4. A Missional Church Contextualizes the Gospel
A missional church seeks to follow the example of Jesus, who is the greatest missionary ever to engage culture. Jesus left one culture and entered another. He participated wholeheartedly in the new culture he entered by using the language, sharing in various holidays, eating certain foods, enjoying various drinks, attending parties and befriending people, while never crossing a line into sin. Jesus set the perfect missionary example.
In the world of missiology, this is called contextualization. Contextualization is being aware of the cultural context around you. It is being aware of the lost people around you and making every effort to bring the love and truth of Jesus to them.
Now, don’t mistake or confuse contextualization with compromise. This isn’t the case at all. Contextualization is done “for the sake of the Gospel.” Contextualization is about making the church as culturally accessible as possible without compromising the truth of Christian belief. What is sought in this is timeless truth and timely methods. In other words, contextualization is not about making the Gospel relevant, but showing the relevance of the Gospel.
