The Mission of the Church in Diverse Contexts: Disentangling Methodological Problem

Abstract

Christian missionaries experience hostility when doing mission in diverse cultural contexts. This is largely because they bring with them ethnocentric attitudes; that their culture and message is superior to those they are evangelizing and their faith is the only one that contains absolute truth and ultimate salvation. Blinded by such attitude, they have packaged their culture as Christian faith and failed to purge the Scriptures off the culture in which it is wrapped. Such attitudes are informed by their misconception and ignorance of the other cultures and religions. To mitigate resentment, traditional methods of evangelism recommended in diverse religious contexts have included dialogue and diapraxis also known as ‘nurture course’. However, these approaches have not achieved acceptability of the gospel since resentment has persisted. This article proposes dynamic inculturation as the alternative to traditional approaches. It is an emendation of the inculturation process proposed by Charles Nyamiti. It introduces a stage at which Biblical texts or divine mystery is purged off culture in which it has been wrapped.
Keywords: Mission, Church, Contexts: Disentangling, Methodological, Problem