Case Studies in Missions

Idols and Ancestors

Case Studies in Missions

Paul G. and Frances F. Hiebert

Republished 2009 by permission at

Contents

Preface

Introduction Using Case Studies in Missions

Part 1: Idols and Ancestors

1.The Ancestral Feast Greg Roth

2.Grandmother’s Funeral Mamoru B. Ogata

3.A Wedding in the People’s Republic of China David Wang

4.Family Gods Paul G. Hiebert

5.Food Offered to Idols Simon P David

6.The Neighborhood Celebration Anonymous

Part 2: Women and Men

7.The Law of Liberty Versus the Law of Love Bobbie Pendell

8.Pastoral Counseling for an Abused Wife Frances F. Hiebert

9.Wife Beating William A. Benner

10.The Marriage Tangle Gladwin Jaykar

11.Too Many Wives Paul G. Hiebert

12.Adultery or Polygamy? Stephen Asonibare

13.The Christian Polygamist Samuel Nkulila

14.Love Him or Leave Him? Evelyn Jensen

15.Onions and Wives Roger David Heeren

16.Should Mrs. Leung Submit? Ho, Kai-Ming

Part 3: Traditional Customs

17.Can a Christian Celebrate Diwali? Simon P David

18.Fit for the Kingdom? Robert D. Newton

19.Banana Beer in Burundi Nzohabonayo Ferdinand

20.The Communal Feast Denis J. Green

21.To Drink or Not to Drink? Dennis Teague

22.The Triumph of the Chiefmakers Wilson Awasu

23.The Threat of the Spirit Dancers Georgia R. Grimes

24.How Should Bashir Be Buried? Syed Ratique Uddin

Part 4: Sickness and Death

25.Nemon’s Death Joanne A. Wagner

26.The Death of Manuel Vasquez Larry W. Caldwell

27.What Is Wrong with Auntie Mansah? Daniel Tei-Kwabla

28.A Sacrifice to the Goddess of Smallpox Paul G. Hiebert

29.Drought R. T.

Part 5: Finances and Bribery

30.To Bribe or Not to Bribe? Teg Chin Go

31.Elusive Justice Keith Hinton

32.Fuel for the Water Pump Anonymous

33.Bonanza or Black Market? Paul G. Hiebert

34.The Price of Ordination Anonymous

Part 6: Conversion and Theology

35.Lily Liu’s Baptism James Chuang

36.A Word for God Paul G. Hiebert

37.A Group Conversion Paul G. Hiebert

38.Conversion or Social Convention? Paul G. Hiebert

39.When Baptism Means Breaking the Law S. J. Dhanabalan

Part 7: Walls That Divide People

40.Peacemaker or Patsy? Ron Priest

41.Unity and Diversity in the Church Paul G. Hiebert

42.Conflict During the Lord’s Supper Christopher John Singh

43.Caste Violence Among Christians A. Raveentharan

Part 8: Church-Mission Relationships

44.What Price the Gospel? Carl K. Kinoshita

45.The Reverend Chu’s Decision James Chuang

46.Partnership or Separation? Richard C. Pease

47.Between a Rock and a Hard Place Jerry C. Wilson

48.The Authority Dilemma Mark Danielson

49.West African Church Dean S. Gilliland

50.When a Woman Should Be a Man Frances F. Hiebert

Part 9: Loyalty to Church and State

51.Christian Witness in Vietnam Paul H. Hiebert

52.Protest or Inaction? Stuart Willcuts and Helena Eversole

53.The Buddha Pedestals Lee-Lim Guek Eng

54.Summons by the Police A. A. S.

55.Goodwill Guerrillas? C. A. Guang

56.Kidnapped! Paul H. Hiebert

Part 10: Everyday Problems of Missionary Life

57.Cross-Cultural Marriage Wen-An Andrew Su

58.Trouble with Servants Matt Howell

59.Pastor Gopalan and His Hindu Parents Vihari Hivale

60.Where Should Kathy Go to School? Frances F Hiebert

61.Sex and the Missionary Kid Dexter Teruya

62.Costly Compassion Gary A. Glassco

Appendces190

A.Teaching Case Studies

B.Writing Case Studies

Preface

uch has been written about Christian missions in recent years. A great deal of the writing has been theoretical. This provides us with extensive discussions of the theology, history, and anthropology of missions. It wrestles with the problems of colonialism, contextualization, and religious pluralism.

