NAZARENE

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

ICS529 Mission in Global Contexts

misGuided by Tradition?

Kevin Campbell-White
11/14/2016

An integrative approach to the positives and negatives of tradition in the church as it is

demonstrated in various texts.
 misGuided by Tradition?
Prepared by KEVIN CAMPBELL-WHITE
In partial fulfillment of the course requirements for ICS529 Mission in Global Contexts

An integrative approach to the positives and negatives of tradition in the church as it is

demonstrated in various texts:

Goheen, Michael W. Introducing Christian Mission Today. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014.
Wan, Enoch and Pocock, Michael eds. Missions from the Majority World: Progress, Challenges and Case
Studies. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009.
Elmer, Duane. Cross-Cultural Servanthood. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006.
Maranz, David. African Friends and Money Matters. Dallas, TX: International Academic Bookstore, 2001.
Mathison, Keith A. The Shape Of Sola Scriptura. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2001.
Attwater, Donald, Ed. A Catholic Dictionary. New York: Macmillan, 1961.

Tradition. A word that conjures images of Tevye in The Fiddler on the Roof ranting about

the way things have always been done… and the possible appeal of beginning new and different

things. A word that summons visions of Old Testament law, script Pharisaical observance

thereto, and Jesus chastisement in Luke 11 of those who effectively follow the man-made

traditions of the Law and ignore the heart of the Law and its rich tradition. A word that has had,

and continues to have, great power to influence and shape the future of the life of the Church as

it seeks to live out it’s mission on earth. But is the power of tradition really a benefit and guide

to the Church as it seeks to fulfill the Great Commission, or are we distracted and misguided by

tradition, seeking only to fulfill our personal interpretation of the Law?

While a Church without tradition creates a whole different set of problems, the current

trend of distrusting everything that is “traditional” creates a dangerous closeness to Paul’s words

in 2 Timothy 3:5 where we have “a form of godliness but [deny] its power”. Goheen addresses

much of this struggle in his book as he seeks to present a sort of “middle way” in which we can

certainly value, learn from, and use principles from past practices and traditions, while at the

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 same time honoring and affirming the vast differences that exist as the Gospel reaches to the

ends of the earth.

In part two of Goheen’s book he examines six different areas in which tradition attempts

to be both faithful to Scripture and relevant to current trends. These six areas, evangelism and

social concern, missio Dei and missio ecclesiae, Christ and the Spirit, Christian approach to other

religions, gospel and culture, and worldwide evangelism.

As he briefly details these areas, Goheen is careful to point out both the positive and

negative aspects of each and the ensuing struggle as we try to navigate our ever changing word

while remaining true to our Creator’s plan for it.

In African Friends and Money Matters Maranz’s experiences are rife with tradition that,

from our point of view, seem to hinder progress. In many areas, but especially in business, the

traditional cultural requirement to place personal matters in regard to kinfolk above everything

else create conflict within individuals as they struggle to remain true to their indigenous culture,

while at the same time seeking to improve themselves and the society around them. And Wan

and Pocock jump headfirst into the new and changing paradigms of mission and tradition as the

Church shifts from an American-European Christianity to a majority world Gospel.

As we continue to struggle with this conflict of traditional vs. non-traditional, it is

important to state again that none of these authors is suggesting that we “throw the baby out with

the bathwater” and do away with tradition altogether. But I would question whether we are

moving closer to the way of God, or simply repeating the wandering of the Israelites as they

sought to mimic the practices of the cultures around them. As Christianity becomes

contextualized does it also become “compatible” with too much of the surrounding world? It is

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 all too easy for the Church to repeat the mistakes of the past when it rejects traditional ideas and

ways of doing things, which leaves us in the same seemingly endless cycle, of for God one

moment and against God the next, that the Israelites found themselves in.

And yet, almost equally dangerous is a staunch and stoic traditionalism that rejects any

new insight as heretical. Historian Jaroslav Pelikan said it best when he stated that “tradition is

the living faith of the dead while traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”

This struggle is demonstrated as we trace the development of the Church throughout

history. Tradition in the Roman Catholic church, and in the Orthodox church, includes many

truths that are not explicitly taught in Scripture. These traditions recognize councils, papal

decree, and historical practice as valid paths to truth and commonly base traditional practices on

these things.

