Abstract: Brooks Buser points out the dangers of preaching cross-culturally without being fluent in the language of the people we’re trying to reach. Those who hear may not be able to sufficiently grasp the message, and the result is a misunderstanding of the gospel or a mixing of Christianity with other belief systems—what’s known as syncretism. Buser encourages missionaries to attain “worldview fluency,” for even though this takes time and effort, it is crucial if we want to explain the gospel clearly in people’s heart language, the language they can best understand.

 

 

Editor’s Note: This article is taken from Church Matters, the 9Marks journal for pastors, in the forthcoming issue titled Growing as a Preacher.

 

Some biblically sound gospel messages send their hearers to hell. Not because the message is false, but because it’s misunderstood.

Serious harm has been done to the cause of Christ through zealous, well-meaning, doctrinally sound preachers who tried to preach across linguistic lines but who weren’t proficient enough in the language of the people to communicate clearly. They ended up creating confusion at best and a new religion at worst. Not only were they unable to communicate clearly, but they didn’t recognize that those who “believed” their message were simply adding it to their existing religious outlook. The result was syncretism, a mixing of two belief systems.

Unfortunately, most Christians from the West do not understand the danger of syncretism or how dominant it is around the world.

A Serious Misunderstanding 

My wife, Nina, and I had been living among the Yembiyembi (YY), a people group in Papua New Guinea, for around nine months, and we were still learning their language. At that time, a group of well-meaning American Christians made the six-hour hike from a drop-off point across the mountains into YY land. I remember the YYs telling me that “a group of whites is coming—maybe they are your relatives?” (They still believe nearly all white people are related!) I assured them that none of our relatives were coming and that they must be mistaken. Yet they insisted, and sure enough, a few hours later a group of mostly college students and two leaders crawled out of the jungle looking like they had nearly died.

The next day, after they had sufficiently recovered, they proceeded to give a gospel message in choppy, rudimentary Melanesian Pidgin, the national language of Papua New Guinea. They invited anyone who had accepted this message to come forward and tell them, and they told them that they would receive a bar of soap to represent the inward cleansing that had happened. Nearly the entire village went forward.

The next day they hiked out, and within three days they were on a plane back to the U.S., where they would likely report to their churches that the Lord had “done a great work among a lost people.” A year and a half later, when we were finally able to preach the gospel clearly in Bises (the Yembiyembi language), we had to address what that college team had done and talk about what soap does and does not do in salvation.

The Danger and Prevalence of Syncretism 

When well-intentioned Christians attempt to present the gospel in a language that they are not proficient in, they must recognize that any gaps in understanding will be filled in based on the existing worldview of the hearer. If the gospel is not clear, hearers often won’t ask questions, push back, or search for clarity. Instead, they fill in the gaps with what they already know and believe.

Think of the well-known Day of the Dead (Nov. 1–2), which is so prominent in Mexico and the surrounding countries. The ofrendas (small altars) that are built contain Roman Catholic symbolism as well as skulls harking back to Aztec animism, all based on the belief that the dead return for that day and require celebration. How did Roman Catholicism and Aztec animism take up residence in the same altar? Syncretism. There are countless other examples of combining different belief systems around the world.11 . For example, Sufi shrines across West Africa testify to syncretism being rife in the Muslim world.

While some forms of syncretism are easy to recognize, the more insidious ones are those that go unnoticed. In fact, syncretism is often the default outcome of introducing new religious beliefs unless it is specifically taught against.

Three Antidotes to Misunderstanding and Syncretism 

So for those who preach and teach across linguistic and cultural lines, how do we avoid promoting heresy, confusion, and new syncretistic religions? Let me suggest three antidotes.

  1. Know the Language at a “Worldview Level” Before Preaching

I have often been asked why we didn’t present the gospel in the YY language once we were moderately fluent in it. We had promised the YYs that we would learn to speak their language well because “the message we carry is too important to get wrong.” That was our quick nod to the danger of syncretism. We waited until we could form an argument, speak like a teacher, handle questions, and manage a hundred other aspects of being a competent communicator. We worked hard so that if they stumbled, it would be due to our message, not to us, the messengers.

To be clear, there were times when we knew someone would likely not live until we were fully fluent and ready to present the gospel, so we stepped into those situations, broken language and all, and gave it our best shot. But as a principle, we wanted the gospel to be clear, so we waited and worked hard (fifty to sixty hours a week in language study) to be fluent as soon as possible.

Many in missions think that we should “get to the gospel as soon as possible.” And I heartily agree with that—if it’s a language the missionary speaks sufficiently well to do so. If not, the odds are that what is done will one day have to be undone—what was meant for good can easily become a snare to that people. Again, the heart behind “get to the gospel fast” is often good and pure, and gospel “muscles” should be exercised frequently. We should be known for sharing the gospel often, but only when we can communicate it clearly.