Such general discussions are essential, for they provide us with the conceptual frameworks within which we do missions. But they often leave us wondering how we should apply their dictums to everyday life. Are missionaries neocolonialists when they assume positions of leadership in other lands, or when they hire servants to help in the home? Are national leaders selling out their own culture when they ask expatriate missionaries for advice? Is burning of incense at Christian funerals an inappropriate form of contextualization? May Christians beat drums or dance during their worship services? Missionaries now come from churches around the world-not only from the West-and they face many such cross-cultural situations. Like it or not, we live our lives on this level of making decisions in the context of specific historical and cultural situations. And many of our important decisions in this missionary context are made, not after long, careful deliberation, but of necessity on the spur of the moment when action cannot be delayed, or by a series of small decisions, no one of which seems important by itself.

Furthermore, few writers on missions deal with the many ordinary problems of daily living that take so much of the missionaries’ time. What kind of houses should they live in? Should they own a car? What kind of clothes should they wear? Where should their children go to school? Should they be paid in local currencies? Should they give tips to government officials, or are these bribes? These are pressing issues that missionaries cannot avoid, and the way they are resolved will have ripple effect over the whole of their ministries.

In seeking ways to bridge the gap between theory and practice, anddeal with everyday problems, the Harvard Business and LawSchool pioneered work in the case-study method for those professions and established the Case Study Institute. The success of this method in helping people to deal with real-life situations led the Association of Theological Schools to advocate its use in seminaries. It was at one f the Summer Case Method Institutes sponsored by the ATS that both f us were introduced to the uses of cases as a teaching method. Earlier, when we were missionaries in India, Paul had used the case-research method as developed by E. A. Hoebel and K. N. Llewellyn at the University of Oklahoma. Now we began to see the importance of cases as a classroom tool.

Over the past seven years, we collected cases around the world. Many were written by missionaries and church leaders from different countries, who were studying at the School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary. Others were contributed by students at the Union Biblical Seminary Pune, India. Still others came from the Hagai Institute in Singapore or from those who ministered in other parts f the world. It is to these writers-both those whose cases have been included and those whose cases were omitted to avoid repetitionthat we want to extend our heartfelt thanks. They have made us aware f the tremendous range of problems people face in cross-cultural ministries, and they have freely granted us time to explore details further with them.

We would also like to thank the case writers for the permission they have us to edit and publish their cases to fit the format recommended y the Case Study Institute. Much of this editing was done by Frances. lames and places have been changed in order to protect those involved. While these cases are based on historical events, their purposenot to examine specific events, but to deal with problems commonly faced by cross-cultural missionaries and national church leaders in Their ministries.

The writers and actors in the cases represent different theological and ethical positions. These do not always reflect our own positions. 1e present them as they were given to us, as they are representative of the different positions one finds in the church around the world. Because no generally accepted alternative has been found, we continue in traditional use of the male pronoun for God, although we believe that God is neither male or female.

There are many who helped make this project possible to whom we

would like to express our appreciation. In a special way we would like to thank the trustees of Fuller Theological Seminary, who granted Paul a sabbatical during which much of the work was completed. Our dear friends Jack Rogers and the late Glenn Barker introduced us to the Case Method Institute, and Jack helped make it possible for Fran to participate. Peter Chao and Mark Chan of Eagles Evangelism in Singapore lent us their computer at a crucial stage in the preparation of the manuscript. Above all, we want to give thanks to God for the privilege of learning from so many of God’s people working around the world.

We have a twofold purpose in presenting these cases. First, we hope that local churches will use them in order to learn more about the missionary task. As sending churches-whether in North America, Korea, India, or Africa-become more informed, they can pray and support more meaningfully the task of which they are an integral part.

Second, we believe that these cases can help prepare missionaries and candidates for their ministries. Cases by themselves do not provide an adequate training for missions. Added to biblical and missiological instruction, however, cases can help prepare missionaries for decisions they will face on the field.

We pray that these cases, by informing churches about the missionary task and making the ministries of missionaries and church leaders more effective, may bring glory to Jesus Christ.

Paul and Frances Hiebert

Pasadena, October 1986.

Introduction

IntroductionUsing Case Studies in Missions

here is a wide gulf between the world of biblical times and our modern environment-a gulf that needs to be bridged if we want to make the biblical message relevant to contemporary lives. The Bible is clear about many things: the need for forgiveness and salvation, for love and discipleship, and for living holy lives in a sinful world. But what does this mean in an age of television, genetic engineering, business on Sunday, nuclear weapons, and sexual freedom? What does it mean for Christians living in a world of poverty and injustice? What does it mean in a pluralistic city in which people of many religions must live together side by side? We need a hermeneutical method that can help our understanding of what the Scriptures are saying to us today.

Furthermore, we ourselves live in widely varying cultural settings. Missions, anthropology, the ease of travel, and international communications are making us aware of how different are our perceptions of reality. But what does it mean to make the gospel relevant in these different cultural contexts? What does Scripture have to say to Americans divided by class and plagued by violence and drugs? And what does it mean to be a Christian in an African village where men often have several wives, or in an Indian village divided by a caste system deeply rooted in Hinduism?

