The Integration of Faith and culture for new Christian Converts: Finding the balance.

Summary

In this video, Toini explores the complex issue of integrating faith and culture for new Christian converts, particularly in the context of celebrating Diwali. She discusses the role of missionaries in contextualizing the gospel and the challenges converts face in balancing their new faith with cultural traditions. Using a case study, Toini illustrates the struggle between maintaining Christian distinctiveness and cultural identity. She suggests that while religious rituals should be avoided, cultural aspects of festivals can be adapted to honor Christian faith, drawing parallels to how early Christians incorporated cultural elements into their celebrations. The video concludes with a call for critical contextualization, creating culturally authentic Christian practices, and finding a balance between criticism and connection with the surrounding culture.

Takeaways

• 🧑‍🏫 Christian missions involve sharing the gospel and discipling new believers to grow in their faith.
• 🌍 Missionaries need to engage with different cultures and contextualize the gospel to make it relevant.
• 🎉 The script addresses a real dilemma: whether new Christian converts can continue celebrating cultural festivals like Diwali.
• 🪔 Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is both a religious and cultural celebration with roots in Hindu traditions but is also observed globally by various faiths.
• ❓ New converts face a dilemma on whether to participate in cultural practices that were part of their previous faith.
• 📖 The case study presented from Paul and Francis Hilbert's book highlights the complexity of guiding new converts, balancing their faith and cultural roots.
• ⚖️ The speaker suggests that converts can participate in cultural traditions but avoid religious rituals tied to their old faith, much like early Christians did with pagan festivals.
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Critical contextualization involves understanding cultural practices, evaluating them biblically, and allowing the Christian community to make decisions on which practices to adopt or modify.
• 🎁 The speaker emphasizes that there is no clear-cut answer to whether converts should fully reject or embrace their culture, advocating for a balanced and thoughtful approach.
• 🌱 Ultimately, the goal is to maintain a clear Christian identity while finding ways to adapt cultural traditions in ways that honor their new faith.

Q & A

What is the main challenge the speaker addresses in the script?

The main challenge addressed is the integration of faith and culture for new Christian converts, particularly whether they can continue practicing cultural traditions, like celebrating Diwali, while embracing their new Christian faith.

How does the speaker define Christian missions?

Christian missions involve sharing the gospel with nonbelievers, proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ, His death, resurrection, and salvation. It also includes discipleship—helping new believers grow in their faith and become committed followers of Christ.

What is Diwali, and how is it significant both religiously and culturally?

Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, is a prominent Hindu celebration symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. While its roots lie in religious traditions, it has also become a significant cultural event involving customs like illuminating homes, gift-giving, preparing special dishes, and enjoying fireworks.

What dilemma do newly converted Christians face regarding Diwali?

Newly converted Christians may struggle with the decision of whether to continue participating in Diwali, a festival that has both cultural and religious elements, and how to balance their new Christian identity with their cultural roots.

What is the concept of 'critical contextualization' mentioned in the script?

Critical contextualization is an approach where missionaries and church leaders carefully study cultural practices, evaluate them against biblical teachings, and allow the Christian community to decide which practices can be retained, which should be rejected, and which can be modified to align with Christian values.

How does the speaker relate the example of early Christians transforming pagan symbols to the Diwali discussion?

The speaker compares the idea of reinterpreting Diwali in a Christian context to how early Christians transformed pagan festivals like Saturnalia into celebrations with Christian meaning. This approach allowed them to reach out to pagans while avoiding participation in pagan religious rituals.

What role does culture play in shaping a person's identity according to the speaker?

Culture plays a significant role in shaping people's identity and community life. The speaker emphasizes that rather than rejecting culture entirely, new Christians can adopt or transform certain traditions in ways that honor their faith while maintaining connections with their cultural background.

What biblical perspective does the speaker provide regarding cultural practices?

The speaker references 1 Peter 2:11-12, where Peter encourages Christians to live as 'foreigners' in their pagan culture, abstaining from sinful desires while maintaining a clear Christian witness. This suggests that Christians can engage with cultural practices as long as they avoid compromising their faith.

How does the speaker address the issue of social isolation for new Christian converts?

The speaker highlights the struggle of new converts who may feel isolated from their community due to abandoning familiar cultural practices. The challenge is to help them find joy in their new faith while maintaining some cultural connections to avoid complete social isolation.

What conclusion does the speaker reach about the integration of faith and culture for new Christian converts?

