SBTS Collegiate Conference

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One Savior Many Cultures

• SBTS Collegiate Conference
• February 21, 2009
• Dr. David Sills
• www.reachingandteaching.org

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One Savior Many Cultures

• The Biblical Mandate and Model
• Understanding the Cultural Realities
• Communicating the Only Savior

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One Savior Many Cultures

• The Biblical Mandate
• The Jerusalem Council To ALL people
• The Great Commission and panta ta ethne
• The disciples stuck to the ultimate direction
  Christ had given them, despite persecution and
  circumstances.
• The importance of
  declaring the Word of
  God to faithfully work
  toward biblical churches
  around the world.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• The Biblical Mandate Examples in Acts
• First to the Jews Acts 1-5
• The initial struggle to understand the inclusive
  and transcultural dimensions of the gospel
• Stephen and the Hellenists Acts 6-15
• The gospel moves incrementally from a singularly
  Jewish to a multicultural sphere of influence
  (Fleming)
• There is a consistent movement
  in the advancement of the
  gospel
  among the Gentiles

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One Savior Many Cultures

• The Biblical Mandate Examples in Acts
• A Tale of Two Conversions
• Cornelius The beginning of a bridge group for
  the progress of the gospel into the Gentile arena
• Peter A theological and cultural
  conversion
• Overcoming Barriers of Exclusion
  lessons from Cornelius
• Soteriological Barriers Jewish
  Council
• Social Barrier Peters vision

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Defining the Cultural Realities
• Culture The common beliefs, behaviors, values,
  norms, and rules of the game for life held by a
  group of individuals
• Worldview The lens through which
  an individual views the world,
  answers ultimate questions of
  reality, and processes information
  and experiences.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Defining the Cultural Realities
• Contextualization Adapting the forms of
  Christianity to the cultural settings of the
  world in ways that are faithful to Gods Word,
  but are culturally appropriate for the target
  people.
• People Group The identification of
  a people based upon their common
  culture, language, values, and self-
  identification rather than
  geographical boundaries or mere
  racial identification.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Defining the Cultural Realities
• Ethnocentrism- the degree to which individuals
  judge other cultures as inferior to their own
• Ethnocentrism is often the result of a narrow
  understanding of anothers culture or worldview
  and results in a lack of contextualization among
  other people groups.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Who is an American?

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Crucial Aspects of the Cultural Realities
• People Groups
• 27,000 in the world
• 14,000 reached since the time of Christ
• 13,000 people groups unreached
• If God had not given us the Bible, what would we
  know about Him?
• General Revelation vs.
• Special Revelation

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Crucial Aspects of the Cultural Realities
• Every person within the 27,000 people groups know
  that
• They have a broken relationship with their
  creator
• Every single culture has a religion
• Everyone worships something
• Yet, salvation is through Christ
  alone.
• We often forget that those to whom
  we witness are not a blank slate.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Crucial Aspects of the Cultural Realities
• Everyone has a religion
• With their religion comes spiritual baggage
• We must be prepared to present the Truth of the
  Gospel in culturally appropriate ways.

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Categorizing the Cultural Realities
• NOT to prejudge or stereotype or pigeon-hole
  others unfairly, But, to . . .
• Predict behavior
• Clarify why people do what they do
• Avoid giving offense
• Standardize policies
• Perceive neatness
  and order
• Search for a bridge to
  the Gospel

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One Savior Many Cultures
Cultural Realities Lingenfelters Basic Values
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One Savior Many Cultures
Cultural Realities Laniers Hot vs. Cold
Climate Cultures
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One Savior Many Cultures

• Addressing the Cultural Realities
• The Church Planting Mandate
• The desperate need for biblical ecclesiology
• Your ecclesiology will determine your missiology
• Discipleship
• Training trainers
• Biblical contextualization
• Culturally appropriate
  expressions

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Communicating the One Savior
• A Comprehensive Approach the Quadrupal Helix
• Theological Reflection
• Missio Dei, Kingdom of God, incarnation
• Cultural Analysis
• Social, linguistic, beliefs, worldview
• Historical Perspective
• National, ethnic, church, mission
• Strategy Formation
• Methodology, priority, team,
  endview -Dr Gailyn
  Van Rheenen

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Communicating the One Savior
• A Comprehensive Approach the Quadrupal Helix
• Theological Reflection
• The exclusivity of the gospel
• The lostness of man, regardless of the culture
• The command to be faithful to
  Matthew 28 18-20, Acts 18, etc.
• The ultimate worship of the Son
  Revelation 79-10

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Communicating the One Savior
• A Comprehensive Approach the Quadrupal Helix
• Cultural Analysis
• The significance and influence of language
• The influence of false religions
• Cultural aspects as barriers to the
  Gospel
• Cultural aspects as bridges to the
  Gospel

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Communicating the One Savior
• A Comprehensive Approach the Quadrupal Helix
• Historical Reflection
• The role of outsiders
• The impact of Christians
• The role of the church
• The place of syncretism

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One Savior Many Cultures

• Communicating the One Savior
• A Comprehensive Approach the Quadrupal Helix
• Strategy Formation
• Evaluate the circumstances
• Build a team
• Develop a theological triage
• Study the culture and language
• Set goals
• Love the people
• Stay grounded in the Word
• Pray, Pray, Pray

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One Savior Many Cultures
Every statement of the gospel in words is
conditioned by the culture of which those words
are a part, and every style of life that claims
to embody the truth of the gospel is a culturally
conditioned style of life. There can never be a
culture-free gospel. - Lesslie Newbigin,
Foolishness to Greeks The Gospel and Western
culture, 1986, p.4
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One Savior Many Cultures

• May God be gracious to us and bless us
  and make his face to shine
  upon us, Selahthat your way may be known on
  earth,your saving power among all nations.Let
  the peoples praise you, O Godlet all the
  peoples praise you!
• Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,for
  you judge the peoples with equityand guide the
  nations upon earth. SelahLet the peoples praise
  you, O Godlet all the peoples praise you!
  -Psalm 671-5