Supracultural Gospel: Bridging East and West

By Mary Lou Codman-Wilson and Alex Zhou

A Fresh Look at Contextualization 

 

Positive cross-cultural communication is an essential skill when sharing the gospel. Unfortunately, many common Western biblical constructs create stumbling blocks for people of different backgrounds, causing them to reject the gospel. But that doesn’t have to be the case.  

 

Join Dr. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson and Alex Zhou as they dialogue about Alex’s experience becoming a believer in the US and his struggle to share his faith when he returned to China. They model a process of examining our cultural worldview to overcome the tensions associated with living out our faith in a context dominated by different religious or secular systems.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Carey Publishing
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781645083801

Mary Lou Codman-Wilson

Rev. Dr. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson (MA, Wheaton; MTS, Garret Theological Seminary; PhD, Northwestern University) is an author, teacher, pastor, and discipler, who currently serves at New Hope Global Fellowship. She has spent several decades working with Asian international students across the US and in Asia. Mary Lou and her husband live in Wheaton, Illinois, and have two grown children and five grandchildren. 

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Endorsements

With her abundant experience with students from all around the world, her caring heart for them, and her listening ears to the Holy Spirit, Dr. Mary Lou gives us the wisdom to navigate cultural differences between Asia and the United States. I believe that Supracultural Gospel will encourage and strengthen Asian students spiritually—as it did me!

MIYUKI ASADA, MA (Japan)

TeachBeyond Global Member-Care Counselor for Single Women

Mary Lou is a warrior of prayer. Her prayers encourage those who are tempted to abandon their faith in Jesus because of their cultural background. Her intimate fellowship with internationals from many nations, especially Asians, along with her biblical and academic knowledge, have woven this book. For a quarter of a century, Mary Lou has been a lighthouse for me to know Jesus.

MICHIKO TAKAHASHI, PhD (Japan)

Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan Author of Child Developmental Psychology and Graphic Developmental Psychology in Early Childhood

In my eyes, global vision, missionary’s heart are the best words to describe Dr. Mary Lou. And this book perfectly reflects her vision and her heart. I believe that readers who have cross-cultural background or experience will benefit from this book, just as I benefit from my mentorship with Dr. Mary Lou.

BING LUI, MDiv, MA (China)

Translator; Instructor, Timothy Training International

As an InterVarsity staff and cross-cultural worker among international students, I have found Dr. Mary Lou to be a model of Christ’s love for the world—devoted to Christ in her personal life and deeply committed to bringing the love of Christ to others, especially international students. Mary Lou is keenly aware of cross-cultural differences and compassionate toward the stresses internationals face in American culture. Her identification with spiritual leaders in other cultures should help us look beyond our own cultural insularity, identify with the common struggles we share with Christians in many cultures, and inspire a wide readership.

NED HALE, MDiv (US)

National Archivist, InterVarsity USA Former National Director of International Student Ministry, InterVarsity USA

I was so excited when I heard that Dr. Mary Lou is authoring this book! I have never seen such passion from a pastor to help us Asian international students maintain and grow in our faith when we go back to our respective countries. This book addresses critical issues for us in contextualizing our faith in our home context, since so much of the doctrine and theology that shape our faith are from a Western perspective.

HANNY TISHRIANA WUYSANG, MA (Indonesia)

Counselor Education doctoral student, Western Michigan University

Dr. Alex Zhou leaves me deeply impressed with his determination to understand God’s Word. I invited Alex to assist me in evaluating Bible study materials for usage at the Island ECC (Evangelical Community Church). Alex devoted a tremendous amount of time to reading the materials, yet his passion for understanding God’s Word never waned, even as we studied for hours every week for two months. Alex not only studies the Bible, but also practices God’s Word in his everyday life.

ALAN LEUNG (Hong Kong)

Deputy Director of Men’s Ministry, Island Evangelical Community Church, Hong Kong

Supracultural Gospel: Bridging East and West

© 2022 by Mary Lou Codman-Wilson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise— without prior written permission from the publisher, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.

For permission, email [e-mail].

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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (Phillips) are taken from the New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, represented by Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (Passion Translation) are from The Passion Translation®.

Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission.

All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.

Published by William Carey Publishing

10 W. Dry Creek Cir

Littleton, CO 80120 | www.missionbooks.org

William Carey Publishing is a ministry of Frontier Ventures

Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.frontierventures.org

Cover and Interior Designer: Mike Riester

Illustrations: Sam Wilson

ISBNs: 978-1-64508-378-8 (paperback)

978-1-64508-380-1 (epub)

Digital Ebook Release 2022

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022937744

Dedication

This book is written in honor of Jingjing and the many dear internationals who are embracing the core of the supracultural gospel back in their home countries.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Part 1 | Introduction

Introduction: Swimming in a New Pond

1. A Ready-Made Suit

Part 2 | What Are the Cultural Boxes of the Gospel in the East and the West?

