Social, Theological or Both?

What is the main difficulty with answering McGavern’s question about whether the barriers in missions are social or theological? I think it’s the fact that the theological component of our religion arises from a social context. It’s not always easy to extract the pure, undiluted theological truth of the Gospel from its social setting (and most often not even appropriate). Sometimes it’s even difficult to wrest the Gospel from our own cultural trappings, as McGavern learned in his ministry. As in every Christian endeavor, Jesus’ life and teaching give us cues for understanding the relationship between the theological and the cultural. Jesus had a somewhat ambivalent attitude toward culture. He accepted all things in culture that didn’t get run counter to God’s direction for it. But he hated the things that did.