Essential Missionary Skills: Exegete the Culture

Exegeting the culture and exegeting the culture sounds really cool, but what on earth does that even mean? Well, the word is a transliteration from greek, and in its verbal form it means to lead out of. And if you’ve ever heard the word exegesis before, it was most likely within the context of interpreting the Bible. So in terms of biblical interpretation, exegesis is the idea of drawing out the true meaning of the biblical text instead of reading your own interpretation into the text.

The latter is referred to as isegesis, that is, reading something into the text. So exegesis is out of, eisegesis is into. So when it comes to exegeting the culture, the same principles apply. The missionary is going to look at the culture itself and is going to attempt to understand it better by drawing out its underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions. So why on earth do I say that this is an essential missionary skill?

Well, for a couple of reasons. Number one, many churches find themselves in contexts they no longer understand. In an interview with Kerry Neuhoff and Tom Raynor. By the way, I’ll link to the episode in the show notes. Tom Raynor said this.

He said, churches are now in a mission field they don’t recognize. Our community is a mission field, and most of our church leaders, pastors and laypeople alike don’t know how to function in a mission field. The culture has shifted so much and is now post christian, and we don’t know how to function in that kind of mission field. You know, the things that we used to do as churches, they seem to no longer work or no longer work as well. People don’t just show up anymore, and it seems like people are becoming less and less interested and what our church has to share.

And maybe you’ve experienced this as well, but, you know, it’s really difficult to love and serve a people group or a city that you know nothing about. So that’s the first reason. Here’s the second one. You cannot effectively communicate with a culture you don’t understand. I share more about this in episode 17 on how to translate the gospel into any culture.

But a classic example of this is when Don and Carol Richardson went to the Saouy people of New guinea in the 1960s. This was an extremely primitive group of people, and they were cannibalistic. And get this, they highly valued treachery. It was one of their cultural virtues. So imagine sharing the story of Jesus, and you get to the part where Judas betrays Jesus, and the people praise Judas for his treachery, not Jesus for his sacrifice.

You have to know your culture in order to effectively share the good news with them. It may be tempting to believe that since we live in our culture, that must mean we have a firm grasp on our culture. But ask yourself this question, is your culture or context the same today as it was ten years ago? Or, say, 15 years ago? How about 20 years ago?

So the answer is likely no. So then how does the way in which we communicate need to change in order for the unchanging truth of the Gospel to connect with its hearers? There was no better exegete of his culture than the missionary or as we know him, the apostle Paul. In one Corinthians chapter one, he states this. He says, for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom.

He’s saying that these two separate cultures value two separate things. You see, Jews demanded displays of power through signs. They wanted to see it, and Greeks, they wanted to see wisdom. Paul continues. In verse 23, he says, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and folly to Gentiles.

So in other words, when we preach Jesus Christ as crucified, the Jews can’t get over the apparent weakness of Jesus. Why would the Messiah suffer and die? It’s so weak. And then he said, for the Gentiles, the Greeks, they just think it’s foolishness it’s absolute stupidity. But Paul is a cultural exegete and says in verse 24, he says, but to those who are being called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Here’s what he’s saying. Jews want power. Greeks want wisdom. Jesus actually is the true power of God. Jesus actually is the true wisdom of God.

What they’ve been looking for and longing for is ultimately found Jesus. That’s the why of exegeting the culture. Let’s talk about the what. What does it look like to actually exegete the culture? So there’s no right or wrong way to go about this.

There’s no set formula for exegeting the culture. A quick aside, there are a myriad of approaches. If you were to search this on your own, I’ve gathered a number of them and I plan to give them to you for free. If you will get the show notes, just head over to my website, justinwester.com. Navigate to the podcast tab and you can download them there for free.

And they will really help you to round things out if this is something that you are pursuing. So here’s the first thing you should start looking at. What does the culture value? Number one, what do they value? In other words, what does this culture prioritize?

What is important to them? To answer that question, you may want to think through these. You know, what is the loudest message you hear in that culture? These can be spoken messages, but they don’t always have to be. Here are some examples.

You know, what’s coming through in movies and music and art. What’s the loudest message you’re hearing in the culture? How or on what does the culture spend its time and money? What would this culture do if it had no limitations? And here’s an interesting one.

If the culture could collectively speak, how would it want to be remembered? Those are some things that will get the juices flowing when you go to answer the question, what does the culture value? All right, here’s the second one. Ask, what is their worldview? Determine the culture’s worldview.