So how do you know when you’re linguistically ready to preach? Short answer: get to the Advanced Mid to Advanced High level on the ACTFL Proficiency Scale.“22 . ACTFL Proficiency Scale,” Language Testing International, https://www.languagetesting.com/actfl-proficiency-scale. (You’ll need to get to the Advanced High level if you’re doing Bible translation.) But what does that look like in layman’s terms?

Most missionaries believe they are fluent in the language of the people they work with. But what we discovered at Radius, the ministry I lead, is that what they mean by “fluent” is often “market fluency.” That is, they can buy coffee, talk about the weather, get around the market well, and carry on surface-level conversations. What missionaries should be working toward is what we call “worldview fluency.” This is the ability to speak with metaphor, nuance, and color; the ability to handle most questions and to consistently use the correct tense; the ability to be interesting, to laugh at jokes at the same time as native speakers, and to tell jokes that people laugh at. Most importantly, it’s the ability to teach Romans 5–9 in a way that’s clear and does justice to the text. It even includes the ability to dream and think in the language. That’s worldview fluency, and it’s crucial for gospel fluency!

You can never be so fluent that you speak without errors in a language that you were not born into or raised with. But you can get good enough to sound like a normal adult, to the point where your tongue ceases to be the central issue and the attention shifts to the message your tongue is proclaiming.

A biblical argument for the importance of being understood can be found in Paul’s discussion of the issue of speaking in tongues in the church’s gathering. He says to the church at Corinth,

So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. (1 Cor. 14:9–11)

The danger of not knowing someone’s language well is that you will (functionally) be a foreigner to them, and consequently, the God you proclaim will remain a foreign god to them rather than the one true God who alone can save your audience from their sins.

  1. Be Careful with Translators and Second Languages

But what about translators? Can’t they make up the difference between the missionary and his audience? Well, sort of. Translators are like Band-Aids; they are meant to be used short-term. Sometimes translators are necessary because the teacher isn’t staying long enough to attain worldview fluency. Maybe there is a conference, and speakers are brought in from another country to address the group. In that case, translators play an important role in making such an event possible and productive.

That said, the use of translators needs to be done carefully. For instance, the translator needs to be converted, excellent in both languages, and vetted by others before the teacher arrives. Sadly, it’s not uncommon to hear of translators who are unconverted, and thus deeply unfamiliar with the content of the preaching, or who are mediocre in English and so are forced to fill in the gaps with what they think the preacher means. This kind of translation can impoverish the listeners, and it can warp the message.

The more complicated issue is when the people we’re trying to reach are bilingual. They know their mother tongue (a minority language) and a national language (Mandarin, Bahasa Malay, Vietnamese, etc.), but they only know the national language to a “market” level and not to a “worldview” level. This is often the case with people from rural areas who must navigate the city to sell their crops, get a driver’s license, or work with the government in some way. Market fluency gives the illusion of fluency without its abilities and benefits. Missionaries who encounter indigenous people with market fluency in the national language may wrongly assume that there is no need to learn their heart language. Beware: syncretism crouches at the door.

This takes us back to our previous point. Rather than settling for a second language, we want the gospel to come to people in the language in which they speak to their spouse; the language they use when they are telling a story; the language they use to teach their children the history of their people; the language in which they tell jokes; and the language in which they worship their gods. That’s likely the language in which they will be most open to the gospel, because it’s their heart language. Nelson Mandela put it this way: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

When it comes to translation and second languages, there is no shortcut to “success.”

  1. Play the Long Game

If we live in the age of the ear, and the Bible seems to say that we do (Rom. 10:17), then the message that rescues men from their sins and from hell will come through preachers and preaching. We want gospel ministers in our home countries to be clear, engaging, persuasive, and articulate. How much more so for language groups that are hearing the gospel for the first time? We would not settle for someone with a five-year-old’s English ability teaching in our pulpits. What then for the nations?

But here’s the rub. We know intuitively that reaching that level of ability takes time—and a lot of it. In our day of internet and video evangelism, church-planting and disciple-making movements, and all manner of speed-driven ministry activity, it’s hard to hold the line on ministry that is slow, patient, and ordinary. Faithful gospel preachers, especially those who are crossing linguistic lines, are not in a race against time. They understand what even the secular world knows to be true: things of great value almost always take time.

Finally, we must remember that preachers can save no one, regardless of how well they know the language. At the same time, God is pleased (ordinarily) to use those who prepare well and preach well to produce gospel fruit. So may those who have the great privilege of heralding the message of Christ in foreign tongues prepare well and preach well, and may our King be pleased to bring the strangers home.