Cultural Translation of the Gospel: Why Bother?

My friends in Spain have yet to hear the Gospel.

Here I am in what is supposedly a Catholic country – and my friends really have never heard the truth about Jesus.

Maybe they got bits and pieces of information about Jesus from a Catholic education. Maybe they’ve heard about evangelicals who passionately yell things about God in public settings. Maybe they even saw “The Passion of the Christ.”

But I think more often my friends’ concept of Jesus’ life is tied to a weak, powerless and irrelevant historical figure who shows up a couple of times a year (Christmas and Easter, of course) – and whose name is associated with a religious and political institution that, in their eyes, oppresses people all over the world.

So, Jesus? Yeah, He’s the guy on the Easter float during all those Holy Week processions. He taught about love and supposedly did all these miracles but somehow He got Himself killed. He seems nice enough, but what do you mean about “following” Him?

To me, “cultural translation of the Gospel” means giving my friends a chance to hear about the Jesus they’ve never known. It means giving them an opportunity to realize there’s more to Him than cultural tradition and ritual; that, in fact, at times He doesn’t even resemble that stuff.

Cultural translation of the Gospel is important because people need to hear about the life, love and hope of Christ in a way that makes sense to them. And I want to live my life in such a way that my friends don’t mistake Him for their culture but see Him and hear about Him for Who He really is.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll explore more aspects of what it really means to “culturally translate” the Gospel and how it relates to effective missional living in your community, whether that’s in North America, Europe or beyond.