Christianity In South American Culture

With growing Christian populations in Africa, South America and Asia, the Church has quickly found the demographics of the body of believers is shifting from a majority in the west to a majority in the global south. While Christianity primarily associated itself with European and North American culture for the majority of the past two millennia, Christians now find the faith manifesting itself in cultures outside the traditional paradigm. Missions work claims a large responsibility for this phenomenon as missionaries have followed the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and many Christians interpret …show more content…
While one culture may seek to worship God in a particular way, another culture might serve Him in other ways according to their values and virtues. For this reason, Christians must contextualize the gospel explaining it in relevant ways to those to whom they seek to minister. They must realize Christ works in all cultures and seek to communicate the hope they have in a way that displays the significance of Christ 's death and resurrection. While it may seem appealing to convey the gospel in an ethnocentric way based on one 's own culture this often fails to attract others. Dean Flemming in his book Contextualization in the New Testament examines the ways in which Paul contextualized his message to his followers and states, "Paul 's letters, however, are not the gospel as such; rather they bear witness to the gospel and reflect upon it in light of the contingent circumstances of the mission field" (Flemming 104). Flemming explains that Paul evaluates the circumstances of the mission field to which he ministers and contextualizes the gospel to meet the needs of the local people. Christians must spend time examining the culture and immersing themselves in the ways of the people while patiently observing. This process can reveal to a missionary the world view …show more content…
When teaching the gospel, one must explain the Old Testament to those hearing the message as it provides crucial background information. The narrative of the Old Testament explains how all people are fallen creatures and how sin separates humans from their creator. Additionally, the Old Testament law shows the Jewish practice of temple sacrifice of pure animals as atonement for sin and this sacrament foreshadows the substitution atonement given to Christians through Christ 's death and resurrection. While a Christian may have the temptation to take some of the fundamental building blocks of their world view for granted, they must remember others may not easily understand the gospel since little understanding of the Old Testament background exists in the minds of those outside of the "global