Muller Book Report
Brittany Frost
GLST 290-B02
February 1, 2019
2
Introduction
In the beginning, God created all things. All things that were good in His eyes, until the
sin of the first man and women. Since then, the world has gained many worldviews that not
all agree upon. In the Christian faith, we are called to make disciples among the nations, to
do so successfully there are characteristics needed to be a good communicator of the Gospel.
Being a messenger of the message comes with great understanding and knowledge to spread
the Good News across the nations. Displayed in The Messenger, the Message, & the
Community, the following will be discussed: the challenges of being a messenger; how to be
a successful messenger; the characteristics to obtain; how guilt, shame, and fear related to
communication of the Gospel; and how one should communicate the Gospel in a culture with
a different worldview.
The Messenger
When first stepping foot on new soil, one might think that sharing the Gospel will be
easy. However, this journey is going to be a lot more difficult. The first bump in the road will
be the barrier in language.1 This may or may not be a challenging obstacle depending on the
language and the learner itself. Language goes hand-in-hand with Culture, which can make
communicating extremely difficult, especially when trying to perceive yourself to be
credible. The incoming messenger must build bridges between the different cultures to
become an insider and gain the trust of the people.2 In order to gain credibility, the messenger
1 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural Church
Planter, p 5
2 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p7
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must show his or her faith outwardly in the community. If this were to be passed by, the
people of the culture would not listen or show any respect towards religious teachings. The
main goal of the messenger is to share the Gospel in hopes of growing and building the
Church of God.
While going to the nations and teaching of God’s Word, it should be reminded that the
result (of a planted church) is granted by God, we are just there to be prepared for His work
to be done. 3 Psalm 127:1 describes this as such: Unless the Lords builds a house, the work of
the builders is wasted.4 To prepare for the work of God to be accomplished the messenger
must die to themselves, making themselves available to the people around them.
Once a friendship has been formed between the messenger of the Word and someone
within the target culture, that is when friendship evangelism can begin. While this essentially
is gossiping the Gospel, it is a way to reach some people through small-talk.5 Although
friendship evangelism seems like it may work, it mainly sets the friendship and puts the
Gospel on the back burner. To be a successful communicator of the Gospel, it is primarily
important to become the teacher, instead of the friend.
To come across as a teacher of the Gospel instead of the friend, it is important that the
message is coming across as knowledgeable but not proud. 6 By studying how the targeted
culture teaches, it will be easier to transition the Christian beliefs and scriptures into the
3 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p11
4 Christian Art, Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
5 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p21
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culture. While it may be easy to take authority in this situation, putting guests in a position of
honor is more appropriate. In Matthew 23 Jesus criticized teachers, for they are also just a
servant to the one and only teacher, our Father in heaven.7 As messengers, we are nothing but
a deliverer of Good News.
As messengers, it is important to clearly communicate the Gospel to the directed culture.
Using Proverbs and Parables to tell stories and connect with the culture and language. While
both of these provide an avenue to the Gospel, they share problems.8 For example, parables
are fictional stories used to prove a point. These stories are meant to stir a person to think
deeper and to ask questions. When situations arise, this may be a good time to act in prayer.9
When teaching the Gospel, it must be clearly communicated that the offense on the Cross
was demonstrated out of love from God for us.10 John 3:16 clearly states that God loved the
world, He loved what he had created, and it saddened Him when He did not have a relationship
with His people. So, He sent His one and only Son to die on the Cross so we could live an eternal
6 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p41
7 Christian Art. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
8 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p56
9 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p60
10 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p63
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life with our Father.11 The death of Jesus becomes near to us when we know that our sins are paid
for.
Scripture calls us into fellowship with other believers, however, once a person accepts Christ
into their lives, the messenger has to protect the convert to stay alive. Being an encourager but
waiting for the right time to come out as a Christian when the time is right.12 This process will
take many hours, but it must start right away to avoid fear, guilts, and shame.
The Message
There are many different worldviews that different parts of the country have. While it may be
difficult to share the Gospel in parts of the world, it is important to have knowledge of the
worldview in your target culture. When processing the Gospel, one might think about the sin
they have committed. There are three results, or responses to sin: guilt, shame, and fear.13 All of
these results were demonstrated in the book of Genesis with the first sin of man.
A culture that focuses on guilt-based views examines the sin done in the Garden of
Eden.14 The first sin of man, caused guilt to come upon Adam and Eve. The Lord told them not to
eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but the serpent tricked them into thinking
11 Christian Art. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
12 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p81
13 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p108-109
14 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p108
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otherwise. What they had done was wrong, in the result of sin against the Lord.15 They both ate
from the tree when guilt, shame, and fear came over them.
Like guilt, shame fell upon Adam and Eve as they broke the relationship with God.16
Immediately after sinning against the Lord, Adam and Eve heard His footsteps and hid because
they were not clothed. "He replied, I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid
because I was naked", Genesis 3:10.17 Adam and Eve did not act honorably to the Lord, so
shame-filled their lives. Like guilt, this also passed onto all mankind.18
Lastly, there is a fear-based view. Again, In Genesis 3 is it mentioned that Adam and Eve
hid because they were afraid of the Lord and the punishment they would have to endure. This
would also be carried into the world we live in today. The result of sin caused us to feel
unworthy of God’s love and protection. However, God sent down His son so that we could live
freely with Him. 1 John 4:18 shows this by saying “Such love has no fear, because perfect love
expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows we have not fully
experienced his perfect love”.19 God raises us from our sin (guilt, shame, and fear) to that we can
15 Christian Art. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
16 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p109
17 Christian Art. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
18 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p109
19 Christian Art. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
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join with Him for eternity.20 As disciples, we need to teach the world that everyone is in need of a
savior, to be free of sin.
Once we were found guilty, but with Christ, we are redeemed. The Cross covered all of our sins.
We must understand that the Bible is the answer to how God responds to sin. To teach of
repentance, the messenger should use the three results of sin to help understand. They must also
teach of the three themes of salvation: Propitiation, Redemption, and Reconciliation. First, the
anger of God was averted by the crucifixion of the Cross. Secondly, the payment of our sin
cleared away our guilt and restored the relationship with mankind and God. Lastly, only the cross
can bring us back together with the Lord.21
In conclusion, throughout The Messenger, the Message, & the Community, it is shown
how to clearly communicate the Gospel into the lives of those who have different worldviews. In
all, we should have a full understanding of the work done on the Cross, so that we can share the
Good News making disciples and live eternally with our Heavenly Father. Going to the nations
to teach of God’s word will be challenging, but with the qualities discussed will bring a better
understanding of how to effectively share the Gospel.
Bibliography
Art, Christian. Inspire Bible: The Bible for Creative Journaling, New Living Translation.
Place of Publication Not Identified: Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
Muller, Roland. The Messenger, the Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issuesfor
20 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p153
21 Rolland Muller, The Messenger, The Message, & the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural
Church Planter, p192
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thee Cross-cultural Church Planter. Osler, Sask.: CanBooks, 2013.
