Video number 4 from the Jet Set Vision Trip in Taiwan all goes down during a cab ride through Taipei as Ray Chang and I talk about how second generation immigrant churches in America can be involved in God's global mission. Ray is the pastor of Ambassador Church (an Evangelical Free congregation) in Brea, CA.

Watch and listen as a second generation Asian American leader talks about his vision for the nations. It's worth your time!

If you missed the earlier videos, they are listed below.

Taiwan Video 1: Meeting and Learning from Pastor Chen
Taiwan Video 2: Ancestor Worship and Taiwanese Christians
Taiwan Video 3: Knowing Taiwan

We have been here in Taiwan for about half the week and we have seen some remarkable settings, fruitful ministry, and spiritually hungry people.

Be sure to check out the posts thus far:

Taiwan Video 1: Meeting and Learning from Pastor Chen

Taiwan Video 2: Ancestor Worship and Taiwanese Christians

As we talk to pastors, local leaders, and just everyday people, we regularly hear two things:

1. Taiwan is a difficult field. Operation World explains:

Taiwan remains the only major Han Chinese population in the world where the spiritual breakthrough has yet to come. During the 1990s the influence of Buddhism grew markedly with a large increase in adherents (800,000 in 1983 to 4.9m in 1995). Many of their outreach techniques have been adapted from Christians. Ancestor worship is one of the major barriers to faith in Christ. Added to this is the materialism stimulated by the rapid rise of living standards. Pray that every obstacle to the reception of the gospel may be broken down.

2. The heart religion is primarily animism and ancestor worship.

Take a look at this video to better understand the situation in Taiwan.

Please pray for the people of Taiwan so that the name and fame of Jesus might be more widely known here.

One of the fundamental challenges with evangelistic cultural engagement is how far to go to engage culture. It is always easy for unengaged people to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks at people who seek to engage cultures. I see it every day. But, people who care about God's mission also care about engaging culture.

The fact of the matter is this: in every missional cultural engagement, some go too far and some don't go far enough. It is the nature of contextualization. It is hard. It takes a commitment to biblical principles. It takes wisdom. It takes listening to each other. And, those outside the culture need to listen to those inside. And, those inside the culture need to learn from those that have gone before them.

In this video, Robert Young, a local Taiwanese believer who trains visiting personnel, explains to us how he has worked through issues of contextualization in regards to the veneration of ancestors. As you will see in tomorrow's post, animism and ancestor worship is much more significant in this culture than Buddhism and Taoism.

Listen as Robert Young (his anglicized name) explains in this video shot by our team member, Ray Chang. Listen as he explains the issues and how his family has addressed them:

Why does this matter? Well, at the Madras missionary conference, way back in 1938, they explained that churches had to be "indigenous," or be rooted and related to their own cultural context:

An indigenous church, young or old, in the East or in the West, is a church which, rooted in obedience to Christ, spontaneously uses forms of thought and modes of action natural and familiar in its own environment. Such a church arises in response to Christ's own call. The younger churches will not be unmindful of the experiences and teachings which the older churches have recorded in their confessions and liturgy. But every younger church will seek further to bear witness to the same Gospel with new tongues" (International Missionary Council, "The Growing Church: The Madras Series," Papers Based upon the Meeting of the International Missionary Council, at Tambaram, Madras, India, December 12-29, 1938. Vol. 2, (New York, International Missionary Council), 276.)

Such a value is not easy to uphold and there are dangers on both sides.

Dean Gilliland explains:

Contextualization [is] a delicate enterprise if ever there was one... the evangelist and mission strategist stand on a razor's edge, aware that to fall off on either side has terrible consequences... Fall to the right and you end in obscurantism, so attached to your conventional ways of practicing and teaching the faith that you veil its truth and power from those who are trying to see it through very different eyes. Slip to the left and you tumble into syncretism, so vulnerable to the impact of paganism in its multiplicity of forms that you compromise the uniqueness of Christ and concoct "another gospel which is not a gospel." (Dean S. Gilliland, ed., The Word Among Us (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989), vii.)

An organization I serve recently put out some helpful guidelines on contextualization that are worth your time and consideration:

PRINCIPLES OF CONTEXTUALIZATION

1. We affirm that the Bible is the only infallible text that exists. It is appropriate to evaluate all other books by the Bible. We encourage our personnel to search the Scriptures daily to see whether the principles presented by any text or teacher are true (Acts 17:11). Content that is in accord with biblical truth should be embraced. What is contrary to sound doctrine should be rejected.

