What does First B Jackson teach about incarnational ministry?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on incarnational ministry begins with a single sentence from John 1:14: the Word became human and lived among us. A missionary with the Navajo Brethren in Christ Mission brought this message, and he drew on years of living on the reservation to give that sentence real weight. Jesus did not ask people to become culturally like heaven before they could hear the good news. He entered a culture completely, speaking its language, wearing its clothes, and meeting people where they already were. That, the preacher said, is what incarnational means, and it is the model every follower of Jesus is called to imitate.
The message did not stay abstract. The preacher walked through a painful chapter in Native American mission history, noting that well-meaning Christians had used passages like the one in 1 Corinthians 11 about hair and head coverings to tell Native people they had to stop being who they were before they could become Christians. The result was a gospel that came across as impositional rather than incarnational, and he pointed to the numbers as evidence: only a fraction of Native Americans in North America have come to faith. He was careful to note that Paul himself, in that same passage, says the churches have no universal custom on such things, meaning the rules that were imposed had no firm scriptural ground to stand on.
The contrast the preacher kept returning to was between imposing and entering. When Philip asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father, Jesus pointed to himself: if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That is what incarnational witness looks like. It does not announce how things are done somewhere else. It shows up, moves in, and lets the presence do the speaking.
Taught from John 1:14 · John 14:5-11 · 1 Corinthians 11:13-16 · Isaiah 43:19 · Colossians 2:20-23
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 11:13-16
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?
14 Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.
16 But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- October 2, 2016 10 02 16 Sunday Sermon Traditions Duane & Diane Bristow Missionaries Duane and Diane Bristow share how incarnational ministry among the Navajo people means revealing the Father through relationship, not imposing religious culture.
- October 2, 2016 The Word Became Human and Lived Among Us Missionary Duane Bristow shares how Jesus modeled incarnational ministry by entering our culture, and challenges believers to carry that same living witness to others.
- October 2, 2016 The Word Became Human and Lived Among Us Dwayne Bristow of Navajo Brethren in Christ Mission preaches on incarnational ministry, asking whether we reveal the Father to others or merely impose our own religious standards.