The Missions Director of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, has underscored the importance of separating personal context from spiritual concepts in missionary work, warning that failing to do so can distort the gospel and render one ineffective in ministry.
Speaking at the 2025 Missions Orientation at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa-Fetteh, on Tuesday, July 15, on the topic: ‘Concepts and Context,’ Apostle Agyemang Bekoe indicated the critical role of the mind, particularly the subconscious in shaping belief systems and missionary effectiveness.
‘A concept is simply an idea,’ he explained. ‘Concepts are generated from the mind, but they must be applied within new contexts without dragging old environments along.’
He urged missionaries to carry the gospel concept into new cultures, but not to impose their native cultural contexts on their mission fields.
‘When you move with both the concept and the context, what you arrive with is not the original idea anymore – it becomes a misconception,” he stated, adding, ‘That’s why many people leave home with good intentions, but their message gets lost in translation.’
Drawing from 1 Peter 1:13, Apostle Agyemang Bekoe encouraged believers to prepare their minds for action, noting that spiritual effectiveness begins with mental transformation. He explained that the human mind functions on two levels – the conscious and the subconscious. It is the subconscious mind that governs lasting behaviour and identity.
‘The real seat of who you are is not the conscious mind; it’s the subconscious. That’s what the Bible refers to as the heart or the inner man,’ he revealed. ‘Until the subconscious is affected, the person remains unchanged. That’s where your culture, attitudes, and deep-seated beliefs reside.’
He added that while the conscious mind deals with mindsets, the subconscious stores set minds, built over time by repeated thoughts, cultural values, and personal experiences. These, he said, often become barriers when not subjected to the transformative power of Christ.
‘Seeing new things and saying new things is one way to restore the subconscious,’ he noted, stressing, ‘You cannot truly change until the inside changes.’
Apostle Agyemang Bekoe warned that many missionaries struggle because they subconsciously carry cultural baggage, such as tribalism, nationalism, or traditional values into contexts where they are called to preach Christ alone.
‘Do not carry your tribe, ethnicity, or nationality into the nations you are sent to,’ he cautioned. ‘Take Christ to the people. The gospel must engage culture, not be swallowed by it.’
He also spoke about the unchanging nature of core Christian doctrine, urging missionaries to distinguish between essential truths and cultural expressions of faith, saying, ‘Doctrine does not change, but if you’re not careful, you’ll allow the things stored in your subconscious through years of culture to affect how you interpret and deliver the message. That’s when people stop listening.’
The session ended with a charge to missionaries to become spiritually and mentally prepared vessels, yielding their minds to the influence of the Holy Spirit so that divine concepts may be rightly applied across diverse contexts for maximum impact.
The 2025 Missions Orientation is part of the church’s effort to prepare missionaries being sent across the globe, equipping them with spiritual depth and practical wisdom to engage new territories effectively with the gospel.
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