Book Review - Do the Work of an Evangelist

Do the Work of an Evangelist: Context-Sensitive Gospel Communication to those with a Folk Buddhist Worldview by Chris Seawright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks, Chris Seawright for this short exercise in contextualization for a culture sensitive evangelist. I found his work helpful in educating how to reach people from a Folk-Buddhist worldview, but also as an example of how to carefully think about the culture in which you are ministering. Of course, this concept is not just for international ministry.

For Seawright, ministering in Cambodia and Thailand, he is “working” to share the Gospel in a way that is clearly understood and accepted in a Folk Buddhist Worldview. Several insights helped me as I minister to people in my community from a similar background:
1. Using guilt shame language more than judicial guilty innocent language.
2. Using parent children language when incorporating analogies.
3. Being careful to clarify God’s Personhood. He is not just a force.
4. Clarifying that the Christian Bible record pre-dates Buddha (creation) and that it originated from the East/Asia.

You may not have Buddhists in your community that you are befriending, but this is a quick read and you will find principles that help you contextualize the Gospel to the hillbilly in your life or the Manhattan executive. These same principles of careful contextualization are important in every field of Gospel sowing.

One quick thought on contextualization and the "doing the work of an Evangelist." This “work” of contextualization is a portion of “doing the work of an evangelist” in the sense that it is work and it is part of pre-evangelism and evangelism. We should be careful not to say contextualization is doing the work of the evangelist as if it is synonymous with it. Doing the work of an evangelist is much broader than contextualization. 

“Doing the work of an evangelist” is the set of which contextualization is one subset (albeit an important one!). Saying “hi” to a neighbor, being careful how I act in school PTA meetings, playing chess with people I don’t yet know, designing engaging literature and websites, learning a new language or teaching a culture how to read their own language are all subsets of doing the work of an evangelist (I could go on listing these things for the rest of my life). And yes, contextualization is part of that. It is one that many don’t take the time to think about, so I really appreciate this book. But eventually all these matters and efforts must come to sharing the Words of the Gospel themselves. Dr. Seawright would agree with me 100% here.

Each Christian should read this to help them think through how to be a witness to many in their neighborhood whose culture and upbringing will shift the words they say so that they do not hit their mark. They will not be received as they were meant when sent if you do not understand the language and culture of the one to whom you are sending them. So be very careful to include this part of “Doing the work of an evangelist” with your friends and neighbors.

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