Are you an insider or an outsider or both
If you are an outsider, which is more of a common way foreign missionaries work, you won’t be so intuitive or clued in regarding the cultural context your MC is situated in. So you need to spend some time learning about the culture.At our Missional Theology training class last Sunday we talked about the differences between being a cultural insider or a cultural outsider from a missional point of view, and how determining that for yourself and for your MC group helps you understand what it means for you to be a missionary through that MC group. As an insider, you are more intuitive about your local culture and so you will be able to identify the barriers that prevent people from accessing the Gospel. In fact, traditional church (buildings, denominations, structures, titles) can actually be a hindrance to accessing the Gospel. So a cultural insider missionary should be able to figure out how to best connect the people in your context to the Gospel message.
If you are an outsider, which is more of a common way foreign missionaries work, you won’t be so intuitive or clued in regarding the cultural context your MC is situated in. So you need to spend some time learning about the culture. However, as a transformed believer you have taken on a biblical worldview and so you bring a third party perspective to the situation. All cultures also need outsiders who can point out things that insiders may not be aware of, and in that way they bring a new perspective on things. That is like a pastor from India preaching to Americans or Mike Gunn teaching pastors in the Congo. God sends outsider messengers, too.
Either way, it helps to know what role you play in your Missional community so you know how to view yourself in that context, and then from that figure out how you are going to communicate the Gospel, often by removing barriers to the Gospel.
Well let's hear it, in or out?
Gilles Gravelle