Lausanne Occasional Paper 2: Journal Response

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

LAUSANNE OCCASIONAL PAPER 2:

THE WILLOWBANK REPORT: CONSULTATION ON GOSPEL AND CULTURE

- A JOURNAL RESPONSE

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. JONES KALELI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE COURSE ICST 650

LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BY

ELKE SPELIOPOULOS

DOWNINGTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1

THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE WILLOWBANK REPORT......................................................1

REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................5

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................7

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INTRODUCTION

The Lausanne Occasional Paper 2 on the Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel

and Culture takes a look at how the communication of the gospel needs to be addressed in a

cultural context. The Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in July 1974 was focused on

this topic of how human culture plays into evangelization, and as a result the Lausanne’s

Committee’s Theology and Education Group met in January 1978. It brought 33 theologians,

linguists, missionaries, anthropologists, and pastors together to create a framework around the

topic of “Gospel and Culture”.1 The ideas and concepts discussed led to several

recommendations on how to deal with issues of culture, church, and communication of the

gospel.

THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE WILLOWBANK REPORT

The introduction explains that the goal set by the group was as follows:

1. To develop our understanding of the interrelation of the gospel and culture with special reference to God's revelation, to our interpretation and communication of it, and to the response of the hearers in their conversion, their churches and their life style.

2. To reflect critically on the implications of the communication of the gospel cross-culturally.

3. To identify the tools required for more adequate communication of the gospel.

4. To share the fruits of the consultation with Christian leaders in Church and mission.0

After this introduction, the Willowbank Report is divided into nine subsections,

representing the key areas of consideration for the group. In the first chapter, the topic of “The

Biblical Basis of Culture” is discussed. Based on the Lausanne Covenant’ statement about

cultures’ beauty and richness, yet its being tainted by man’s sin, the report concludes, “At the 1 The Lausanne Movement, Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS): OP2: The Willowbank Report:

Consultation on Gospel and Culture, http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-2.html (accessed February 19, 2012).

0 The Lausanne Movement, Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS): OP2: The Willowbank Report, Introduction.

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heart of every culture – whether we identify this heart as religion or world-view – is an element

of self-centredness, of man’s worship of himself.”0 Nevertheless, the group affirms human

dignity and cultural achievement and that human creativity is a reflection of their Creator.

The second chapter focuses on “The Definition of Culture.” One of the key statements in

this chapter is that culture “implies a measure of homogeneity.”0 Yet within this homogeneity,

there may be a number of subcultures and subcultures of subcultures, even to the degree of

counter-cultures arising within a culture. An accepted culture encompasses all of human life.

“Culture in the Biblical Revelation” is the topic of the third chapter. The focus is on how

God disclosed Himself in the pages of Scripture through the use of culturally accepted and

appropriate terms. In light of this, communication of the gospel needs to take into account that

God promotes the context of culture. The authors of the paper explain the difference between

formal and dynamic equivalence in Bible translation. Their preference is to have a dynamic

equivalence in translation that honors the cultural context of the culture into which the Bible is

being translated while maintaining the normative and essential meaning of the original text.

Likewise, cultural traditions, such as washing feet, may not translate one to one and may need to

be accounted for.

In the fourth chapter, “Understanding God’s Word Today” is analyzed. Traditional

approaches have sought to come to the biblical text straightforward, without consideration of the

cultural context. The risk with this approach is that the translator may miss what God truly

means in a passage. Another approach looks at the historical and cultural context, yet this

approach may miss the modern application. A contextual approach, which the group

recommends, combines these two elements. As they write, the benefit of this approach is, “The

0 The Lausanne Movement, Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS): OP2: The Willowbank Report, Ch. 1.


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more we come to know him, the greater our responsibility becomes to obey him in our own

situation, and the more we respond obediently, the more he makes himself known.”0

“The Content and Communication of the Gospel” make up the fifth chapter. The group

advises that while it is important to contextualize the message and remove unnecessary offense,

it cannot be allowed to adapt to human pride or prejudice. One of the issues at hand is that people

may reject the gospel not for its message, but for what it will mean in the changes it will impose

on their culture. As the authors say, “Jesus Christ is a disturber as well as a peacemaker.”0 A

particular concern to the group is the ministry to the Islamic world. The authors admonish that

the new realities of the Islamic world, especially in the Middle East, need to be taken into careful

consideration, and that evangelization in the Islamic world may also mean giving up traditional

forms of church.

In the sixth chapter, “Wanted: Humble Messengers of the Gospel”, a closer look is taken

at the conveyors of the gospel message in a cultural context. The group summarizes five areas of

humility a Christian missionary will need to consider: acknowledgement of the problem

presented by culture, the taking the trouble of learning, understanding, and appreciating another

culture, the meeting people where they are, the recognition that even very gifted missionaries

cannot always cross cultural boundaries, and the trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit to

convince hearts of the truth of the gospel. The incarnation of Christ needs to serve as a model for

Christian service in other cultures. He renounced His status, independence, and immunity, and

He identified with those He came to save, yet He didn’t lose His identity.

