# Contextualization guidelines being put in place



## Pergamum (Oct 9, 2011)

*A healthy development among many churches in world missions: *

There is, thankfully, a growing trend among some churches to put into place "contextualization guidelines" for missionaries ministering in the Muslim world. 

This guards against some of the more extreme hyper-contextualization practices which have sometimes occurred among evangelical missions to Muslims (and which have been promoted faddishly by some evangelical missions journals, shame on them). 

Finally, a push back has begun:

Here is a link:

Contextualization Guidelines for Missions | Biblical Missiology


Also, below is Bethlehem Baptist's document:




> ​*Bethlehem Baptist Church’s Statement of
> Boundaries for Gospel Contextualization among Muslims*
> 
> One of the most significant missiological challenges facing the church is the status of millions of unevangelized and unreached Muslims spread across the globe. We believe in the promise of God to raise up workers for these unreached millions and we are determined, by God’s grace, to equip and support these vital kingdom-workers. As we see God raising up these workers in our midst and as we interact with other missionaries and agencies at work among Muslims, we see the strategic importance of articulating certain boundaries for the missiological practice of Bethlehem Baptist Church and our members, particularly as it relates to gospel contextualization.
> ...



NOTE: Chart doesn't copy and paste well here, but Google C-Scale chart to see it for yourself.


----------



## Jack K (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks for sharing this. Good stuff to think about. C-3 feels to me like usually the best place to be. But, admittedly, my experience with the church in cross-cultural settings has not been in a society as potentially hostile towards Christians as we're talking about here. The main point, I guess, is that it _is_ thought about and a proper spot on the spectrum is chosen based on biblical principles.


----------



## Leslie (Oct 9, 2011)

Those of us who live in contexts of personal security, with freedom of religion, should not feel free to criticize MBB's who do whatever they have to do, in order to keep their souls and bodies alive. I have no problem whatsoever with Messianic mosques and the like. There was a mass conversion, not far from my location, resulting in about 200 MBB's over time. Many of them were clergy. They got together and decided that everyone could come out of his theological closet if and when and how he chose. Some came out sooner, some came out later, some didn't come out. I personally witnessed the coming out of one group that started out looking like a splinter M group and gradually began to look more and more Christian, as the community got used to their presence. This is the way it should be. It angers me to hear Stateside theological sorts telling MBB's that they need to suffer when, in fact, there are alternatives.


----------



## Pergamum (Oct 9, 2011)

Indigenous Believers Speak Out Against C5/Insider Movements | Biblical Missiology

In many places of the world, these insider movements are not a mere description of unfortunate things happening to persecuted believers, but they have become a prescriptive formula by evangelical missionaries about how to do missions. Western missionaries are being trained in how to plant these groups and how to train locals not to get kicked out of their communities (i.e. being trained into syncretism by Western missionaries) thansk to Fuller and other unsond schools:

Here is Roger Dixon from West Java commenting:



> However, the approach in West Java, Indonesia that began in the 1990s was to teach the “converts” what to say, what to do, etc.
> For example, the Navigator organization set up a variation of the five prayer times a day in which the prayers were altered to be “Christianized.” They continued this practice even though advised against it by mature national Christian leaders. In addition, one of their own converts told them that it was a “return to bondage.”
> 
> Also there was a large folder circulated that included “Building Ishmaelite Growth Group Congregations,” “Namaz Prayers,” & “Fostering Messianic Kingdom Communities Among Dispersed Muslim Asians in Urban Centres.” I have that in my files. All of this material was oriented toward “training” converts into this model.
> The “insider movement” as it has been practiced in Indonesia since 1990 is definitely not an indigenous conception



Ironic as it sounds, "Insider Movements" in Indonesia are a Western Evangelical Import. 

The most vigorous voices against it are local indigenous evangelists that I know who state that some of these missionaries are, themselves, "not missionaries, but lost sheep themselves."


----------



## Pergamum (Oct 10, 2011)

p.s. Mary, I sympathize with what you say about westerners telling locals to suffer for the cause while we stay comfortable.


----------