2. We affirm that there is a biblical precedent for using "bridges" to reach out to others with the Gospel (Acts 17:22-23). The fact that Paul mentioned an aspect of the Athenians' idolatrous worship was not a tacit approval of their entire religious system. He was merely utilizing a religious element of their setting (an altar to an unknown god) to connect with his hearers and bridge to the truth. Similarly, our personnel may use elements of their host culture's worldview to bridge to the Gospel. This need not be construed as an embracing of that worldview. It should be noted that Paul not only used their system to connect, he also contrasted elements of it with the truth. Our evangelism must go beyond bridges to present the whole unvarnished truth of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

3. We affirm an incarnational approach to missions that is bound by biblical parameters. Following the example of Him who became flesh (John 1:14), it is appropriate that our personnel continue to tailor their ministry to their setting. The apostle Paul likewise embraced this approach, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22b). We advocate the learning and appropriate utilization of language and culture. Constant vigilance is required lest contextualization degenerate into syncretism. Where linguistic categories and cultural mores are deficient, these must be challenged and corrected with biblical truth.

4. We affirm both the sufficiency and unique nature of biblical revelation (2 Timothy 3:14-17). We deny that any other purported sacred writing is on a par with the Bible. While reference to a target people group's religious writings can be made as a part of bridge building, care should be exercised not to imply a wholesale acceptance of such.

5. We affirm the need to be ethically sound in our evangelistic methodology (2 Corinthians 4:2). Becoming all things to all men in an incarnational approach does not necessitate an ethical breach. Jesus instructed His disciples to be as "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). We are to be wise in our bridge building. We are to be harmless in our integrity as we hold forth the truth.
(Footnotes specific to another religious tradition were dropped from the guidelines as I posted them here.)

More on this over the next couple of days... but please weigh in below, specifically on Robert's comments and missions in this culture-- where not worshiping one's ancestors to be both dishonoring and spiritually dangerous.

One of the funny elements in my video interview with Pastor Chen included a reference to a Bluegrass concert (he calls it Greengrass in the video).

Phil Johnson (of Grace to You and John MacArthur fame) made a comment about it. Phil and I have traded tweets twice, both in regards to contextualization, so he is enthusiastic about the subject. ;-) Anyway, Phil tweeted:

OK, Ed Stetzer seems excited by this, but but I don't get how bluegrass helps contextualize the gospel for Taiwan: http://bit.ly/25TivB

I don't remember being excited or saying it "helps contextualize the gospel," but Phil and I like to tweet about contextualization, so I responded:

@Phil_Johnson_ LOL. I was a bit surprised, but he said it was a great outreach. Bluegrass in Taiwan-- who knew? ;-)

Well, here is the rest of the story.

People in Taiwan have no context for bluegrass music (there's not a term in Mandarin for bluegrass), but they love music and American culture. So, it led to an interesting outreach event.

A team of "young missional Calvinists" (thought Phil would like that) from Southern Seminary has been sent to Taiwan for five months to proclaim the Gospel alongside career missionaries. In America, they are known as "The Long Run Players" here their Chinese name translates as "Mighty River Music Group."

Sarah Morrison, Matt Shirley, Cameron Beckerdite, Paul Martin, and Jeff Gayhart are learning Mandarin, engaging the Taiwanese culture, meeting people, building relationships, and sharing the Gospel--all through the use of guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and upright bass. Jeff says, "People always asked us before we came, 'Do they like bluegrass in Taiwan?' I would say, 'Not yet.'"

The ultimate goal is to make something much greater than bluegrass music fans; they want to lead people to Christ and make disciples. So, not really contextualization, but a neat opportunity for connection. (Though a bit surprising to me!)

Now, in regards to contextualization, you won't want to miss my next post. It will deal with contextualization and ancestor worship-- and it will be fascinating.

I am in Taiwan right now and will be blogging the trip all week. Other bloggers will also be weighing in over the next few days. See my last post for a list. (The guys at the Upstream Collective made a nifty little graphic that our "official commentators" will use a bit later, but you can see it at the top of this post.)

During the week, we will talk to local leaders, workers living here permanently helping local churches, and also some of those who came with me. You will meet leaders from different cultures, denomination, and ages.

For our first video, I talk with Pastor Chen. He pastors a traditional Baptist church and tells a bit about the context and ministry here.

Take a moment to listen and begin to hear about ancestor worship, the growth of the church on the mainland compared to the slower growth in Taiwan, and a bluegrass concert.

I will be posting more in the days to come, but enjoy:

Please feel free to comment below, but if you have friends working over here, be sure they would want their name mentioned before you do so.

Lots of good info and discussion in yesterday's post (you can still join in the discussion there).

