communicating
and we make
many mistakes.
Reflect on the following questions about Part One of our case study:
What barriers of communication does the sent-out disciple face because he is a foreign man?
What barriers of acceptance to the Good News face the people of this group he is living among?
What did the sent-out disciple do well in his attempt to introduce the kingdom?
What do you think the sent-out disciple could do to improve in the next city?
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Part Two
Now that the sent-out disciple and his family know the language and culture well, they decide to spend time with the men and women who are their neighbors in a new city. Over time, two families on his street decide to follow Jesus. The man and his family rejoice. This time he plans to create a church more appropriate for that people group, instead of creating one just like the church in his home city.
Before he creates the new church, he goes to a local religious building and to some of the local festivals. He wants to find furnishings or practices in the people’s culture that can replace the items he knows from his home church.
He finds a building to rent that is similar to to the religious places used in this culture. He furnishes it in a different way from the earlier church in his home.
For example, he sees the people sit on rugs at their religious meetings rather than on chairs. He notices they use flutes and drums for music at the festivals rather than guitars and pianos.
He gives new meanings that honor Most High God to some of the outward actions of worship he observes in their culture. After he shows the new disciples the new building and his ideas, they separate from their own community and begin to build the practices of their new kingdom community around the new religious practices that the foreign man teaches them.
Their natural identity as a group is still similar to that of their own people group even though it has changed. It is not like the natural identity of the foreign man but it is a new identity altogether—a mix between his natural identity and theirs.
One day, the leader of the people group’s own religious center comes to talk with the foreign man. The leader tells the foreign man to leave at once because he has divided the community that was once peaceful. One group has remained faithful to the traditions of the people group while the other has changed and mixed their traditions with foreign ones. It no longer fits in with the people group.
The man is confused. How could this new group appear foreign when they are using so many of the same outward actions of their people group? He wonders about this for many days.
Another sent-out disciple comes to visit the man. He sees what is happening in the community and asks the man, “Have you introduced the kingdom of God to this people group as yeast into their dough in a way it can naturally spread among the people?”
The man realizes what has happened. Even though He has been more careful not to introduce his own traditions to the people, he still put the yeast of the kingdom inside a building, pinched off larger chunks out of dough (the neighbor families), and separated them from their community to mix into the yeast. This is still the opposite of Jesus’ parable.
He also realizes that he still made decisions for the people about when, how, and where to worship God. He began noticing that this people group never uses music at their daily or weekly religious gatherings as he does at his home church. These people only use music at their festivals. He recognizes that his observation about outward actions were uninformed, as he was still an outsider to this community.
Reflect on the following questions about Part Two of our case study:
What barriers of communication has the foreign man overcome since his first attempt to introduce the kingdom? What barriers of communication does he still face?
What barriers of acceptance to the Good News face the people of this group among whom he is living?
How does the community view the neighbors of the sent-out disciple who begin to follow Jesus? Why do they view them this way?
Why does the community leader ask the sent-out disciple to leave?
Do you think that splitting the community is something the new kingdom community could avoid? How?
What did the sent-out disciple do well in his second attempt to introduce the kingdom to this people?
What do you think the sent-out disciple could do to improve in the next city?
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Part Three
Because the community religious leader asks him to go, the foreign man leaves the kingdom community there and goes to a third city. He and his family seek to introduce the kingdom into families as he did before. After sharing and working together with the families around him, one large family decides to follow Jesus. The man and his family rejoice.
This time, he realizes the yeast, which is now introduced into the dough, must find a way to naturally spread. He explains this to the family and they seek God together for wisdom. The family recognizes that they must bless their own people, and that they must decide how to worship God together as a people. The foreign man and the family begin looking together to the Holy Spirit and the Scripture for guidance on how to live out their new allegiance to Jesus among their own people and according to their own natural identity.
The foreign man provides counsel to the elders. But the spread of the kingdom within this people group is dependent on the new followers of Jesus within that group, as they rely on the Holy Spirit. It is not dependant on the foreign man, whose knowledge and understanding of their traditions is good, but still limited.
Soon, the new followers have attracted the interest of many in their community because they are repenting of sin, experiencing joy, and changing the way they treat others. Two other families now follow Jesus. Some people in the community are suspicious of them and keep a distance. Others are curious and ask to study God’s Word and hear more about Jesus.
The new kingdom community begins to send out disciples together with the man to a nearby people, in order to introduce the kingdom to another related people group. The blessing passes from one people group to another, bringing glory to God.
Reflect on the following questions about Part Three of our case study:
What barriers of communication has the foreign man overcome since his first two attempts to introduce the kingdom? What barriers of communication does he still face?
How does the community view the families who begin to follow Jesus? Why do they view them this way?
Why are some people suspicious of the new disciples? Why are some people curious about them?
What did the sent-out disciple do well in his third attempt to introduce the kingdom to this people?
What do you think the sent-out disciple could do to improve in the next city?
To follow Jesus, we must give up our allegiance to other gods and idols.
God loves all cultures and wants to bring them all under His lordship.
He does not want to them to change their natural identity. We must find ways to introduce the kingdom so it can naturally spread like yeast through dough in a people group. Discuss what God teaches you in this case study with others in your study group. Pray as the Holy Spirit directs you in your discussion.