2. Western Boxes of the Gospel

3. Eastern Boxes That Restrict the Gospel from a Chinese Perspective

4. Eastern Boxes That Restrict the Gospel from a Japanese and Thai Perspective

Part 3 | The Supracultural Gospel beyond the Cultural Boxes

5. The Core of the Supracultural Gospel

6. Introducing the Author of Salvation

7. Reframing Sin

8. Amazing Grace

9. The Indwelling Holy Spirit

10. Belonging to the Body of Christ

11. The Primacy of God’s Mission in the World

Part 4 | Discipleship Essentials That Undergird Thinking Outside the Box

12. A Christian Mind

13. Five Essential Attitudes

14. Christ’s Lordship in the Believer’s Life

15. Internalizing God’s Word

16. Powerful Prayer

17. Effective Spiritual Warfare

Part 5 | Practical Examples of Living Outside the Box

18. Transformed Living Outside the Box

19. Bridging Faith

20. Serving Christ through Suffering for His Name

21. Living on God’s Kingdom Agenda in China

22. Rerooting the Gospel in Japan

Appendix

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

This book has emerged out of global community. That in itself reflects our global world and high-tech communication options. It is also a proof of the reality of the global family of faith in our Lord Jesus. Partnering to write a book with a Chinese scholar-colleague, who is currently in Macau, has sharpened both our insights and brought authenticity to each chapter. Thank you, Alex!

In our global world, one of the most appreciated phrases we can learn is thank you in many languages. So, in broad strokes, since so many were involved in writing this book, let us say thank you:

Xie Xie—Chinese

Arigato—Japanese

Terima Kasih—Indonesian

Merci—French

Gracias—Spanish

Danke—German

Bayarlalaa—Mongolian

Asante—Swahili

Obrigado—Brazilian Portuguese

Ameseginalehu—Ethiopian

Suraya—Hindu Indian

The contributors to this book came from all these language groups. Special thanks to Cathi, Merian, Megumi, Lisa, Vivian, Hanny, Miyuki, Michiko, Junko, Jingjing, Bing, Emily, Grete, Sam, Evan, and the Caucasian contributors! Your perspectives plus those of the brothers and sisters of the New Hope Bible Fellowship gave a global perspective to the book that Alex and I could not achieve on our own.

In addition, our great gratitude goes to the copyeditors from William Carey Publishing. Melissa Hicks and Andrew Sloan, your work was outstanding. You deserve special kudos, as well, for working with authors from the Eastern and Western cultures of the world and harmonizing all the different voices throughout the book. It has been a real privilege to have such an excellent publishing team refining, coaching, and editing our work each step of the way.

I am also grateful for my family’s staunch support and faithful prayers. Keith, my husband, certainly heads that list. Sam Wilson, our grandson did the graphics. Bruce and Becky Wilson, Sam’s parents, who are themselves global Christians, gave valued input and counsel, as did our daughter Laurie and her family.

They were joined by a large group of dear prayer warriors who prayed for Alex and me over the seven years while this book was in formation. Thanks also to the secretaries and editing friends—Hanny, Eric, Brenda, Christina, Megumi, Marti, Carol, Sarah, Nancy, Carmen, and Susan. A very diverse team has created a challenging book to bridge Western and Eastern perspectives of the Gospel.

Alex and I both echo the words of Paul for his dear Philippians friends: I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now (Phil 1:3–5 NIV). May our labor together bring forth God-multiplying fruit and great praise to the Lord who has made it all possible.

Dr. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson

Wheaton, Illinois USA

Dr. Alex Zhou

Macau, China

Introduction

Swimming in a New Pond

I come from a little pond, and everyone in my small city lives in this little pond. But if I stay in that pond, I will die. I have become a big fish, and I need to get to the ocean, where I can swim and be free. How can I get there? How can I resist the pressures of those in the little pond to think and act like them?¹

These are the words of Jingjing, a Chinese new believer who had come to Christ in the West from a highly structured, materialistic society in the East. To her, the little pond represents the traditional secular thinking of her society that she realizes will kill her newborn heart in Christ. The ocean represents freedom and the open mind and heart she has experienced in Christ. Jingjing says,

I am not a big fish in my city because I am wealthy or because I have great power or status; I am not a big fish because I have many advanced degrees in education. I am a big fish because God has opened my mind to new thinking, and my goals in life are much wider and broader than those around me in my city.²

This Asian’s sense of a little pond also represents the boxes of traditional thinking from her culture that exclude biblical values. The ocean she describes is her experience of thinking outside those traditional boxes while in the West. Her problem is that what she has known of Christianity from the West does not translate well back in China. Many aspects of the church in Asia have been dismissed as mere Western propaganda, and Christianity has been seen as a foreign religion.

