to a foreign culture.
Why do I bring this up? Andrew Jones has a great post on John MacArthur’s and Phil Johnson’s thoughts on contextualization.
John MacArthur said:
The apostles went out with an absolute disdain for contextualization. The modern drive for cultural contextualization is a curse, because people are wsting their time trying to figure out clever ways to draw in the elect. Contextualization is “zip-code ministry.”
And you can read MacArthur’s sidekick Phil Johnson’s thoughts here.
Andrew Jones says:
Well, its true that I do see the need for some cultural sensitivity to both our own culture and the culture to which we are sent.
When some missionaries went to Africa with complete disdain for contextualization, they brought pipe-organs with them so the natives could worship God properly, without their nuances of culture.
When some missionaries went to North America with complete disdain for contextualization, they took away their native dances and forced the converts to learn English so that they could worship God properly, in the correct language, and without their nuances of culture.