Too often we judge Christians in other societies by our own cultural norms. American Christians who avoid alcoholic beverages are shocked that their European brothers and sisters drink beer freely; European Christians are dismayed at the materialism of Americans and their ostentatious display of wealth. Western Christians condemn polygamy in Africa; African Christians cannot understand the increase in acceptance of divorce within the churches in the West and a generaldisregard for the aged and widowed.

Clearly we need a hermeneutical method that can deal with cultural historical differences. Too often we evangelicals have been storical and acultural in our understanding and application of the leeee. But how can we deal with these differences and retain theologicalabsolutes?

The Hermeneutical Task

The first requirement of a biblical hermeneutics is the recognition the authority of the Scriptures and a thorough knowledge of their teachings. The latter involves a careful exegesis of the biblical message in its own historical and cultural contexts. We need to know how 1 spoke to specific people in the real settings of their lives. What did say to them? How did he deal with their sinful past or their present waywardness? How did he expect his people to relate to their own dieties and to the cultures that surrounded them? And how did he d them? The Bible is full of evidence of God’s interaction with humans in real-life settings. These cases are more than illustrations of v God acts in history. They are definitive statements about the ure of God, of humans, of sin and salvation, and of godly living in an world. They are the paradigm by which we must understand our n lives. In hermeneutics, there is no substitute for a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

Biblical knowledge alone, however, is not enough. John Stott points that some evangelicals know their Bibles well, but their preaching detached from present-day realities (see figure 1). Consequently, the message has little relevance for today. In order to build a hermeneutical bridge between the Bible and our world, we also need a rough exegesis of our contemporary contexts. To live and minister Christians in a city setting, we must understand its structures and ways of life. To minister to tribal people, we must know their language 1 culture.

k knowledge of our world is important, but by itself it is not sufficient to our task. Unfortunately, many preachers today begin and end :h the newspaper and their own human experience. If, however, contemporary experience is the sole basis for understanding the gospel, we are left with a theological and ethical relativism in which Christianity becomes a civil religion justifying existing cultural practices

k biblical hermeneutics must begin with the Scriptures, which end in judgment on all cultures-affirming that which is good andcondemning that which is evil. Such a hermeneuticsmust

Figure 1. The Hermeneutical Bridge

continue with a knowledge of these cultures, for only then will we know what is being judged. Finally, the biblical evaluation of each human situation must be communicated to those in that situation so that they may hear and respond. Only then will the hermeneutical task be completed.

But who should build this hermeneutical bridge? Too often we have turned the task over to religious “experts.” Consequently, ordinary Christians are not encouraged to think theologically. They are expected to learn and obey the teaching of the experts. They are taught to be followers, not priests, in the church. The result is often a nominal Christianity in which people have little understanding of the doctrines they follow and of how these doctrines apply to their everyday lives. In such situations, church leaders become policemen who enforce their rules on the parishioners.

Central to the Reformation was the doctrine of the priesthood of believers. All Christians are to read and interpret the Bible, and all are called to apply it to their lives. The Reformers believed that the Holy Spirit works not only in trained leaders, but in all who follow Christ. In the sixteenth century, the Anabaptists were the ones who most ardently embraced and applied this doctrine in their emphasis on Christian discipleship.

If, however, everyone interprets the Scriptures individually, where are the theological absolutes and the unity of faith and fellowship? Does this not open the door to theological relativism? What check is there against those who bend Scriptures to fit their own purposes?

First, there are the Scriptures themselves. As Christians we seek to faithful to the Bible and its teaching. In humility we must recognize at our own understandings of Scriptures are partial and biased, though this does not mean that our understandings are totally subAive. To the extent that we constantly test our theological interactations against biblical teachings, they become increasingly rooted the biblical message itself.

Second, we must depend upon the work of the Holy Spirit and trust at the same Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of all believers. Finally, we must test our interpretations within the community of e church. As C. Norman Kraus points out, the Scriptures find mean

and application only within a “community of interpretation.” This community includes not only the body of the church living today, but ;o the saints who have gone before us. It is within this hermeneutical community that other principles of interpretation take their place.

Case Studies as Community Hermeneutics

How does a church learn to become a hermeneutical community, d how can we help people learn to apply biblical principles to their in lives? One means is the case-study method, by which a real-life problem is presented to a class or group for discussion. The cases in this book are based on true experiences in the lives of missionaries and church leaders around the world. Although names and places have en changed to protect the privacy of those involved, the problems presented are very real. Many of them arise with minor variations in different cultures around the world, and they are the kinds of crises of church life itself is made. Since reality is stranger and more complex an fiction, hypothetical cases do not ring true.