Remember, a person’s worldview basically answers life’s big questions. You know, questions of origin. How did everything begin? Where did mankind come from? The question of meaning.

Like, what is the purpose of life? How do we experience what many would refer to as the good life? The question of morality. What is true? And who or what gets to determine what is true?

And then finally, destiny. What happens when we die? The answers to these types of questions will help you understand the lens through which the surrounding culture views all of life. You can think of it as an eyeglass prescription. What is their prescription?

What are they viewing the world through? You’re determining the culture’s worldview. And finally, write out the culture’s storyline. Write out the culture storyline. And this is really based on the four b’s.

And I’ll mention that in a second. But here’s what this is getting at. What is the story that everyone is assuming? What is the story everyone seems to be living out? In other words, what is the operating system of the society?

So I share more extensively about this idea of a storyline in episode nine. So it may be helpful to go back and listen to that episode. But a storyline basically follows what I call the four B’s. And they are beginnings, brokenness, betterment and blessing. And instead of rehashing those four B’s, I’m just going to give you a quick example from my culture and then point out where I think those four b’s come into the storyline.

I live in generally an affluent suburban context in Tallahassee, Florida, and this is one of the main storylines here. Here’s the example. Everyone has been dealt a different hand. You can’t control your lot in life, but if you do more, if you earn more, and if you achieve more, you can experience the good life. That’s the overarching cultural storyline of where I live.

So let me break this down with the four B’s. Beginnings. Your beginnings are unpredictable. Some people start off better than others, but however you begin, the question really is, what are you going to do with it? That’s beginnings.

Brokenness. My culture would say brokenness. You know what? Life isn’t fair, but it’s not your fault. Betterment.

Hey, just do it. Earn it, achieve it. Look to your income. Look to the things that you’re involved in. Make some improvements and get ahead.

And then blessings. Here’s what you get. You’re going to get peace and you’re going to experience happiness before you die. Don’t overthink this. Just take a swing at what the prevailing storyline might be in your culture.

Okay, let me pause really quick. What are we doing? We are exegeting the culture. Why? Because as a reminder, the gospel is a message for all people and all cultures.

But we can’t reach a culture we don’t know. So what am I looking for to start this process? We’re looking to learn their values. We’re looking to understand their worldview. We’re looking to get inside their storyline.

That is the storyline. Everyone seems to be assuming that’s the why. That’s the what. Now we’re at the how. Okay, so I want to get really practical here as we wrap things up.

How can we do this? What are the things that you can do this week that will help you, your missional community or your church? Begin the process of exegeting the culture? Three really quick, practical ways to do this. There’s so many more, but I’m going to give you three really quick number one, talk to the locals.

Talk to the locals. Ask about the culture’s history, the city’s history, the neighborhood’s history, and who. Find out who its community influencers are. Talk to people who have been in the area for a really long time. Ask them, in their opinion, how has the area changed over the years?

What are its biggest challenges, its most pressing needs? And this includes not just your neighbors and your friends and the people you may meet through your workplace. It also includes church leaders, the church leaders that have been in the area for a really long time. Number one, talk to the locals. Number two, take a drive or a walk through your city.

Take a drive or a walk through your city. Have you ever gotten in your car and driven all the way across your city or your neighborhood? How does your neighborhood or your city change as you move throughout it? How does the landscape change? What are the monuments or the institutions or the changes in architecture that you notice?

And ask yourself, where do people like to spend their time or hang out? In my culture and context, take a drive or a walk. And then number three, check out the demographics. Check out the demographics. You can pick up a ton of information for free just by doing a quick search online.

You can go to data, dot, census, dot gov, type in your city, and it will provide you with a whole host of information, kind of from a 30,000 foot level, but it’s really valuable. And if you want more specific information, there are organizations and companies online that you can pay to get very specific details on your exact ministry context. But check out the demographics. Well, really, there’s a whole lot more to this, but this really is a first step. In fact, if you want more, the show notes have additional ways for you to approach cultural exegesis from other practitioners.

I put them all in one spot for you to download for free. Check it out at my website. Here’s what I know. I know that you want to see the gospel connect with people. That really is the heart of a missionary.

And if the gospel is going to connect, then it will begin with exegeting and understanding the culture. The very best missionaries are students of their culture. They never stop learning it, knowing it and understanding it so they can better communicate the gospel to it. If you’d like to continue the conversation, I’d love to hear from you this week as well. Send me a message through my website and I’d love to connect with you.