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Muller Book Report

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Muller Book Report

Believers who desire to convey the connotation of Christ across social barriers need to be

conscious of the cultural perspectives and values of the populations they are addressing. The

sense of right and wrong allows them an opportunity to acknowledge appropriate figures of

speech that signify the gospel in a manner that communicates their felt opinions. This paper

utilizes Muller’s artistic explanation as a model for a messenger to explore cultures during the

explanation of the gospel message to the audiences. There are various cultural reasons that

influence a messenger’s ability to deliver a message to people of diverse cultures.

Characteristics Needed for Effective Communication of the Gospel in Different Cultures

The first requirement is for one to understand the audience. It is crucial for the messenger

to realize that the allegory that Jesus died as a way of paying the penalty for the world sins may

not make logic to Christians in Japan. The Japanese may reject this assumption of the atonement

because they interpret the death as a system of justice for disobedience. On the other hand, the

Western opinion on justice necessitates neutral verdict based on decrees.

The Japanese believe

that guilt banishes through penalty. Based on this logic, evangelical scholars who have

understood the idea of culture may outdo others at spreading the gospel and maintain God’s

word at the center of their sermons.

A cross-cultural messenger is an individual who has the ability to discover approaches of

speaking the message in pertinent and impacting ways to audiences with diverse values,

viewpoints, and worldviews. However, it is not advisable for messengers to exegete the Bible

even if they are attempting to limit themselves to the cultural contexts in which the audiences

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

Ibid p18.

live.

The gospel impacts people in different ways and this makes it vital for cross-cultural

communicators to try and have similar views with their hearers. More importantly, it takes time,

interactions, and social exploration to realize and understand the cultural variations of a group of

people.

Secondly, a communicator of the gospel in different cultures must have the skills of

identifying the social predisposition towards divine brokenness. Following the example of Jesus’

death, the communicator of the gospel needs either to clarify the Western hypothesis for justice

or learn a new allegory for the death. The model should be one that resonates with the Japanese

interpretation of truth.

The Western approach may not be viable for various reasons. First, it

necessitates the audience to adjust customary suppositions and take foreign values.

Unfortunately, this can reduce the appeal of the message even to people who are prepared to

surrender their culture. Secondly, the message becomes unkind to the mainstream individuals

who only respect issues that suite within their system of identifying reality. Thirdly, energy and

time are needed for listeners to comprehend and measure the significance of the message. Unless

one has a strong frustration with their existing spiritual conviction, they are less likely to decode

a message that seems inappropriate for their context. Fourth, even if listeners can understand the

demonstration logics, it still may still not influence their need.

Lastly, the messenger needs to have the ability to make the listener to perceive and

respond to a message. The skill goes beyond the intellectual capacity to the aptitude to define the

impact of the scripture based on the assumptions and values of the hearer. It stops them from

being restricted to positive reception by a group of people. However, whenever the message is

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

Ibid, p. 27.

heard and but not decoded, it does not mean that the word is challenging or in opposition to

cultural values.

Muller suggests that every culture exhibits varied beliefs but normally one may

be the major and default way of processing, judging, and alleviating challenges.

Descriptions of How Guilt, Shame, and Fear Relate to the Receptivity of the Gospel

Message

Guilt

The rule of law remains a respected virtue in the society. Besides, it is expected that a

parent can take a child to the authorities if he commits an offense. Such elevation of the law that

surpasses even family standards is a feature that can make a messenger unsuccessful in the

delivery of a message. To maintain a reasonable level of control, limits are set by regimes within

which individuals have the autonomy to function. The point here is that there is an institution of

standards to which everyone is obliged to adapt. Since guilt is such a significant value, any

dysfunctional communication of the message can be considered as an action against the law.

This is what makes listeners to figure out guilt even if the actual messenger does not feel his

fault. In a situation where dysfunctionality and brokenness come out as guilt, re-establishment to

a state of blamelessness becomes the highest value. However, innocence is a condition that may

often be challenging to meet.

Shame

Many cultures perform on the basis of honor and shame. The community assesses its

morals by the way others understand them. It implies that a messenger’s interpersonal

relationship give the incentives for their actions. In this view, the matter of brokenness does not

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

have any connection with guilt even if it leads to the transgression of the law. However, it can

lead the messengers to shame and in turn influence the receptivity of the intended message. It is

always how an action is seen by people within a communal context that influences their identity.

