Evangelism and Milieu

There’s another reason religious movements from the US often don’t catch on in Canada.

Many evangelical initiatives such as the Navigators, Campus Crusade (now “Power to Change”) began in California. (CC’s peak event each year used to be the Rose Bowl.) They blitz the beaches and parks, and move northward up the coast to Oregon and Washington. They even gain a toehold in the mists of Lower Mainland British Columbia.

When they start up the Fraser Valley, something happens. There are lakes with sunny beaches and parks in the southern interior of BC. But the farther north or into the interior you move, the more the dynamic changes. People move into shelters or campgrounds where they huddle around fire pits. On many days you have to move indoors.

The type of informal come-on that’s okay at open parks and beaches doesn’t work here. In an enclosed or semi-enclosed space, when someone comes up to you, you’re more apt to respond defensively out of biological programming. And the easy, breezy familiarity of the approach, coupled with a vaguely different accent, can put locals on their guard.

Evangelical youth movements that are rooted in Canadian soil focus their encounters at camps where there is horseback riding, canoeing, hiking and cross country skiing. These all entail a commitment and a willingness to spend a period of time together. They are not casual encounters. The Young Life organization, which focuses on high school students, recognize this in its emphasis on protracted “contact work.”

There are historic examples of how climate played a part in the development of religious groups in both countries. On the pilgrimage across the desert to Utah, Mormons rescued individuals and families who were out of food, water and supplies—as someone would pick up a stranded motorist on the highway. But these were more than offering a lift to the next town. Most of these rescuees were inducted into the Saints’ community.

In Upper Canada, particularly northern and northwestern Ontario, Mennonite Brethren provided social and material supports for each other during the long nights of Canadian winter. (The game of Crokinole, developed by German Lutheran craftsman in 1876 was a popular activity as it was considered innocuous, without the associations of card games.)
In this case it was cold the helped bond a community, in the earlier example, it was heat.

Climatic differences also led to changing of the message to fit the context of the hearers. Early missionaries to the northern Inuit people had to change the imagery of hell: to those surrounded by ice and snow for much of the year, a furnace was a welcome place!

An example of cultural adaptation is the Huron Carol composed by Jesuit missionary (and later martyr) Jean de Brébeuf for the First Nation beside the lake of the same name. In English translation, it runs:

‘twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchie Manitou sent angel choirs instead
Before their light the stars grew dim
And wandering hunters heard the hymn
“Jesus, your Chief is born …

The preceding two examples deal with aboriginal peoples, but we are deceiving ourselves if we believe our religious forms are not modified by culture. No one speaks without an accent!

Rather than see this as a criticism—a case of cultural relativism, of “watering down the message”—we need to accept is as an unavoidable part of communications. A biblical illustration is the prophet Ezekiel’s testimony of his mission to the captives in Babylon: “I sat among them for seven days” before he spoke to them.

American believers sharing their message in Canada need to be aware of this. Despite the similarities between the two countries, there are subtle cultural factors that, ignored, can be a turnoff to what they’re trying to share. The medium becomes the message.

Canadians for their part can show their next door neighbours the tolerance for which they have a reputation in dealing with diversity. If an approach comes across as offensive, it is a doing one a service to have this pointed out gently and firmly—as a friend.