The speaker concludes that there is no clear-cut answer to the question of which cultural practices new Christians should embrace or abandon. A thoughtful approach is needed, considering faith, culture, and community, while balancing criticism and connection with the surrounding culture.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction to the Dilemma of Faith and Culture Integration

The video script begins with an introduction to the challenges faced by Christian missionaries in cross-cultural ministry, particularly in the context of new Christian converts. The speaker, Toini, presents a scenario where a new convert asks if they can still celebrate Diwali as a Christian. This question leads to a broader discussion on whether newly converted Christians can continue their cultural practices or must abandon them due to their new faith. The script outlines the mission of sharing the gospel, including the importance of discipleship and contextualizing the message within different cultures. It emphasizes the need for missionaries to engage with local cultures, learn languages, and adapt the gospel message to make it relevant. The focus is on the integration of faith and culture for new Christian converts, using Diwali as a case study to explore the complexities of this issue.

05:00

🎉 Diwali: Cultural and Religious Significance

The second paragraph delves into the cultural and religious aspects of Diwali, a prominent Hindu festival celebrated as the 'Festival of Lights.' It is observed globally and has both religious and cultural significance. From a religious perspective, Diwali symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil, with connections to Hindu mythology such as Lord Rama's return after defeating Ravana and the worship of the goddess Lakshmi. Culturally, Diwali is celebrated by various faiths in India and other countries, involving customs like illuminating homes, gift-giving, preparing special dishes, and enjoying fireworks. The script highlights the importance of these customs in fostering family reunions and social connections. It raises the question of whether a newly converted Christian, who may have grown up celebrating Diwali, can continue to participate in these festivities while maintaining their Christian identity.

10:02

🤔 Navigating the Tension Between New Faith and Familiar Culture

The third paragraph presents a case study from Paul and Francis Hilbert's book, 'Case Studies in Missions,' which illustrates the challenges faced by new converts in balancing their new faith with their cultural practices. The case involves a Christian missionary, Victor Prakash, who is approached by a newly converted Christian named Prasad, questioning why they cannot celebrate Diwali like other villages. The script discusses the struggle between preserving the distinctiveness of their new Christian faith and finding joy in their new faith without completely severing ties with their cultural roots. It explores the idea of reinterpreting cultural celebrations like Diwali in a Christian context, similar to how early Christians in Europe transformed pagan symbols into Christian ones. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of guiding new believers to understand their new identity in Christ while also addressing the challenges of isolation and cultural tension in conversion.

15:05

📜 Biblical Perspectives and Strategies for Cultural Integration

The final paragraph offers a biblical perspective on the integration of faith and culture, referencing 1 Peter 2:11-12, which encourages Christians to live good lives among non-believers and maintain a clear Christian witness. It suggests that while Christians should abstain from sinful desires, they can engage with cultural practices that do not compromise their faith. The script discusses the example of how early Christians incorporated elements of the pagan festival of Saturnalia into the celebration of Christmas, transforming cultural aspects into Christian practices. It also outlines strategies for new believers to navigate their cultural context, including critical contextualization, the creation of culturally authentic Christian practices, and balancing criticism and connection with the surrounding culture. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the integration of faith and culture, but a thoughtful approach considering faith, culture, and community is necessary for new converts.

Keywords

💡Christian Mission

Christian Mission refers to the act of sharing the gospel and making disciples, especially in cross-cultural settings. In the video, this concept is central as the speaker discusses the challenges faced by missionaries in introducing the Christian faith to people from different cultural and religious backgrounds, such as the example of Diwali in India.

💡Contextualization

Contextualization is the process of presenting the Christian message in a way that is relevant to a particular culture. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding and adapting to different cultures without compromising the core tenets of the Christian faith. The example of reinterpreting Diwali in a Christian context illustrates this concept.

💡Diwali

Diwali is a major Hindu festival, known as the Festival of Lights, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. In the video, Diwali is used as a case study to explore whether new Christian converts can continue participating in cultural festivals that have religious origins. The speaker discusses both the religious and cultural aspects of Diwali.

💡Syncretism

Syncretism refers to the blending of different religious beliefs and practices. The speaker in the video highlights the potential danger of syncretism when new converts secretly continue their old traditions, mixing them with Christian practices, which could dilute the Christian faith.

💡Critical Contextualization

Critical contextualization involves carefully studying cultural practices, evaluating them against biblical teachings, and deciding which can be kept or modified. In the video, this approach is recommended for missionaries and new converts to help navigate cultural and religious practices like Diwali.

