Oct
11
Seeing “Cults” as People Groups
Filed Under Communicating with those of other faiths, New Religious Movements | 5 Comments
I recently came across an intriguing concept while reading Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach (ed. Hexham, Rost, and Morehead II). According to the introduction, the various authors in this book intend to bridge the gap between apologetics and contextual missiology. As part of this project, they contend that Christians should approach those in New Religious Movements (NRM) in the same way as they would approach unreached people groups on the mission field.
On the one hand, this might not be a good idea because it might cause confusion. A “people group” is usually understood as an ethnolinguistic group with a shared identity, language, history, and culture. In missions, a people group is the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance.
On the other hand, seeing NRMs as unreached people groups might help in evangelism. Many Christians unfortunately tend to see those in NRMs (i.e. LDS, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc) as opponents that need to be proven wrong. As would be expected, this approach usually closes the door to evangelism. In contrast, Christians tend to approach unreached people groups around the world with a greater sense of understanding and compassion. Maybe by seeing those in NRMs like we see those in unreached people groups, we will be more likely to encounter them with love rather than with contention.