{"id":13344,"date":"2017-06-09T17:10:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T00:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13344"},"modified":"2017-06-09T17:11:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T00:11:28","slug":"discipleship-for-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/discipleship-for-the-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Discipleship for the next generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is the point of evangelism?\u00a0 Is it the salvation of the person that is being reached with the good news? \u00a0When organizations send missionaries into all the parts of the world one of their goals is to evangelize those who have never heard the gospel message of the good news.\u00a0\u00a0 They go through cultural training and language training at least I know they do within my denominational organization.\u00a0 The good news doesn\u2019t change but each culture that it is presented in has it\u2019s own traditions and filters that must be understood.\u00a0 Culture is a very interesting thing because it can have many layers and it can complex.\u00a0 The environment within a culture that people are raised within affects them as children, as teens and as adults.\u00a0 Sometimes just sharing the good news and believing that the Holy Spirit brings the change is how missions work is done.\u00a0 Matthew Michael in his book Christian Theology and African Traditions takes a very strong strike at the ineptitude of the Western missionary.\u00a0 He is very pointed in their failure.\u00a0 \u201cTraditional theology as revealed in Western theology is often abstract, impersonal, reflective, and unable to address the human socio-political, racial, gender, and other cogent and volatile components of human society.\u00a0\u00a0 With such disposition in academics shibboleths and devoid of the existential factors in the human context, theological preoccupation becomes a reflection of the mirage and not the really felt needs of human society.\u201d [1]<\/a>\u00a0 His focus is that there must be an African viewpoint instead of a Western outlook.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another thought that he has was this: \u201cChristian theology must seek to help these Christians to better engage the traditional African worldview by advocating a transformation of the African worldview in the light of biblical revelation.\u201d [2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have argued in the margin with him with this thought, what? Christian theology does not have to go through an African filter!\u201d\u00a0 Theology or the good news for the world does not have to go through the African filter.\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t wrap my mind around what he is talking about.\u00a0 Every location has a worldview but my thought is that the gospel can be applicable in any place.\u00a0 Then he started to argue theology.\u00a0 Instead of sticking with Augustine he went from theologian to theologian to build a case and an argument.\u00a0 Spread throughout the information is again a shot at the \u201cWestern liberal tradition and theology.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t figure out why the antagonistic view toward missionaries who came to bring the good news to Africa. \u00a0Even the Biblical record of missionary journey\u2019s is not spotless but come on why the view point?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then the author brings up the supernatural.\u00a0 God\u2019s revelation to men independent of other men.\u00a0\u00a0 Signs, wonders and the supernatural to validate who God is to individuals.\u00a0 This is nothing new for those within Africa.\u00a0\u00a0 See and believing that the local witchdoctor can tell of your past and tell you your future is a given.\u00a0\u00a0 That these individuals can control life especially the spiritual side of life is in their environment.\u00a0\u00a0 This is not within the Western mindset.\u00a0\u00a0 So I start to see what he is talking about.\u00a0 How do you address the environment that is the tradition of those who are in Africa?\u00a0\u00a0 How does Christianity have real power to change this mindset? Is it through the Holy Spirit and a supernatural change?\u00a0 For some yes but for others it is something that must be addressed and even taught.\u00a0 \u00a0At the end of one of these sections there is a this quote about Christianity:\u00a0 \u201c For Christianity it is the framework of the religious experiences of Jesus Christ that salvation becomes available to the WORLD (emphasis mine) and ultimately it is based on this same revelation in Jesus Christ that all human experiences or revelations are duly interpreted, evaluated and judged.\u201d [3]<\/a>That is exactly what I have been arguing.\u00a0 It is for the world not just the African world, or the Cherokee Indian world, or the Irish world\u2026.it is for the world.\u00a0\u00a0 Not even the American world, but the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But what I have gathered up to this point is that there must be something that I am missing.\u00a0\u00a0 What is it that I haven\u2019t yet grabbed ahold of?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican people are always vulnerable to a show or manifestation of spiritual powers, and it is a commonly accepted view that the medicine man or witchdoctor has supernatural powers to harm or to make well.\u00a0 This belief normally serves as motivation for troubling African \u201cChristians\u201d who want a quick supernatural intervention to their human problems.\u201d 44\u00a0\u00a0 Wait, so that is what he is arguing.\u00a0 The African Christian has been introduced to the good news but there has not be a conversation about the difference between the Holy Spirit\u2019s power and the power they have grown up with.\u00a0\u00a0 The failure to talk about this and to teach about this is the issue. \u201c This reason comes from failure of church\u2019s discipleship program to address these issues during discipleship.\u00a0 Often the African churches lack discipleship programs and thus the converts are left on their own.\u00a0 Such converts never reach spiritual maturity in their Christian life because they lack vital knowledge of the BIBLICAL worldview.\u00a0 Consequently, even though they are Christians in name, their worldview is not Christian, but the inherited African pre-Christian worldview.\u00a0 The evangelistic outreaches in Africa often focus on the numerical figure of people turning to Christ, but they spend little time in discipling these converts to accept the \u201cbiblical worldview.\u201d\u00a0 The need in the African church is the need for a \u201cBiblical worldview!!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Discipleship.
\nDiscipleship for the next generation must meet the generation at their point of environment and worldview.\u00a0 If there is an assumed stereotypical world view that is applied instead of the actual world view there becomes a gap.\u00a0\u00a0 That gap leads to people being left with out supernatural power and can even lead to a dualistic life.\u00a0 \u00a0Believing more in the witchdoctor than the answer.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 time is not the same as the worlds time.\u00a0\u00a0 Being taught this simple truth bring a decision to live for Christ to a crossroads.\u00a0\u00a0 Is it how your environment operates or are you going to believe in a God who you trust and have to patient in waiting to hear from him and to know him? \u00a0\u00a0Now I get what he is talking about.<\/p>\n

It is not simply about the numbers but about the discipleship.\u00a0\u00a0 That is what leads to life change and freedom.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone to explain to you what God does and how he works.\u00a0\u00a0 How God loves and how we trust him completely even when we don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 It is not for sale and it is not for convenience.\u00a0 So as I concluded my time with this author, it once again lets me know that there is a disconnect between salvation and someone coming alongside to disciple others.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a tremendous need for this but who is going to teach this?\u00a0\u00a0 Who is going to see this as their mission?\u00a0 How is it possible to train others to do and teach these most basic thing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I believe it is a world issue.\u00a0 One that can be addressed but not on accident and not with a tally sheet in hand.\u00a0\u00a0 Discipleship for the next generation is a pressing need that must be addressed.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Matthew Micheal,\u00a0 Christian Theology and African Traditions, (Eugene, OR: Resource publications, 2013), 24.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 13.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 39.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the point of evangelism?\u00a0 Is it the salvation of the person that is being reached with the good news? \u00a0When organizations send missionaries into all the parts of the world one of their goals is to evangelize those who have never heard the gospel message of the good news.\u00a0\u00a0 They go through cultural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[862,992],"class_list":["post-13344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmimlgp6","tag-matthew-michael","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13347,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344\/revisions\/13347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}