WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

60 WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES
authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he
accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
SUMMARY for Part One on Culture and Contextualisation
It is essential for a cross-cultural messenger to identify with the people
he seeks to win. To understand them, he must learn and appreciate their culture.
For meaningful communication, the messenger and the receivers must
develop a good relationship. The messenger’s life and lifestyle will either help
open the way or hinder his ministry. The messenger’s patience, genuine concern,
ways of communicating - all are important to build bridges of relationship and
winning the hearts of people to Christ.
Evangelism is a process which demands painstaking effort on the part of
the cross-cultural messenger. In contextualising the message, the messenger
needs to work at defining biblical truth, freeing it from misconceptions that
may come from his own culture or the culture of his hearers. He learns to select
the truths that are most relevant to the culture, analyse and adapt these for the
people. These truths have ultimately to be received personally.
As the Gospel penetrates a culture, we may trust the Holy Spirit to
illumine the minds of recipients and bring about conversion and obedience to
the Word of God and the Lordship of Christ. The worldview and beliefs of
Christ-followers will change. The Lordship of Christ and biblical values will
also affect their behaviour. The cross-cultural worker must humbly and patiently
co-labour with people in the host culture to see the Word of God grow and
multiply. A contextualised expression of the message will result in the spread
of the Gospel by witnesses from the host culture.