Paul Cohen describes the difference between Sino-centric and Eurocentric people: Sino-centrism is the worldview in China that China is basically the center of the world. All significant truth and reality comes from China. Euro-centrism, on the other hand, is the same worldview but with European thinking and assumptions at the center. As a result, both Christianity in the East and Christianity in the West have significant distortions that do not represent the core of the gospel.³

With all of the divergent cultural and theological values in the West and East, it may seem impossible for there to be a theological bridge between these two great cultures. But we believe the supracultural gospel is that bridge. We call this bridge the supra cultural gospel because it can transcend the limited cultural and theological understandings of the gospel in both the West and East.

The word gospel means good news. The prefix supra indicates going above or beyond. So the supracultural gospel is above all cultures. It is not limited to one worldview or one set of religious constructs. In our global world today, the content of the supracultural gospel must be embraced if Christians are to live successfully as Christ’s disciples and be disciplers of all people groups throughout the world (Matt 28:20).

The Need for Theological Mulans

From an Asian cultural perspective, Mulan is a wonderful example of a Chinese person who thought outside the box of cultural roles. She became a hero in China because she rose beyond the limits of her cultural setting to do things that brought honor both to her father and to her country. We look to her as a model of what is needed theologically in a non-Western approach to the gospel. Here is her story:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a girl in ancient China named Mulan. Mulan’s father was a retired general. He had come home sick and frail. He was too old to fight, but not too old to teach Mulan how to ride a horse and use a sword. Girls usually did not learn these skills. But Mulan’s father believed everyone should know how to fight, even girls. One day, the government officials sent warriors to Mulan’s village. War was coming. Men were needed for the army. The military leader of the group posted a list of names in the village square. Each name represented one volunteer, one man from each family.

Mulan saw her father’s name on the list. She knew her father would never survive another battle. Mulan’s brother was a young child. There was only Mulan who could take her father’s place. But the military did not take girls as replacements for fighting men. So Mulan cut her hair, dressed like a boy, and joined the national army to defend her father’s honor and her country from foreign invaders. [With her ability to] ride horseback, fight with a sword, and use kung fu, she had the skills necessary to pose as a male warrior. This legendary woman warrior demonstrated great courage and resilience as she overcame each obstacle in her noble quest—a quest which gave her life meaning and direction.⁴

Those same traits are needed for Asian male and female internationals who become Christians in the West and return to the Far East. Mulan’s cultural folk tale can picture the type of shift we hope to facilitate in this book on Asian discipleship from a non-Western perspective. My cowriter, Alex Zhou, speaks from an Asian perspective. I speak from a Western perspective. Our dialogical thinking is the basis of this book. Our friendship set the stage for how this book came into being.

A Western Hard-Boiled Egg Meets an Eastern Mind

Prior to meeting Alex, one of my highest affirmations in ministry came when I was co-teaching at an Urbana Missionary Conference with an Asian Indian colleague. Our topic was stereotyping, and I was wearing an Indian sari—the dress I normally wore when I was in the Indian community in Chicago. Midway through our seminar, I asked the two hundred students what impression they had of me in that sari. A Chinese student in the back of the room stood up and said loudly, I know what you are. You are a hard-boiled egg.

I hadn’t been called that before, so I asked him what he meant. I am a Chinese, he said. I am yellow on the outside, but I am white on the inside. But you—you are white on the outside and yellow on the inside. You are a hard-boiled egg!

That student had seen my heart.

Given my background with Asian peoples, I was understandably delighted to meet Alex when he first arrived in the US. He had come to enroll in law school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. At a welcome picnic for new students, a friendship with Alex and his colleagues began. That friendship grew over the next months, as we celebrated Chinese and American holidays together. A couple of us shared our testimony about how we came to know Jesus Christ and how Christ had changed our lives. Deep discussions resulted. During those months, I invited Alex to our international house church, which I pastor, and Alex was exposed to the gospel and to Christian community. In February of that year, he opened his heart to Jesus Christ, and his journey of discipleship began.

That journey has continued since Alex returned to the Far East in 2014. Upon his return home, Alex’s Chinese family persuaded him to pursue his PhD in law in their region, rather than in the US, so he stayed in Asia. For the past seven years, Alex and I have met via the internet each week, and I have sent him the sermons and daily devotionals that go out to our international house church members scattered around the world. Alex has also made several trips back to the US to be at his home church, where he chose to be baptized at Christmastime in 2017, with his Christian family around him.

