In 1957 an Indian Christian church leader made the startling statement that, with the exception of scattered local instances, in 150 years it has not been possible to build a fully indigenous Christian church in India.

The word “contextualization” was coined just over five years ago, and already it is used around the world in many different circles.

For many, the term “theology” has about it an aura of’ irrelevance. It conjures up in the mind the seemingly endless history of bickering between those in favor of one set of interpretations of the Bible and Christian experience with those who hold another set of interpretations.

As a third year student at the Instituto Biblico Buenos Aires I had had the rare opportunity to investigate evangelical youth work at its source. But, somehow, those principles so rigidly adhered to in the United States and Canada seemed both foreign and awkward in my own situation upon my return to Argentina.

I see the evangelical model of exegesis developed through history as an easier and more directly pertinent methodological influence on our contemporary experience in cross-cultural hermeneutic.