💡Cultural Tension

Cultural tension refers to the internal and external conflicts experienced by new Christian converts as they try to reconcile their cultural heritage with their new faith. The speaker provides the example of Prasad's family, who faced social isolation during Diwali because they could no longer participate fully in the festival after converting to Christianity.

💡Indigenous Practices

Indigenous practices are the traditional customs and beliefs native to a particular region or group. The video discusses how new Christian converts might adapt or reinterpret their indigenous practices in light of their new faith, using examples like the festival of 'Tul' in Nagaland, India, where Christian meanings are now ascribed to formerly animistic traditions.

💡Social Ostracism

Social ostracism occurs when individuals or families are excluded from their community due to a particular belief or action. In the video, the speaker mentions how Prasad's family, after converting to Christianity, faced isolation during Diwali as they could no longer celebrate like their neighbors, which led to feelings of loneliness and depression.

💡Biblical Evaluation

Biblical evaluation involves assessing cultural practices and traditions through the lens of biblical teachings. The video encourages new Christian converts to evaluate festivals like Diwali to determine which elements are purely cultural and which have religious significance that might conflict with their faith.

💡Creation of New Christian Practices

The creation of new Christian practices refers to developing faith-based customs that reflect the converts' cultural background while being rooted in Christian values. The speaker illustrates this concept by discussing how Christians in Nagaland have transformed traditional festivals to express their new faith without abandoning their cultural identity.

Highlights

Addressing the integration of faith and culture for new Christian converts.

The challenge of a new convert asking to celebrate Diwali as a Christian.

Christian mission involves sharing the gospel and nurturing new believers.

Missionaries engage with different cultures to contextualize the gospel.

Diwali is a significant cultural and religious event observed by various faiths.

The dilemma of new converts celebrating festivals rooted in their pre-Christian culture.

Case study of a newly converted Christian family facing Diwali post-conversion.

The importance of preserving the distinctiveness of new Christian faith.

The challenge of guiding new converts to find joy in their new faith without cultural practices.

Biblical perspective on living as foreigners and maintaining a clear Christian witness.

The example of early Christians transforming Pagan symbols into Christian ones.

Critical contextualization as a method for new converts to navigate cultural practices.

Creating culturally authentic Christian practices to prevent syncretism.

The church's role in balancing criticism and connection with the surrounding culture.

No clear-cut answer but a thoughtful approach is necessary for new converts.