From a missionary serving in Taiwan:

I have been asked to speak a little about Taiwan and Taipei. Taiwan is a Tobacco Leaf shaped island 60 kilometers off the coast of China. 22 million people call the island home. There are over 6 million people who make the city of Taipei home. The city of Taipei is a safe and comfortable city where people of all ages can move about and be involved in all sorts of activities to share the gospel. Though there have been missionaries and churches here for many years many people have never heard the gospel in a way that is easy for them to accept.

Continue reading Taiwan Recap.

As many of you know, I have a "shared" role at the International Mission Board. I am particularly focused on helping pastors and churches in my sphere of influence to become involved in global missions and church planting. Regrettably, many new and innovative churches are less involved in global work than more traditional churches. We have a team at the International Mission Board that is working to change that.

I want to tell you about a mission / vision trip that I am putting together with the Upstream Collective and the International Mission Board to Taiwan this Fall. We will depart from the states on September 19, arrive the next day on the 20th, and will complete the trip on September 26th.

Each day we will be taking a look at various ministry venues for church planting in that part of the world. I will be leading a session each morning with the group. We will also hear from some of the leaders of the Upstream Collective network each day as we talk about missional living in an urban and cross cultural context. We have some slots left for this trip. If you have an interest in going you need to fill out an application on theupstreamcollective.org and they will be in touch with you.

Hope to see you in Taiwan.

I recently was in Rome, Italy and Marseille, France connecting pastors in the states with church plant opportunities in Europe. I was there with The Upstream Collective and the International Mission Board.

Daniel Ott was part of our team. Daniel is on staff of Southland Community Church, an independent Christan church in Lexington, KY.

Here is my interview with Daniel:

Here is my interview with a French pastor, Julien, who tells a fascinating story of his journey to be a bi-vocational church planter in France:

A neat journey...

Here are two interviews worth your time.

First, I interview Luigi who talks about the church he is a part of in Venice. It is a fascinating story of an indigenous believer now serving as an elder at his church. Second, is Scott. Scott is the real deal-- a church planter with a heart for the people to whom God has called him. I was told that less that 10% of missionaries return to France after 1 five year term. Scott is coming up on his third term. He has my respect and you should give him a moment of your time.

Luigi in Rome, Italy
Luigi, like many in Italy, grew up Catholic, but was later led to Christ through the ministry of an American missionary. After a year of hearing the gospel, and then attending worship he says he could see the difference between the religion he grew up with and the gospel and was converted. He is now an elder, leading worship and preaching at Christian Bible Church (it sounds much cooler in Italian). He stays connected to the community through his fulll time work in the electronics business.

Luigi talks about the religious culture in Rome (people are Catholic, but typically do not attend church but 2-3 times a year) and explains why the church of Jesus Christ in Italy needs partnership from their brothers and sisters in the States.

Scott in Marseille, France
Here I talk with Scott at the Notre-Dame de la Garde about gospel ministry in the post-Catholic city of Marseille. Here there is a very small Evangelical presence and a growing Muslim population in the midst of a very secular culture. Scott shares some of the difficulties of missionaries coming into this area, and explains that the key is relationships and time. He also talks about how North American Christians and churches can get involved.

I continue to be challenged (and increasingly burdened) by the work here in Europe. You can follow along with the Upstream Collective at http://thejetset.wordpress.com/.

Hello from Rome! They Jet Set Tour keeps us moving, so I am pretty tired and heading to bed, but I wanted to get a video up of part of my interview of Steve Miller, campus pastor at The Journey (Tower Grove campus) in Saint Louis, MO. Steve talks to us about how a church in the States can be involved in church planting and advancing the gospel internationally.

It's been a great trip -- exciting to see all that God is doing here in a place most Americans really do not understand. Stay tuned for more updates from The Jet Set Tour!

Here I talk with Michael Carpenter (blog - twitter) about the church he has planted (Matthew's House) and how they might be involved in global church planting. It is a good reminder that "missional" involves joining God on His global mission.

Take a look:

... from Kevin Jamison

This past February I had the opportunity to join Ed and a dozen other pastors on a trip to Barcelona, Spain. The purpose of the trip was to raise an awareness of the spiritual climate in modern-day Europe. Like many Americans, my view of foreign missions was primarily confined to the continents of Africa, Asia and South America. I had never considered Europe a priority for missions. The evening after my arrival, I sat in on a meeting with group of missionaries from across Europe. One of them told me, "I have been a missionary in Taiwan, Korea, Africa and now Europe. Europe is by far the hardest place I've ever been. Europe is a graveyard for missionaries." Those words rocked me.

Continue reading Jet Set Tour: Rome.

Many of you who are readers of my blog know of my concern for global missions. With that in mind, I am "shared" with the IMB several times each year as part of a joint venture. I speak at some events, consult occasionally, and try to connect pastors with God's global mission.