Philosophy of Cross-Cultural Ministry
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The mission of ministry of God's gospel word seeks to enfold people of every nation and region, tribe and also language. The Gospel is spread to people regardless of their regions. It is, however, known that spreading of the gospel takes into consideration the cultural backgrounds of those who are targeted by the word. The main aim of any cross-cultural ministry is to witness that all the cultures, ethnic groups and denominations receive the gospel. This is because the ambassadors of Christ encounter with different people from different cultural backgrounds continuously (Southorn & Theological Research Exchange Network, 2005). The ministries should be prepared to express the love of God to all the regions of the world. There are many areas of the world in which in which Christians work tirelessly to spread the word of God. Such areas might have people from different cultural backgrounds. Cross-cultural ministry is the opportunity for an individual to minister to people from different cultural backgrounds and this will assist him or her to effectively spread the word of God.
To relate to different ethnicities, Christians should develop an understanding of cultural diversity and the needs of such cultural diversity in the society. They should also be able to proclaim and demonstrate the love of God to the areas that are considered to be limited with the gospel or the ministry. The Christians should also be able to provide resources to all the people regardless of their cultural backgrounds. This will ensure that such people are equipped and they will be in a position to participate in cross-cultural ministry and will also be in a position to understand the needs of such cross-cultural ministries (Brynjolfson & Lewis, 2006). Ethnicity should be dealt with accordingly to allow all the people realize the importance of the word of God. The minister should be able to understand the different cultures of the people they are ministering to. They need to assess the needs of such people and how they differ from the needs of others. This is important as it encourages the spreading of the word of God to all the people. The minister of the word also further understand s the culture and its needs regarding the gospel.
For the local church to address and interact with ethnic diversity, it should first of all learn how the culture of such ethnic groups differ with the culture of the church. When the church has understood the differences between the ethnic groups regarding the culture, they will be able to strategize on the best ways of handling the ethnic groups and ensuring that they work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the ministry (Southorn & Theological Research Exchange Network, 2005). The local church can address the cultural diversity if they understand the groups under such diversity well. If there lacks understanding, the message of the gospel might not be effectively spread. It is learned through the Bible that Jesus ministered unto different groups in Jerusalem after understanding the specific needs of those groups. Thus, the church can learn the customs, language, and tone of the people whom they target while spreading the word.
People can be taught and equipped to participate in multicultural ministry by first of all making them understand that the Bible is above the culture as it stands to church any culture. It is known that the "common grace of God" allows even the pagans to enjoy the word (Brynjolfson & Lewis, 2006). It is also important to teach them the principles of hospitality to the strangers. This allows them to understand that God reveals and his eternal being through the Bible ministry (Southorn & Theological Research Exchange Network, 2005). Thus, the strong taboos that they have should not hinder the spread of God's word.
The biblical basis for the philosophy is that Scripture stands in the judgment of the culture. This means that the Bible is above all the culture of different groups, and thus, people should respect the word of God more than their culture. For example, Jesus declared that assertions of Samaritans concerning the place of worship were wrong. This meant that the word of God can go against the beliefs of people's place of worship and thus allows people to worship anywhere they wish. He told them that they should, however, have bod faith in the word of God.
The ethnic and cultural lenses can influence the biblical interpretation by inferring with the effective spread of the word to all the regions. This is because the ethnic groups have dominant learning styles that they believe. Thus, there will be a division of how such people view the word of God. Some of the people may believe in the culture of their ethnic groups and thus might see the ministry's culture as an undermining their cultural believes and thus will not be in a position to effectively take into considered the ministries word (Brynjolfson & Lewis, 2006). The cultural and ethnic groups may make people interpret the Bible differently. Some of them may term the Bible as a deterrent to their cultural beliefs while others may interpret it as a way of swaying their beliefs in their ethnic gods. Such people may be having the global thinking, and their minds may be skewed towards their ethnic beliefs.
References
Brynjolfson, R., & Lewis, J. (2006). Integral ministry training: Design and evaluation. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.
Southorn, D. E., & Theological Research Exchange Network. (2005). Contextual theological education and pastoral formation in a global church.
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