ArticleBlog | Mind the Gap – Three Preachers take on the challenge
Mind the Gap – Three Preachers take on the challenge
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 24.12.17
When I was a child I loved hearing the tales of Bible translators when they visited our church. I was fascinated to learn that they didn’t just have to swap out the words, but also needed to find ways of expressing many of the concepts described in Scripture – what do passages about sheep and shepherds mean to a people group that doesn’t cultivate herds of animals, for instance? I loved the idea of having to dig deep both into Scripture and into culture to find ways of making the Word relevant and comprehensible to the lost.
Whether we like it or not, our culture shapes the way we interpret the Scripture and see the gospel,’ says Israel Olofinjana, born in Nigeria, and now the pastor of a multi-ethnic, multicultural inner city church in South East London. It affects how we ‘do church’ generally, with the cultural, ecclesiological and missiological baggage we bring to the table, but also affects both the style and the content of preaching.
In terms of content, Israel explains: ‘Theologically, suppose you have a pastor from an African background who believes in the prosperity gospel. That will cause a whole lot of tension, because in the English culture we don’t like to talk about money, whereas an African wants to talk about money. Because it matters’.1
When it comes to style, however, there is a whole range of pitfalls. The most basic are to do with delivery, as Elise Peterson discovered when she moved to the UK from the USA in order to train for ordination in the Anglican Church. At first people in the churches she preached in struggled to understand her: ‘I at one point considered whether I should work with a dialect coach to make my accent more English,’ she says, ‘But when my vicar pointed out the issue was actually volume and clarity rather than accent, I gave up that idea’. She and her friends joke about developing a ‘reverent vicar voice,’ in which they have modified their tone, speed and volume of delivery – but they have found it works wonders in improving clarity.