Transcripts

hello everyone this is toini and today I

want to address some of the issues faced

in Christian missions uh we as future

pastors missionaries uh and Ministry

leaders imagine this scenario you're

ministering in a community where a new

convert asks can I still celebrate

Diwali as a Christian how would you

respond so today we're tackling a

critical challenge in cross cultural

Ministry and my topic is the integration

of faith and culture for new Christian

converts so this isn't just a

theoretical exercise it's a real dilemma

faced by missionaries and church

Planters around the world uh let me

first begin with what I understand by

Christian

Mission the mission involves sharing the

gospel with nonbelievers proclaiming the

message of Jesus Christ his death

resurrection and salvation ofer true

faith in him uh and Mission also include

discipleship nurturing new Believers to

grow in their faith and become committed

followers of Christ to do this

effectively missionaries engage with

different cultures learning their

languages uh and their worldview and

contextualizing the gospel to make it

relevant within

culture so in this context of roles of

missionaries in discipleship and

contextualization

I'll be presenting about whether a

Christian uh a newly Christian can still

celebrate the or not which part will

they choose to celebrate or not to my

aim in this presentation is not focused

primarily or particularly on Diwali but

I'm trying to point towards a broader

understanding of whether newly converted

Christian can follow or continue

practicing their old cultures and

practices

or abandon them because of their newly

found Faith so my purpose in using

Diwali as an example is to n down so

that I can deal it with uh so so so that

I can deal with the questions or issues

in a more simpler and clearer way so at

the first place what is Diwali uh in

both cultural and religious aspects so

Diwali is not just a religious practice

but cultural as well so Diwali or

festival of light it is a prominent

Hindu celebration observed in India and

globally as well while its root Roots

lie in religious Traditions but it also

have become a significant cultural event

sorry from a religious perspective

Diwali represents the Triumph of light

over darkness and good over evil so in

Hindu mythology it links to Lord Rama's

Victorious return after defeating demon

ravan

and it is also connected to worshiping

goddess Lakshmi who embodies wealth and

prosperity and if we see Diwali in

culture culturally it's celebrated

across India and other countries by

various faiths including jism Sikhism

Buddhism uh yes and the festival

involves Illuminating homes with oil

lamps gift giving preparing special

dishes adorning Living Spaces and

enjoying fireworks dis place so these

Customs are integral to India's cultural

heritage fostering family reunions

social connections and uh communial F

festivities so the issue here is can a

newly converted Christian who grew up in

that kind of environment or culture and

still lives in that kind of setting

celebrate these festivals which decision

will he or she make as a Christian to

practice or not and to explain this

further I have a Cas case study from the

book called case studies case studies in

missions by Paul and Francis Hilbert so

Victor prakash a Christian Missionary in

a village of Dei utar Pradesh the north

India was troubled during Diwali uh a

new con a newly converted Christian uh

named Prasad had asked why they couldn't

celebrate Diwali like other villages

with lights and decorations or perhaps

at Christmas instead so prakash uh

prasad's family had recently converted

to Christianity however their DEC their

decision to become Christian had led

them to social ostracism from their

community so as duali approached the

prasat family felt isolated and

depressed unlike their neighbors their

home was dark and undecorated and they

longed for The Fellowship of the

missionaries and since Prasad question

about celebrating the festival reflected

their struggle between their new faith

and the familiar culture practices they

once enjoyed so Victor prakat uh the

missionary he pondered how to respond he

knew it was important for new converts

to break from Hindu Traditions to

preserve to preserve the distinctiveness

of their new Christian faith at the same

time he wanted to have the prasad's

family to find joy in their new F

without completely cutting them off from

their cultural Roots he considered

whether it was possible to reinterpret

the celebration of Diwali in a Christian

context much like how early Christians

in Europe transform transform Pagan

symbols into Christian ones so prakash

faced the challenge of guiding new

converts true distinction between faith

and culture ensuring they understood

their new identity Christ

while also restoring their joy and mids

the challenges of isolation so here I

want to EMP emphasize a little bit on

Joy uh so the story doesn't imply that

there's no joy in embracing Christianity

without culture but it shows the real

struggle that new converts face when

living familiar cultural practices so my

response is that Christianity offers

true Joy through a relationship with

Christ regardless of cultural practices

however culture plays a significant role

in shaping people's identity and

community life and rather than rejecting

it entirely Believers can find ways to

adopt or transform certain tradition in

a ways that honor their faith uh the

challenge is guiding new Believers to

balance faith and culture without

compromising their Christian identity so

which part can they Embrace abandon

their abandon their culture and Heritage

or embrace them or embrace them up to

what level actually this question has no

straightforward answer according to me

because it's very complex but this

problem has always been in existence and

have been addressed by multiple uh

missionaries and researchers as well so

some of the missionaries and researchers

have highlight highlight highlighted

complex issues of how new Christians

should navigate their cultural past when

they converted Christianity especially

when it it involves deeply ingrained

customs and

traditions so some of the some of the

key issues are one cultural tension in

conversion so when the gospel enters a

new Society it meets people who has

already who already had have an

established culture so missionaries in

the past often rejected these cultural

practices as pagans without fully

understanding them which led to

difficulties and point two problems with

complete rejection of culture uh and

point two point a is cultural

foreignness so when missionaries

replaced indigenous customs with Western

practices Christianity became seen as a

foreign religion which made it hard for

people to accept it and point B

authoritarian rule making so missionary

became enforcers of rules which led to a

leg of understanding and ownership among

new converts who didn't participate in

decision making uh and point C private

