Condition 7

Finding Ways To Use The Bible Where Others Are Against It

Non-Christian Religious Identity

C7-A

What About In Your Community?

  1. To what degree do local people associate a non-Christian religion with their identity?
  2. How would following Christ affect family unity?
  3. What laws exist that restrict Christianity or conversion?
  4. How consistently does the government enforce these laws?
  5. How serious do the people consider these laws? Do people see these laws as moral, immoral, other?
  6. Summary Question: Considering these things, what do you conclude about the religious identity of this community?

Contextualization Efforts

C7-B

What About In Your Community?

  • Describe efforts by believers or missionaries to offer alternative ways of explaining how to follow Christ and still feel like and be thought of as part of the community?
  • Summary Question: Has the gospel been contextualized here in a way that it is easily understandable to unbelievers?

Spiritual Hindrances To Religious Change

C7-C

What About In Your Community?

  1. What bad things do unbelievers think would happen if they abandoned their current religion (e.g., one language group in Latin America believed that if they stopped practicing their rituals, the world would end)?

Nominal Christian Opposition To Serious Christian Commitment

C7-D

What About In Your Community?

  1. Is the current form of Christianity nominal? Does it discourage serious commitment to Christ?
  2. Summary Questions: Considering these things, what are the most important factors hindering people from making religious change? How might those factors be addressed?