As a result, a messenger’s realizes catastrophe when there is a failure in the receptivity the

message. Unfortunately, restoration to recognition and a status of honor may be impossible

following shame.

Fear

Many cultures, particularly the Africans, view the world as a place for power struggle.

On the same note, the spirit world is existent and much determination is put on soothing powers

that may be detrimental or engaging those that may satisfy the people’s needs. In this context, a

messenger’s transgression to the powers during cross-cultural message delivery can result in fear

and individual setbacks. In order to handle fear, communities resort to rituals which they believe

can influence the powers surrounding them. Additionally, before the appeasement of the

universal powers, cultures have the jurisdiction to work out their systems of appeasement. Such

methods vary as one civilization may offer incense and another may give their families as

sacrifices. In fear, the violation is often mysterious and is only realized when a catastrophe has

transpired. Restoration to healing from a state of fear requires external powers to prompt the

actions of the spirits.

Explanations of Guidelines for Christian to Communicate the Gospel to People from

another Worldview

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

The need for spiritual truth necessitates the incorporation of guiding principles for the

messenger to deliver the message to groups from another worldview. First, since Christians find

themselves living in global communities, it is significant for them to understand many diverse

cultural situations and backgrounds. Important to note is that only a few missionaries can decide

to work in mono-cultural situations. Besides, the philosophies of Buddhists, Hindus, and

Muslims are what influence the perception of whoever receives the message. Therefore,

Christians are left with the jurisdiction to explore both the simple and basic principles that must

be foundational to their ministries as cross-cultural ministers. Messengers need to begin by

examining themselves as church servants. In other words, the church-minister is the messenger

who carries the Gospel message to the targeted communities. If the Scripture is to be accepted,

then the agent must receive feedback. However, if the target group rejects the minister as an

effective missionary, then the ministry goes no farther.

Secondly, once the church-minister is acknowledged as a legal messenger, he needs to

continue and start to spread messages that are ethnically applicable or understandable to the

addressees. If the message is not comprehensible, the community may cast it off. It happens

because they are unable to recognize the word as being valid for their situation. On the other

hand, even if the missionary gains enough hearing from people, the word may still be banned if

the church being addressed is not a sustainable community of believers for that circumstance.

Third, a Christian needs to discover what is required by the audience. Muller searched for

a metaphor on atonement that would work with the world view of reality. The findings are

obligatory for the cross-cultural messengers who believe that the scripture can be conveyed

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

through all tongues and understood within every social setup. The goal of discovering an

audience’s needs is to determine a metaphor that can function with the perspectives and values of

the listeners. The depiction adopted by Muller was that the cross signifies the love of God as

Jesus voluntarily identified himself with the sins of the world. Alternatively, he concealed the

shame of everyone.

Lastly, the establishment of an upright relationship with people in their time of shame

reinstates their honor. People repent whatever leads to shame and have faith in God’s values for

their lives.

For anyone who wishes to convey God’s message cross-culturally, he needs to study

his reflections because they can tell a contextualizing practice that is useful in other settings as

well. In doing so, the result becomes an allegory that is easily understood on a global scale. More

importantly, the use of images that are theologically comprehensive and not so entangled in any

philosophy guarantees that one can challenge the issues that may disable cross-cultural message

delivery. In Muller’s case, every dichotomy offers a basis within which prospective metaphors

that may work for a group of varied people can be revealed.

Conclusively, muller’s book explores

three primary issues in cross-cultural gospel

communication including culture or the community, the messenger, and the message. Through

these, the principle of contextualization becomes the basis of communicating the gospel. It is

through the conception of the various factors surrounding the message that a messenger can

manage to frame communication to suit a group of people. Moreover, the accurate terminologies

and images may not be understood without careful reflection of worldview and culture. A cross-

cultural messenger of the gospel is obliged to establish a connection between the God’s message

Bible, Holy. "The New King James Version." The Open Bible, Expanded Edition (1982)

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

and the truth of the situation in order to discover the boundaries that help in the communication

of the word.

Bibliography

Müller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the

Cross-cultural Church Planter. 2013.

Bible, Holy. "The New King James Version." The Open Bible, Expanded Edition (1982).

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