Protestants, however, have historically considered that anything not supported directly by

Scripture should probably be avoided and in many cases is sinful. This idea of sola scriptura, or

Scripture alone, allows the Church to be constantly changing, reforming, and conforming itself to

Scripture regardless of what tradition may teach.

But what Goheen and others are seeking as they attempt to navigate these murky waters

of contextualizing the Gospel in an ever changing world, is an attempt to form a sort of middle

ground between tradition and Scripture. Not that any of these suggest that we violate Scripture,

in fact inherent in each I believe is Luther’s stance when challenged to recant his teachings

where he is purposed to have said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do

not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my

conscience is captive to the Word of God… . Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.”

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 Yet Luther, Wesley, and each of these authors highly valued the great traditions of the

Church and their contribution to the working out of our faith in Christ. Hence our view of

tradition should be dynamic and open to correction in the light of Scripture, while still valuing

the lessons and achievements of the early Church fathers. This is similar to the way the United

State Supreme Court makes it’s decisions. Justices will look at precedent and landmark cases

when determining a ruling, but ultimately the Constitution is the supreme authority and earlier

decisions can be overturned if they are found to contradict, or be inconsistent with the

Constitution.

Each of our texts offer countless profitable and beneficial ideas and practices for

furthering the Gospel in meaningful and culturally appropriate ways, however before we put

anything into practice we must do the work ourselves of exposing these “new” ideas to the light

of Scripture in order for them to truly be effective.

In the current state of the world those who would hold staunchly to tradition, do so in

response to the trivialization of the law of God. We see the current liberal ideas of no right or

wrong, everything is subject to personal views and experience, and an appeal to our “freedom in

Christ” and it is no wonder that there are some who would narrowly focus on the “do’s and

don’ts” of Scripture.

But an equally dangerous course of action ensues when we attempt to create law from

things that are only tradition. This kind of behavior is demonstrated most clearly in the life of

the Pharisees. When Jesus’ disciples were “caught” plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath, they

confronted him in Matthew 12:2 saying, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the

Sabbath.” But Jesus points out that they have simply turned a traditional interpretation into law.

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 And in a more modern example a Catholic scholar says, “It is an article of faith from a decree of

the Vatican Council that Tradition is a source of theological teaching distinct from Scripture, and

that it is infallible. It is therefore to be received with the same internal assent as Scripture, for it

is the word of God” (Attwater, 41).

In spite of all of this we must continually be aware of the fact that tradition itself is not

right or wrong. Tradition can be wise or foolish, accommodating or strict, and on and on. The

real question that we must ask ourselves is — what is our response when the tradition of a person

or culture is different from my own? If someone does something different, something “not

according to custom”, are we ready to disregard or chastise them? This is exactly what the

Pharisees did.

So if we turn to the Word of God for a ruling on the value of tradition what do we find?

We know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,

rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”, so what does the Bible have to say about

tradition?

In 1 Corinthians 11:1-2 Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of

Christ. I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I

passed them on to you.” So we can see that following traditions is good… as long as those

traditions comes from Christ.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Paul also says, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold

fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” Again

reaffirming that we should hold fast to traditions, regardless of how we learned of them, so long

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 as their source is God as is evidenced by the fact that these were not Paul’s teachings, but the

teachings that were passed on to him from a divine source.

We see in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 where Paul says, “Now we command you, brothers, in the

name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness

and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” that those who do not walk

according to tradition are not walking with God and should be avoided.

There are many who practice human traditions under the auspices that the Bible does not

expressly forbid it so it must be okay. But we can see from Scripture that this is not the case. In

Jeremiah 10:23 it says, “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to

direct their steps.”

In Galatians 1:6-9 Paul rebukes the church when he says, “I am astonished that you are so

quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a

different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into

confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven

should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As

we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than

what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

In 2 John 9, John says, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of

Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

Clearly our only source for everything we do and say must be God Himself and not the

sometimes hollow traditions of man. The Bible’s writers’ praise for those who walk according to

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 tradition is found throughout the Old and New Testaments, as is their rebuke to those who do not

follow.

How many problems are created because people cannot distinguish between the law and

tradition? How many people, in search of the truth, seeking to honor those who have gone

before, rely heavily of the guidance of tradition when in reality they are misguided in their

pursuit of something that holds no real value according to the Word of God?

