Looking at Christ

Zim Okoli leads New Life Catford  with  Remi Adedire. Here Zim brings to bear research on the history of the Nigerian church on the issue of contextualisation.    “To over-contextualize means you can make an idol out of their culture, but to under-contextualize means you can make an idol out of the culture you come from.” (Tim Keller, interview 2010) What does it mean for a church to be rightly contextualised? What does it mean to have a ‘native church’? A Lithuanian church that is rightly Lithuanian? A church for Catford which is appropriate to Catford? Two indigenous missionaries of the 19th and 20th century, Sam uel Crowther and Garrick Braide, pioneers of early evangelicalism in Nigeria, represent different ways to go about contextualisation and helpful ways into answering the question of what does it mean to establish a church which is both biblical and culturally appropriate? Samuel Ajayi Crowther is a great figure in the history of evangelical m...

I was deeply encouraged and also deeply challenged as I prepared on Acts 2 recently. Encouraged about the power of the gospel and challenged about my cultural-ethnic pride. First it was deeply encouraging. We have good news that crosses every language barrier the wonders of God (Acts 2:11) That’s the good news – the wonders of God – not the wonders of humanity, not the wonders of human potential, not the wonders of our cleverness and goodness and impressiveness – No – the wonders of who God is and what God has done – that is the good news. That God is nothing like most people think he is – he is a wonderful God, Father, Son and Spirit, overflowing love and goodness and kindness and humility – a love which caused God the Father to send God the Son to rescue people who hate him, rescue them from death and darkness and hell at incredible cost, by going through hell instead of sinners. Compare the apocalyptic passage from Joel (quoted at Acts 2:19-20) with Peter’s ser...