{"id":13386,"date":"2017-06-15T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T02:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13386"},"modified":"2017-06-15T20:18:30","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T03:18:30","slug":"when-missiology-and-theology-intersect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/when-missiology-and-theology-intersect\/","title":{"rendered":"When Missiology and Theology Intersect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When we think of traditional missions, we think of missionaries trekking jungles, mountains, and deserts in search of tribal people who have never heard the name of Jesus. Alternately, we may think of missionaries who share the good news with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or Communists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yet, there are some areas in today\u2019s world whre people have a cultural understanding of Christianity, while there is little understanding of the gospel.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For example, in Serbia, members of the Orthodox church may attend services and line up to kiss a relic, but may not own a Bible and are not encouraged to read the Bible by their leaders.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In Mexico, families may claim Christianity because of being baptized as an infant, but may have little understanding of salvation by grace through faith.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And in Africa, men and women may be taught about Jesus from birth, but may have combined Christian theo<br \/>\nlogy with traditional African religions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The book <em>Christian Theology and African Traditions<\/em> by Matthew Michael would be a good book for those seeking to share the gospel with families living in Sub-Sahara Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>All cultures tend to blend their traditions with their faith. In America, a Christian pastor can preach about free will from a worldview of capitalism, while in China a pastor can preach about Christian community from their collectivist viewpoint.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I read <em>Christian Theology and African Traditions<\/em>, I noted several areas that a pastor, missionary, or Christian worker might keep in mind as they sought to share the gospel with Africans with a cultural understanding of Jesus. Some examples are:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In African culture, the idea that a \u201cwitch doctor\u201d or \u201cherbalist,\u201d possesses superior, supernatural knowledge is prevalent (page 44). Evangelism must be founded in scripture and sound theology. A flamboyant evangelist with a large ego might cause people to place their faith in the messenger rather than the message.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Similarly, in some African cultures, the Bible (the physical book) may be seen to have magical powers. (page 630). Also, Bible verses may be treated like magical incantations. Emphasis must be put on the God of the Bible and the teachings of the Bible, not the book itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most Africans believe in God, but those who are becoming more educated and modernized may have this faith tested (page 91)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many Africans are fascinated with the spirit world (page 93). Traditional African religions see both evil and benevolent spirits as the cause for many things in life. There is little need to convince an African that spirits exist. Yet, the sovereignty of God must be taught. Care must be taken to not syncretize a biblical view of angels with traditional African understanding of benevolent spirits. In the same way, a biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit is needed (page 198). Care must be taken to not view the Holy Spirit in the same way that spirits are referred to by African witch doctors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No matter what our context, we need to preach a gospel that is not based on race, ethnicity, or nationality (page 127). The Christian view of humanity is one in which everyone has worth as someone created in the image of God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A healthy Christology and Soteriology is imperative in sharing the gospel. Without a biblical understanding of Christ, the Christian religion can become just another social movement (page 187). While there is a \u201cworld changing\u201d element to the gospel, the beginning people of \u201cworld change\u201d is \u201clife change.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These are just a few of the insights that someone seeking to share the good news of Jesus in Africa might learn from Matthew Michael\u2019s book. It is an important work for those seeking to make disciples on the African continent.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13388\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/africa-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/africa-1.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/africa-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/africa-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/africa-1-150x113.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Michael, Matthew.\u00a0<em>Christian theology and African traditions<\/em>. Cambridge: Lutterworth PresMichael, Matthew.\u00a0<em>Christian theology and African traditions<\/em>. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; When we think of traditional missions, we think of missionaries trekking jungles, mountains, and deserts in search of tribal people who have never heard the name of Jesus. Alternately, we may think of missionaries who share the good news with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or Communists. &nbsp; Yet, there are some areas in today\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":13391,"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":[261,1002,1003,957,128],"class_list":["post-13386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-missiology","tag-stu-cocanougher","tag-theology","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386","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\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13392,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386\/revisions\/13392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}