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WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

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8 <strong>WHEN</strong> <strong>YOU</strong> <strong>CROSS</strong> <strong>CULTURES</strong><br />

In other words, Paul really communicated clearly to the point that the<br />

message was understood and “welcomed with joy”. The Holy Spirit brought<br />

about conviction. The message was also relevant to his life, making its impact.<br />

The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living and true God. Finally,<br />

not only had the Thessalonians become part of Paul's life, but Paul had become<br />

a part of their lives.<br />

Let us look more closely at the various stages of cross-cultural<br />

communication. 8 There are five stages in the cross-cultural communication<br />

process:<br />

Stage 1 RAPPORT<br />

For rapport to occur, the communicator needs to be aware of his own cultural<br />

background traditions, and how he must seek to understand the culture and<br />

traditions of his host culture, the people he desires to win. He needs also to be<br />

freed from any elements of his background that will inhibit him from relating<br />

to the new culture. To identify, the messenger (square) must constantly learn<br />

what the receiver’s (round) culture is.<br />

Messenger Receiver<br />

Stage 2 COMPREHENSION<br />

Rapport takes place when the receiver says, “I want to hear what you have to<br />

say”. Comprehension occurs when the receiver says, “I understand what you<br />

are saying”.<br />

Message<br />

8 I owe these five steps to Jim Petersen in his seminar on contextualisation.<br />

Messenger<br />

with message Receiver

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