"Go and make disciples OF ALL NATIONS..." (Matt 28:19)
"you will be my witnesses...to the end of the earth..." (Acts 1:8)
"everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages...when they heard the noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers" (Acts 2:4,6)
There are many things in scripture that seem about as clear as trying to see through textured glass...like trying to peek through a friend's front door; everything is distorted and the figure moving could be your friend or just the curtains blowing.
One thing that is COMPLETELY clear in the Gospel is that God's redemption of man through Jesus Christ is for people of every nation, culture, and language. However, as silly humans that have slowly created our own jargon -often calledChristianese- we tend to forget that God intends to speak to the lost IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE.
I remember my first experience in another culture COMPLETELY different from my own. I was 19 and had just signed up for my first mission trip to India. Now, some "experts" got together once and with their collective knowledge decided that going to India, for an American, is the greatest level of culture shock one can expect to experience. I don't know if that is really something that can be calculated, but I will say I had more shock than I was ready for. In fact, I think the shock would have been more than I could handle had my team leaders not required us to read a book months before stepping into the airport. The book was actually called Culture Shock: India, and basically spelled out many things a typical American boy like myself would most likely be ignorant of in regard to the Indian way of life. Things like:
1. Cows are considered sacred animals, and thus are free to roam wherever they please...even across a major highway, effectively stopping traffic with it's divine presence.
2. India is CROWDED (4x the people of the United States with only 1/3 the space) and has very, VERY poor sanitation capabilities -not to mention you virtually cannot buy deodorant in the entire country. Therefore...India has a litany of certain smells you can only find in an American city's downtown alleyway.
3. The greatest offense you can cause is showing the bottom of your feet to people. This is seen as a way of communicating to the other person that they are no better than the dirt and garbage you walk on day in and day out, so it's much more offensive than any finger selectively presented by an angry American motorist. This causes issues when coupled with the fact that most of them eat on the floor, because I am not quite as flexible in the areas needed to sit cross legged on concrete without showing the soles of my feet!
I share these things with you to say that had my team leaders not essentially demanded we read that book, there are a myriad of ways I could have, and undoubtedly would have unknowingly offended the people we met there, effectively rendering the message I brought with me meaningless! In short, if you don't know or learn to speak the language -body language ABSOLUTELY included- of the people you desire to share the love and story of Jesus with, you will fail and fail miserably.
No foreign missionary goes to live among a people very unlike their own without learning the language of that culture. It would be naive at best, but really a better description would be "the most idiotic thing you could ever EVER do!" And in regard to those of us who are not foreign missionaries, but simply by proclaiming Christ, are missionaries where we already reside, author of The Gospel According to Peanuts, Robert L. Short said,
"The Church's missionaries to its 'culture despisers' need to be as well acquainted with the current languages of culture as the Church's missionaries to foreign lands are acquainted with the languages of the areas into which they are sent."
I bring this up to make a statement I believe inspires some, embarrasses others, and angers many; the Christians in America & much of the Western world today have for the most part forgotten, ignored, and avoided the relevant language of the culture in which God has carefully placed us. In effort not to be influenced or lured away by the temptations of the constantly changing culture around us, we have discarded the infant from the baptismal and turned a blind eye to God's desire to spread his message in each persons' "own language." Most Christians I know have NO IDEA how to even speak with unbelievers without a slew of Christian cliches we adopted from someone else, or jargon that make little sense to us, let alone someone who has no desire to be a part of our Sunday services. We cannot reach people that speak a different language simply through repetition or more emphatic shouting.
We have to grow; and an essential part to growing is learning something NEW. Now I have studied five languages other than English to varying degrees in my lifetime, and I will tell you it is NO simple task. I will also tell you it is well known by any who have attempted such an endeavor that learning a different language is MUCH more difficult the older you get. So, I write this to offer a possible and very promising alternative to our evangelical language barrier. Rather than beating our heads against the wall from repeated failures to keep up with our ever-changing environment, perhaps we should employ the talents of those that are already proficient, if not fluent in both our Christianese and the languages around us:
Students.
Students are daily surrounded, influenced, and even raised by the cultures around us. They are heavily immersed in it, and since they are still in developmental life stages they have not closed their eyes to the wealth of information at their fingertips. Like babies putting everything they touch directly into their mouths, students are sponges soaking up the water they live in. Therefore young people are our best hope for culturally-relevant evangelism in a world disenfranchised with the Christianity we have shown them. Regardless of our intentions or efforts people don't want what we're offering because we are speaking a language they don't.
Three thousand people were brought into saving relationship with Jesus and into community with the Church the day the disciples spoke to them in their own tongues. Let us actually be apostles (sent ones); let us do as Jesus commanded and GO TO those around us as true missionaries armed with the right tools to "bewilder" the people. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the guidance of the gifted younger generations, let us make disciples of all peoples different than ourselves. That journey starts with allowing students in our congregations to show us the way, and teach us the language we need.
