Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19
In "Breaking the Missional Code", Ed Stetzer points out the growing diversity of American communities where we are challenged by Christ to make disciples. In looking at the above passage, we see that in the Greek, the phrase "all nations" is panta te ethnê.
Since nation-states are a modern development, the meaning of this passage is actually people groups. We should understand that to also mean population segments and cultural environments. That may not be rocket science but, it is a fresh challenge to exegete our communities, pray over our harvest, and reinvent ourselves much like Terry Hull points out in a discussion about contextualization and the Emergent Church that Hudson Taylor did as "he wore Chinese clothes to relate to the Chinese people."
John Hendryx at Reformation Theology shows that the result of contextualized ministry to the specific panta te ethnê near Hudson Taylor's Inland Chinese Mission, was that the seeds planted by Taylor have turned into estimates of up to 90 million Chinese Christians in what is undoubtedly the greatest revival event in one of the most inhospitable environments to Christianity on the planet.
The new challenge is not to contextualize for nations and population segments. The challenge is reaching cultural environments. For instance, within our fellowship at Life Pointe, you will find close to two dozen nationalities with room to continue to look more like our community in the future. Within those nationalities are multiple sub-cultures, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Americans, age differences, and socio-economic diversity. The new challenge is creating environments and establishing relationships that speak love and a singular Gospel across multiple contexts.
I do not think it is possible to meet all expectations or satisfy all stylistic wants. But, in our budding community, there is a great desire for authentic expression of Christ across cultural borders. The style has to be love, connection, beauty, honesty, doctrinal integrity, and hospitality.
Technoratis Tags: missiology - Ed Stetzer - Breaking the Missional Code - emerging church - Hudson Taylor - Great Commission
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