A Case Study in Contextualization: The History of the German Church Growth Association 1985-2003

The content of the gospel never changes; however, communicating it constantly fluctuates. Conveying the gospel to a homeless, hungry woman may include providing a hot bowl of chili, while an agnostic co-worker might be open after several rounds of golf. The message is the same, but the method of communicating it is as wide and varied as life itself. Finding the correct method is like hitting the "sweet spot" on a tennis racket or golf club. It takes time, study, and practice, but once you find it you have more success. The "sweet spot" in missions is called contextualization and involves much more than learning a new language. It means knowing a country's religious, political, and social conditions. Correct theology, financial backing, and language acquisition are meaningless without contextualization. This book tells the story of a German organization struggling to contextualize the gospel in a very hostile environment. Its mission was to revive a dying church, characterized by centuries-old religious pride and pluralism. This study details the challenges of faithfully communicating the gospel in a post-Christian culture and serves as a study to enable missionaries to recognize and respond to cultural issues affecting the contextualization process.

Fred McRae, a missionary with Global Outreach International, has worked in Germany as a church planting and church growth consultant since 1986. Before arriving in Germany, he planted churches in Texas and Oklahoma. He received a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1980. In 2009, he earned a PhD from the Evangelical Theological Faculty, in Leuven, Belgium. He is the author of A Case Study in Contextualization: The History of the German Church Growth Association 1985-2003 (2014).

William Wagner (Th.D., University of South Africa, D.Miss., Fuller Theological Seminary, M.Div. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and B.S. University of New Mexico, served for thirty-one years as a Southern Baptist Missionary in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. He has worked as a Business Owner, Licensed Engineer, Pastor, Missionary, Professor, Chairman of a Board, and President of a University. He has written six books and helped found two theological seminaries in Europe and one International University. He was elected to serve as the Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention for one year. He is married with two children and four grandchildren.