Lessons on contextualization from unlikely sources...

How to bridge into new cultures

The Associated Press has two stories today that illustrate the ingenuity of American marketers to bridge into new cultures with their products. If we squint a little (ok, a lot), these stories have lessons for us on making the gospel relevant, "indigenous," and invitational to the world we are trying to reach with Christ.

The first story, about today's opening of the first Starbucks Cafe in Paris, admits that bringing coffee to Paris is as unlikely as bringing coals to Newcastle. But, the article says, the French are already aware of the brand. "Their curiosity will drive them into the stores," says Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

And Starbucks has found ways to "lessen the culture shock when the doors to the new Starbucks premises on the prestigious Avenue de l'Opera swing open to the public today," the article says. "There, familiar croissants and 'pains au chocolat' await them."

So the first lesson is that chocolate bridges the gap. Wait - no, that's not it. It's showing that this "new product" fits comfortably with old cultural favorites, maybe even enhances them.

The second AP story is about KFC in China. Apparently, fast food is making a fast rise among Chinese consumers -- and KFC is flapping its mental wings to bond its products to the culture. This article describes how KFC has adapted with indigenized versions of its fare, such as creating the quite new "Old Beijing Twister" -- a wrap modeled after the way Peking duck is served, but with fried chicken inside.

Appealing to longtime traditions and food specialities is a way of conveying that maybe, just maybe, eating a KFC Old Beijing Twister will come across as a modern version of something very Chinese. Clearly it's not American.

The gospel can "fit" into the forms and ways of each of the world's cultures. A skill that missionaries develop is to discern cultural images, forms, language, idioms, and appeals to cultural authorities so that the gospel can take root within the culture rather than being an import of our Western culture. Savvy international business marketers use this skill, too.

In a recent Letter To The Editor in The Presbyterian Outlook, Rev. John Haberlin of Centralia, Washington made this astute comment: "What we are ultimately dealing with here is a last bastion of "colonialism" -- exporting a culture rather than a life changing and gripping message." Haberlin is affirming attempts to de-westernize the gospel in our mission work, and to help us recognize that we too have to shake loose our overidentification of Western culture with the timeless, culturefree truths of the gospel.

-- Dave Hackett