continuation of Customs so people

practice their old traditional customs

in secret leading to synet syncretism

and unhealthy blending of Christian and

traditional practices so there are some

challenges and problems faced by

missionaries so back to the question I

asked earlier which part can they

Embrace abandon or Embrace so so let's

view it biblically uh 1 Peter 2: 11-2

here it talks about living as foreigners

Peter addressed the addresses the

tension that early Christians faced as

they navigated the new identity in

Christ while still living in a pagan

culture so here he exhorts them to

abstain from sinful desires and to live

such good lives among the pagans in 1

Peter 2: 11-2 so the goal was to

maintain a clear Christian witness and

avoid the appearance of compromise while

still engaging with the culture in a way

that that in a way that that could uh

draw others to Christ and there are

other biblical views that talks about

Christian being free from eating food

Idols uh eating food offered to Idols

since the Idols are not real God or even

Apostle

Paul being all things to all people by

adapting their culture without

compromising his faith in order to reach

out to various people so uh we can uh

discuss those biblical views together um

we can discuss more in the class so

relating to 1 Peter chap 2: 11 to2 with

Diwali new Believers should think

carefully about which parts of diali

Diwali are cultural traditions and which

are tied to the religious belief they

can join in the cultural parts but

should stay away from the religious

rituals we can take the example of how

we started celebrating Christmas example

saturnalia saturnalia was an ancient

Roman Festival in honor of Saturn the

god of Agriculture wealth and time it

was celebrated from December 17 to 23rd

the festival was a time of feasting gift

giving and marment and it was considered

one of the most popular and festive

events in the Roman Calendar sorry so

satania's influence on Christmas is

undeniable early Christians seeking to

convert pagans to Christianity

Incorporated elements of satalia into

their celebration of Jesus's birth this

is why many Christian Traditions such as

gift giving feasting and marment bear

similarity similarities to those of

satalia so they didn't take part in

religious rituals but took the cultural

aspect of like gift giving feasting and

marment and and they Incorporated it so

that they can reach out to those pagans

so some of the culture aspect of the

like bonding gift giving family relative

Feast can be practiced according to me

according to me it's about taking part

and bonding and not withdrawing themsel

entirely from the family relatives and

society and there are some other ways

that we can look into while dealing with

this issue uh uh this one is from the

book by Paul

uh from the same book by Paul and

Francis hbert case studies missions so

they the book mentions Four Points so

the first point is critical

contextualization so the author suggests

an approach instead of either completely

rejecting or completely accepting all

Customs missionaries and church leaders

should engage in critical

contextualization and under under this

critical contextualization there's three

points point a

uh point a is studying cultural

practices examining the old ways

carefully and understanding their

meanings and point B biblical evaluation

testing this practices against biblical

teachings Point c Christian Community

decision making allowing the community

of Believers to decide which practices

can be kept which must be rejected and

which should be modified to align with

Christian values uh and point two

creation of indigenous practices uh

through this process new converts can

create their own Christian practices

that are culturally authentic but rooted

in their faith this gives them ownership

and helps them prevent syncretism

example of uh some festivals in nagaland

uh nagaland India that is where uh I

come from so the festival is called tul

it has an animistic origin because back

in those days we were animistic so we

worship gods of rain for providing water

to the crops we worship gods of the Sun

for providing energy energy and lights

to the crops and many more but even as

we Embrace Christianity we didn't adopt

our culture or practices or festivals

fully we still practice those but with a

different perspective and motive now

instead of worshiping or giving thanks

to the gods of rain or sun we thank our

almighty God we still celebrate those

festiv with regard to our God for his

provision and sustainance so this is an

example of indigenous practice uh some

don't subscribe to this stance but I do

so so and the point number three is

relating to established churches the

issue of culture and Faith isn't limited

to Mission settings even established

churches can also struggle with adapting

too much to the surrounding culture and

can lose their prophetic voice so the

church should remain critical of

societal issues like materialism and

other cultural practices that contradict

Christian teachings and lastly finding

balance the church needs to strike a

balance between criticizing and

connecting with the culture if it pulls

away completely then it loses its impact

but if it adapts too much it becomes a

religion that goes along with whatever

is happening in the society so like I

said earlier uh for me there's no black

and white

or clear-cut answer to this but there

are considerations to be taken note of

when we deal with integration of faith

and culture so in conclusion the

integration of faith and culture from

new Christian convert is a very complex

issue particularly when dealing with

traditional festivals like Diwali so key

challenges include balancing new

Christian faith with cultural Roots

avoiding social isolation while

maintaining Christian distinctiveness

and preventing syncretism a Biblical

perspective based on uh 1 Peter 2: 11

to2 suggest that Christians should

abstain from sinful desires but live

good lives among non-believers and

maintain a clear Christian witness while

engaging with the culture when uh When

appro approaching cultural practices

it's important to distinguish between

cultural traditions and religious

religious rituals participating in

culture aspect while avoiding religious

rituals an example of how an example of

this approach is how Christians

Incorporated cultur elements of satalia

and suggested strategies that include

critical contextualization that is

studying uh studying practical cultural

practices evaluating them

against evaluating from the Biblical

teaching and allowing the Christian

Community to decide on practices uh and

creating culturally authentic Christian

practices and balancing criticism and

connection with the surrounding culture

so ultimately there is no clearcut

answer for me for now but a thoughtful

approach considering Faith culture and

Community is necessary for new converts

navigating their new Christian identity

within their cultural context thank you