During these years of discipleship—including other members of our international house church, as well as Alex—I have deliberately chosen to reframe the gospel in Asian concepts. At the same time, Alex has worked on trying to make the gospel relevant to his colleagues in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

As other Chinese converts from the US are also in this loop of discipling and daily contact, we realized the need to communicate the supracultural gospel to a wider audience. Chinese converts spoke about the values in their Chinese contexts that closed people to the gospel. At the same time, other internationals we were connected to also experienced problems with the Western boxes of the gospel they had encountered in the US. So the idea of writing a book was born—out of our passion to communicate the truths about Jesus Christ in language and transformed living that are contextually relevant for Asians in the Far East.

The Hibiscus

We have chosen to use the hibiscus flower as a symbol of bridging the supracultural gospel globally. The hibiscus is the state flower of Hawaii, a land seen as a bridge between East and West. In many Asian cultures, it is given to visitors as a sign of hospitality. When it is given to visiting state officials in Hawaii, it is also a sign of respect. Those values of respect and welcome are essential as we learn to live out the implications of the supracultural gospel in the midst of people who don’t yet embrace these gospel truths.

Like the hibiscus, the supracultural gospel is adaptable in all cultures and conveys courage, power, and immortality.

To bridge the supracultural gospel from West to East we are using the model described as theological translatability. Tim Tennent defines this approach as revisiting and retelling the universal truths of the gospel in new, global contexts.⁵

An Overview

We have divided this book into five parts. Part 1, chapter 1, describes the dilemma international students and Asian immigrants face when they encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ in the West. In Part 2, chapter 2, we examine the Western boxes in which the gospel has been packaged and discuss why this packaging has not been contextually relevant for Asians who return to their homeland. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the Eastern boxes of identity and value in China and Japan (inside and outside of the church) that restrict receptivity to the gospel in the Far East.

Part 3 of the book then covers the seven essential aspects of the supracultural gospel. Part 4 describes the six essentials of discipleship that are necessary in order to think outside the box. And Part 5 looks at five applications of demonstrating the supracultural gospel in the Far East.

Within Part 5, chapter 18 discusses what transformed living outside of Eastern boxes looks like in matters of family relationships, ancestor worship, and reaching out to the needy. Chapter 19 is about changing from individualistic faith to communal faith in a sociocentric context. Chapter 20 describes persecution, suffering, and following Jesus’ example. Chapter 21 shares personal examples relevant to living in China according to God’s kingdom agenda. And finally, chapter 22 discusses how Japanese Christians are trying to re-root the gospel in Japan.

Our goal is to provide a resource that will enable Asian internationals and immigrants—particularly from China and Japan—to thrive in their Christian life back in their home country. We also hope this book will provide helpful contextual tools for those who reach out to and disciple Asian internationals while they are in the West or in other countries around the world. Each chapter ends with questions for disciplers to consider and discuss with those they disciple.

Questions for Disciplers

1. How can you be a theological Mulan for your Asian converts?

2. Theological translatability involves new ways of framing the familiar concepts of the gospel you have used in discipling others. As you progress through the book, it will be helpful for you to note the Western concepts you have unconsciously used and then the Asian counterparts to those concepts.

Chapter 1

A Ready-Made Suit

Alex: I’m the first Christian in my family, so I’m now living outside the box of Chinese cultural and familial expectations. I have found that it takes courage to grow as a Christian in a context like mine.

I was born in mainland China, where Christianity is not the dominant religion. I didn’t have a chance to know Jesus Christ, since all the family members and friends in my life circle are non-Christians. Before becoming a Christian, my life goal was simple and common: find a proper job after graduation; start my own family; earn enough money to raise my children, providing them with a good education; and help care for my parents. That life goal is so dominant that I didn’t realize it is self-centered.

Starting with such a life goal, I used to be a self-sufficient man who always behaved for the sake of my interests alone. I was encouraged to achieve my life goals no matter how it affected others, because this lifestyle is the mainstream of social consciousness in contemporary China. Therefore, it’s typical to value the results over the means, and ignore other persons affected by our behavior and decisions.

While working toward my master’s degree in America, however, I became a Christian before returning to China after graduation in 2014. The frequent questions my friends and family asked are Who is God, and who is Jesus? Why does Jesus have authority and power, but not other gods? Why is your God, instead of my god, the one who protects people?

Since Chinese culture is woven together through close-knit relationships, this increases the difficulty for young Chinese Christians to answer these questions. On one hand, when we know the truth and understand why Jesus died for us, we have passion to deliver that truth to others. But on the other hand, non-Christian family and friends have their own beliefs. It’s easy to come to a deadlock when talking about faith or having a discussion based on different religious presuppositions.

In addition, the millennial cohorts of my generation who don’t know Jesus often live very well. They think it’s totally acceptable to live with their self-centered values, and they encourage others to live in