Exegeting Culture: Learning How to Understand the Culture in Order to Reach It

Description

“You know how to read the signs of the day, why not the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16.3). Jesus instructed his followers to discern the movement and trajectory of the culture in an effort to proclaim the Kingdom and bring good news. His instructions were not temporary, and we must learn how to interpret our world in order to be effective missionaries.

This curriculum will help you identify means, motive, and opportunity for parsing cultural content into ministry purpose (without creating cheap imitations); learn how best to discern the heart of the culture in an effort to preach the gospel so it resonates as ‘good news’ with this audience; empathize with cultural needs and wants, thus increasing our missionary zeal to reach and bless people; and analyze, synthesize, and evaluate new ministerial expressions and encounters on the basis of our ever-changing cultural climate (i.e. avoid doing ‘the same old thing’).