A Review of the 3D Gospel

Have you ever thought about how your culture shapes your view of the Bible? Have you ever wondered if Christians from other countries have even read the Bible, or are even Believers, because they seem to develop a different line of interpretation from what Western American Christians have?

There are very significant ways in which we view theology and the Bible. It is normally not until we leave our home culture when we do finally realize some of the vast differences in the mindsets of people we find ourselves around, and often it can and will be frustrating.

We may try to share the Gospel with people in another country, only to find out that they have no real interest in having Christ remove their guilt from sin, instead they are more concerned with the honor of their family group, or even facing spiritual retribution from ancestors if they convert to Christianity.

When Western Christians leave their home culture and experience another, there can be a buildup of confusion and frustration for all parties involved about how to communicate and even how to behave toward each other.

Blessedly, veteran missiologist (that's right, that's a real thing) Jayson Georges has written 3D Gospel: Ministry in Guilt, Shame, and Fear Cultures

This is a pretty short book, with only four chapters in 82 pages. It should take a little over an hour for someone to read through. But even with its brevity Georges packs a punch with a mind-opening look at not only how people are shaped by their home culture, but how the Gospel itself speaks to each culture. This book is quite a help to Christians as they seek to share the Gospel to people who think and operate within a different cultural mindset. This is not a course in adapting the Gospel to any particular culture (and the possibility of removing or altering aspects of it) but rather it is adjusting our eyes to how the Gospel itself is more full-throated than we sometimes are able to understand because of our limited cultural viewing of it.

The first chapter gives a basic outline of the three types of overarching culture archetypes, how a more full reading of the Gospel is available to us in the letter to the Ephesians, and how we too can see a more "complete diamond" therein.
Georges gives us three distinct types of cultures that seemingly fit all countries inside of: Guilt/innocence, honor/shame, and fear/power. Guilt/innocence is the predominant cultural framework for Western countries, seeing the emphasis that we put on guilt for breaking laws (whether governments or God's) and the pursuit of innocence and when the Gospel is preached by Westerners, it is often couched in the terms of guilt and innocence. Honor/shame is the major framework for most, if not all of Asia and the Middle East and deals quite a bit with the group or family reputation over and sometimes against whether or not a member is "guilty". Is the offense going to bring embarrassment on the group or the head of the group? If yes, then it probably should be avoided. Fear/power cultures typically lie in more African countries, and tend to focus on animism or spiritism as primary religions. With fear/power there is the drive to be in control over spirits, whether good or bad, and the ability to use rituals or objects to manipulate or gain favor with the spiritual world.
Georges then goes through Ephesians to see how Paul applies the Gospel to each culture within the letter.

The second chapter deals with the cultures a bit more in detail and how each culture meets or attempts to meet a perceived human need. The third chapter seeks to develop the gospel narratives for each culture-type and the primary verses in which each culture is shown within the biblical story and how each culture views various major points of theology, such as the Garden or the Atonement.

Chapter four goes into detail with ministry in these various cultural contexts and offers a 3D plan of salvation that seeks to encompass each of the culture-types within a contextualized witness that seeks to utilize that type of cultural framework to share the Gospel. Georges lists different types of evangelistic "encounters" that fit within each framework and can be typified for how evangelism can be done in a biblical manner that fits contextually within the cultural framework.

This was an eye opening book for me. As someone who works in the honor/shame culture of the Philippines that has been influenced by the guilt/innocence cultures of Western Europe/America over the past 400 years, it was extremely helpful to see areas where my evangelism and Gospel understanding can be developed.
But for most American Christians who read this book, they are instead looking at other outside cultures coming in to America. Since the nations are coming into the United States, the Church in America has an unique opportunity to share the Gospel and reach more people who can take the Truth of Christ back to their home countries, and this book can help to develop evangelism strategies that are effective at meeting people where they are culturally. So if you are someone who is interested with working with other cultures within America and evangelizing them, then the 3D Gospel is a book that I would highly recommend.

Facebook Suggestion Post #3

Even though we are not currently in the Philippines, I planned on writing a culture post and what better way to do that than to go all the way back to my facebook question from April of 2017 when I asked for questions that American may have about the culture that I, from my vast storehouse of experience with the country and culture, am able to answer with ease in roughly 500-700 words.

This suggestion comes from a certain Robbie Waller, who would like me to write about the need for Walmart in the Philippines. 

In some sense, the Philippines would benefit greatly from Walmart. People would be able to get everything they need (and a bunch that they don't need) in a convenient one-stop-shop. People would have everything they need for fixing things and not have to jerry-rig the things that are broken. But in other ways the Philippines does not need Walmart. I think that while yeah, of course, obviously, it would make shopping easier, it would also do something horrible to the culture of the Philippines. The way I see it,  Filipino people are some pretty resourceful men and women. They have lived through multiple centuries of being subjects to other countries, influenced by still others, and now they are (from what I can tell) in transition still. In some ways the vast majority of people are still trying to figure out what it means to be Filipino, and what exactly being Filipino entails. This transition and influence has caused Filipinos to be very resourceful and to look at problems and challenges from a very different perspective.

Their resourcefulness comes through in a myriad of ways, but it is most easily on display when you are in the market area. There you have the convergence of the two big aspects of the culture: the farm and the city. You see farmers who live in simple wooden houses in a village with a dirt path for a road who get up ridiculously early to catch a jeepney (with all their produce) into the city so they can get to the market to their stall. You see the pedicab driver who is sweating profusely under his shirt that he has wrapped around his head to keep the sun off with some knock-off Ray-bans to keep the sun out of his eyes riding around on his rig (decorated with colorfully recycled items) looking for passengers. All over the market area you see this resourcefulness and for an American who is "fresh off the boat" it may seem almost sad and disconcerting, seeing as quite a bit of the need for this type of resourcefulness is due to poverty, simply having to recycle and reuse items because they can't always afford new things. Down the street, near a school, classes have taken to recycling soda bottles for gardening, and ingeniously saved space with the planting of flowers and herbs. 

Now, here is why I think that having Walmart would be horrible for the Philippines: If we as Americans move to a small town and for some reason unknown to mankind, there is no Walmart, then we may seriously wonder how in the world we will survive. We may wonder how in the world we are supposed to buy groceries or car parts or movies or furniture or home repair supplies or any number of other goods and services. The Philippines has a few malls that have their own department stores and grocery stores inside that do function in some ways as a one-stop-shop, but these are out of the budget for quite a bit of the country. But even middle class families (and I'm sure upper class folks too) have a vein of resourcefulness inside, and they often don't seem feel lost and adrift in the world when stuff breaks or they need a quick fix for x,y, or z. Americans tend to, sans Walmart. Filipinos, in some sense, are free from the reliance on big stores like Walmart to provide all they need or want. They are able to get things done without the need to run to the big chain stores to make sure they have exactly the right tools or supplies. Don't get me wrong, there are specialty shops for bike parts, hardware stores, etc. and people will go and get what they need from these establishments if they need to. But it seems like if, in a pinch, something needs to get fixed and you are in the jungle on a dirt path and your bike breaks down, well...you simply deal with it how you can. More often than not, it works out. If it holds together long enough, you can indeed go to the bike parts shop to get the parts you need to make the needed repairs. But the resourcefulness of the average Filipino is quite impressive, and it is because of their attitude towards recycling and reusing items that I think that Walmart would actually take something away from the culture.