The controversy sparked further online conversation about the importance of cultural contextualization when planting a church in general.
“The goal of contextualization is to see people and cultures redeemed and restored by God’s saving work through Jesus, so that they may ‘turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God’ (1 Thess. 1:9). We contextualize to remove obstacles to communication,” said Keith Whitfield, Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Contextualization calls us to adapt our communication of the gospel (without changing the message) to the forms and expression of another culture, so that the cultural obstacles to the gospel may be overcome.”
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“The task of contextualization is consistent with the call of Christians to be a light in the world. The church is called to persuade those who are living in darkness to the truthfulness of the gospel. To do this, the message must be understandable,” Whitfield went on to say.
In response, Buck indicated that his issue was not with the idea of a church planter changing his accent to contextualize to the culture of a region, but the apparent affirmation of the stereotype that southern accents make a person sound unintelligent.
“There’s nothing inherently wrong w/ losing your accent for contextualization,” Buck said. “The problem is the reason given for losing a Southern accent – people ‘assume you’re less intelligent.’”
After the video began receiving criticism, it had apparently been removed from YouTube, but later reappeared without the graphic describing the University of Chicago study about southern accents.
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