As Christians we must constantly seek to develop a deeper Biblical understanding and

trust in the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is our only measure, our only authority for

everything that we do and teach. We can hold authors, teachers, early church fathers, and many

others in high regard, but they are not authoritative and infallible guides. We should seek to be

neither “traditional” nor “non-traditional” with regard to the things we do and say. We cannot

accept something because “that’s the way it’s done” or reject something because it’s new or

different.

As we become devoted students of the Scriptures we begin to realize that it is not

tradition or the lack thereof that is responsible for the explosive growth of the Church, for the

saving of souls, and for the revelation of God to the world, but it is Jesus Christ himself, through

the power of the Holy Spirit who is ever wooing those who would seek to know him. And then

we can rest in the simple act of obedience to God’s directing knowing that “Salvation is found in

no one else, [no tradition, no practice, no method, nothing] for there is no other name under

heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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 from Dr. Wesley's Common Mission pape

“Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp
transformation...within a few short decades, society rearranges itself – its worldview, its
basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years
later, there is a new world. And the people born then cannot even imagine the world in
which their grandparents lived, and into which their own parents were born. We are
currently living through just such a transformation” -- Peter Drucker (1993

new terms = sponsorship/partnership/congregational partnershi

Even the traditional term "missions" doesn't work anymore. -Gohee

from Kathy Mowry's Only One Foot in Exile pape

As the world begins to spin, it is not unusual for congregations in North America to cling
to whatever they can nd to bring balance. Even those who express a desire on one
level to reach out and incorporate people not like them from the neighborhood hold
tightly to the status quo in ways that seem to them justi able.

As a congregation experiences the anxiety of having one foot in exile, the desire for
survival can become all-consuming.

A major presenting symptom of marginalization without dispossession is an inability to

imagine in fresh ways how the Reign of God might burst into the places where we are

from Dr. Wesley's The Church as Missionary pape

We see Mowry's arguments further demonstrated in the "disease “templismo” to
represent a congregation which focuses on the building. We discovered that the cure for
this disease was for the congregations to turn inside out and focus on what God was
doing in their communities, building relationships with friends who were not Christians
and to pray for them daily.

from Frampton Fox's Foreign Money and Indigenous Ministr

quoted John Nevius in The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches "was
considered radical when he argued more than 50 years ago that indigenous ministry
needs local support in order to be viable.

From Howell's Short Term Mission as the Undiscovered Country pape

volunteers are moved away from the traditional views of going on a missions trip for
personal reasons toward more sacri cial reasons... give not get

from Dr. Wesley's White Pape

challenges the way we've always done thing

Rede ning and re-forming the Department of Global Mission as a Nexus for Global
Mission would free it to focus on connecting various innovative grass roots ministries
with like-minded others, and similarly oriented efforts

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 In order to do this, to minister in areas with little or no gospel witness, we must be

faithful representations of Jesus, individually and as a Christian community. That not
only means faithfully re-presenting Jesus to the world through words and deeds; it also
means replicating Jesus own mission to the least and the lost

from Newbigin's The Gospel and the Religion

Talks about Western Christianity's odd separation of religious affairs and secular affairs
and how we like everything to t into neat molds and classi cations like inclusivist,
exclusivist, and pluralist while he presents a view that is all three as he talks about
contextualizing the Gospel in a pluralist society

from Robertson McQuilkin's Stop Sending Money articl

This is a plea to stop doing things the way that we've always done them when it comes
to missions because by doing so we actually "stall the growth of the church in the
mission eld

from Robert Schreiter's Third Wave Missio

With huge advancements in the areas of transportation and communication new forms
of mission have prompted a "third wave" of missionary activity. "New forms of mission
can help us address conundrums that have arisen with other, earlier forms of mission,
as the discussion of mission relationships and communion have suggested. And new
forms of mission alert us to unsuspected points of intercultural clash or breakdown that
can undermine genuine mission exchange as well. The short-term forms of third wave
mission, therefore, should be welcomed, not as a panacea for all previous problems of
mission or as a convenient way to carry out God’s mission under current circumstances,
but as God’s continuing to open us to new ways of faithful servanthood in our
participation in the missio Dei."

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