The seventh chapter, “Conversion and Culture”, deals with the conversion of the believer

and the impact on his cultural surroundings. This conversion may involve a break with the past

and it will ultimately lead to a reevaluation of all aspects of life and especially the believer’s

0 The Lausanne Movement, Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS): OP2: The Willowbank Report: Ch. 4.

0 The Lausanne Movement, Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS):OP2: The Willowbank Report: Ch. 5.

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worldview, behavior and relationships. This conversion experience should not de-culturize the

believer, rather it should serve to remind him that there has been a rupture from the status quo,

yet there is continuity as well. In particular in those countries, where spirit influence is strong,

the power of Christ has to be taught clearly. Also, conversions may not happen in an individual

manner in some cultures, but may rather be group conversions. In addition, conversions may be

gradual as converts realize the complexity of and the changes needed with their new worldview.

Chapter eight, “Church and Culture”, looks at whether cultural norms and traditions

regarding worship need to or should be applied to other cultures. While it appears easier to

simply “import” forms of worship to other cultures, this is not recommended. Rather a similar

approach as in Bible translation should be taken here, that of “dynamic equivalence” in defining

new forms of worship in other cultures. Each church should be freely allowed to express itself.

Syncretism, however, has to be avoided in order not to dilute the message of the gospel.

Likewise, provincialism should also be averted, as it isolates a local church from the universal

body of believers and denies the cultural diversity depicted in the nature of God.

In chapter nine, “Culture, Christian Ethics and Life Style”, a reflection is taken of topics

in the realm of ethics in Western vs. other cultures. The suggestions by the group were to

differentiate between four different categories: first, practices which will need to be renounced

immediately, such as idolatry or witchcraft, as they stand in direct opposition to the Christian

gospel. Second is a category of behaviors that can be tolerated for a while, but then need to

disappear, such as polygamy. Third, behaviors relating to marriage traditions, where churches

themselves might be divided, such as consanguinity, and fourth, customs or morals, which can be

preserved without compromise, can be categorized. No culture should be viewed as superior to

another; however moral absolutes are relevant and must be insisted upon. Cultural change will

happen when people decide to change, when cross-cultural workers demonstrate great respect for

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societal change, and when customs are remembered as playing an important role within culture.

Finally, when a culture’s theology changes, some of the desired behavior changes will as well, as

they were tied to prior theological convictions, e.g. widows being killed when their husbands die

in order for the husband to enter the next world.

REFLECTION

The Willowbank Report encompasses a large treasure trove of cultural insights as the

group was made up of contributors from many cultures. This is clear in the reading. At the same

time, these contributors came from a strong background of faith, which allowed the

recommendations to stay true to Scripture and not become “watered down”.

Important is the connection drawn in chapter two: it relates culture as seen in “the three-

fold dimension of people, land, and history, on which the Old Testament focuses attention.”0 A

profound statement made in the report is also that while cultures are not static, a rebel to an

existing culture may be punished by exclusion from the social community. This will have a

direct impact on the individual, as can be seen in many brothers and sisters in Christ who come

to faith in the Islamic world.

In chapter eight, the authors write that “every theological tradition both contains elements

which are biblically questionable and have been ecclesiastically divisive and omits elements

which, while they might be of no great consequence in the country where it originated, may be of

immense importance in other contexts.”0 This sentence gives a broad framework of allowing

cultural contextualization of Scripture, while maintaining the orthodoxy of the message. There

need not be fights over the minors, when the involved parties can commit to driving the major,

life-giving elements of the gospel message. What may not particularly fit in one cultural context



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may make a huge difference in how the gospel message is received and understood in another

cultural context.

A rather forceful observation is also the scrutiny applied to comparing evils from one

cultural context to the next:

In the 20th century West, often more sophisticated but no less horrible examples of the evils which were opposed in 19th century Fiji exist. Parallel to cannibalism is social injustice which "eats" the poor; to widow-strangling, the oppression of women; to infanticide, abortion; to patricide, a criminal neglect of senior citizens; to tribal wars, World Wars I and II; and to ritual prostitution, sexual promiscuity. In considering this parallelism, it is necessary to remember both the added guilt adhering to the nominally Christian nations, and also the courageous Christian protest against such evils, and the immense (though incomplete) successes which have been won in mitigating these evils. Evil takes many forms, but it is universal, and wherever it appears Christians must confront and repudiate it.

The group has pointed out with great success that one cultural norm can be just as good

or bad as another culture’s norms. This is extremely important when working in other cultures

that may be very foreign to the worker.

CONCLUSION

The Lausanne Occasional Paper 2 (The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and

Culture) is a thoughtful and reflective look at how believers can maintain the integrity of the

gospel message in a cultural context that is foreign to them. Based on the recommendations

given, it is clear that cultural understandings should not be taken in a one-to-one fashion from

one culture to the next, but neither should a cultural understanding impact the truth of the gospel.

This document outlines how this goal can be achieved in a culturally sensitive, yet God- (and

gospel-) honoring way.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Lausanne Movement. Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPS): OP2: The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture. http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-2.html (accessed February 19, 2012).

Lausanne Occasional Paper 2: Journal Response

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