Introduction
Jesus encouraged his disciples to move mountains with their faith. Let’s now fly over the mountain range that stands between us and people from other cultures. We can readily identify some of the major peaks, e.g. Mount Pluralism, Mount Racism, Mount Ethnocentrism, Mount Language, Mount Assimilation, Mount Imperialism, Mount Tradition and Mount Inflexibility. We will consider practical means of removing and surmounting the major obstacles to multicultural ministry.
In the ancient world it was exceedingly dangerous to sail in the deep oceans. Ships hugged coastlines and avoided the open sea. In the ancient world the ‘Pillars of Hercules’ (now Gibraltar) was a gateway to the open seas through which almost no mariner was prepared to sail. Today many would cling to their cultural coastlines and have their own pillars of Hercules beyond which they will not venture. When Christians share this mentality a barrier is set in the path of ministry across cultures.
The day after my youngest daughter was born in Abbotabad, Pakistan we attempted to drive back to Murree but were stopped by an avalanche of rocks blocking the mountain road – just as well this didn’t happen when we were rushing to the hospital for Jessica’s birth! The apostle Paul was familiar with the practice of retreating armies who would deliberately place an obstacle in the way of pursuing forces, for example, by breaking up the road. In 1 Corinthians 9:12 Paul says, ‘we put up with anything rather than place a hindrance in the way of the gospel of Christ.’ Paul is determined to avoid placing any obstacle in the roadway along which the gospel travels.
Since 1947 over 6 million people have flooded into Australia from over 120 nations. By the year 2025 49% of Sydney, about half of Sydney, will be of non-Anglo Celtic ethnicity. Our Lord is sovereign. He has been doing this, clearing a path for us to take the gospel to all peoples. Are we going to undo the Lord’s work. No! Like Paul, we too are resolved that no obstacle should stand in the way of getting the gospel to people from other cultures within our reach.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 9. In verse 12 Paul expresses his determination to allow no obstacle to stand in the path of the gospel of Christ. You know how he goes on from this point:
‘Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but I am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings’ (vv19-23).
1 Corinthians makes it plain that one of the greatest obstacles to all effective gospel ministry, including ministry across cultures, is insistence upon my own identity, my own importance, my own rights. Effective ministry across cultures begins with you and I being prepared to bend; with a preparedness to become like those you are trying to win for Christ; becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means you might save some.
Bill Bryson tells how his intended journey to Hammerfest, the northernmost town in Europe, to see the Northern Lights, met with an obstacle. Through no fault of his own he arrived at the Oslo bus station just 2 minutes before the departure of the bus to Hammerfest. The girl at the ticket counter then told him she had no record of his reservation. I’ll let Bill Bryson tell the story from here:
‘This isn’t happening,’ I said. ‘I’m still at home in England enjoying Christmas. Pass me a drop more port, will you, darling?’ Actually, I said, ‘There must be some mistake. Please look again.’
The girl studied the passenger manifest. ‘No, Mr Bryson, your name is not here.’
But I could see it, even upside-down. ‘There it is, second from the bottom.’
‘No,’ the girl decided, ‘that says Bernt Bjornson. That’s a Norwegian name.’
‘It doesn’t say Bernt Bjornson. It says Bill Bryson. Look at the loop of the y, the two lls. Miss, please.’ But she wouldn’t have it. ‘If I miss this bus when does the next one go?’
‘Next week at the same time.’
Oh, splendid.
‘Miss, believe me, it says Bill Bryson.’
‘No, it doesn’t.’
‘Miss, look, I’ve come from England. I’m carrying some medicine that could save a child’s life.’ She didn’t buy this. ‘I want to see the manager.’
‘He’s in Stavanger.’
‘Listen, I made a reservation by telephone. If I don’t get on this bus I’m going to write a letter to your manager that will cast a shadow over your career prospects for the rest of this century.’ This clearly did not alarm her. Then it occurred to me. ‘If this Bernt Bjornson doesn’t show up, can I have his seat?’
‘Sure.’
Why don’t I think of these things in the first place and save myself the anguish? ‘Thank you,’ I said, and lugged my bag outside.
To overcome the obstacle that stood in his path to Hammerfest Bill Bryson had to stop insisting on his own identity and his own importance. Paul never extinguished his own identity as a Jew, but he would not allow his Jewishness to predetermine who he would minister to. Don’t let your ethnic and cultural identity predetermine who you will minister to. Don’t let the ethnic and cultural identity of your church predetermine the people to whom it will minister.
Let me seek to apply to domestic cross-cultural ministry something emanating from an overseas mission context, the famous 10 principles of the Serampore Covenant. The Serampore Covenant of 1805 enunciated the guiding principles established by William Carey, the so-called ‘father of modern missions’, along with his colleagues, for their missionary community in Serampore, India.
Here they are:
1. The human soul is of inestimable value and is in mortal danger of eternal punishment. But Christ can and will save.
2. We must gain all the knowledge we can of the Indian mind and of the Indian religions.
3. We must not offend Indian sensibilities by vaunting our English ways and attacking theirs.
4. We must ‘watch [for] all opportunities of doing good,’ as in preaching, itinerating and talking to all who will listen.
5. The ‘great subject of our preaching’ must be ‘Christ the Crucified.’
6. We must do everything necessary to win the confidence of the people.
7. We must remember the importance of native leaders and building up the Christian lives of converts. We must value the work of female colleagues in their important work with women.
8. In all possible ways we must promote the development of Indian leadership and the formation of Indian churches led by Indian pastors.
9. We must labour with all our might in forwarding translations of the sacred scriptures in the language of Hindustan.
10. To be fit for these ‘unutterable important labours’, we must be ‘instant in prayer and the cultivation of personal religion’.
Using contemporary planning terminology we recognise these as 10 core values. Summarising them we can say the 10 core values of the Serampore Covenant are:
1. Seeking people’s salvation.
2. Understanding the target group.
3. Avoiding offensive cultural insensitivity.
4. Seeking opportunities to witness.
5. Preaching Christ crucified.
6. Winning people’s confidence.
7. Valuing local leadership and female ministry.
8. Developing churches for the people led by the people.
9. Communicating in the language of the people.
10. Maintaining spiritual fitness.
These excellent 10 principles are transferable to any ministry context. Do notice that at the heart of the ministry philosophy involved here is a willingness to give up ‘our’ insistence upon things being done ‘our’ way and a readiness to do all that is humanly possible to ‘become all things to all people’.
The first major obstacle to effective ministry across cultures that must be overcome is my desire to assert my own identity and rights and importance and, collectively, ‘our’ desire, as a church community, to assert our identity and our rights and importance, e.g. the attitude: ‘They’ve come to our country and they are very welcome to come to our church as long as they understand it’s their responsibility to learn how we do things here and learn to adjust to our ways.’ This is not a gospel-driven heart.
How do we overcome this first obstacle to ministry across cultures? Like Paul and the subscribers to the Serampore Covenant, we need to be fully intentional about what we are seeking to do and what is required, by God’s grace, to achieve this. I’ve been full-time involved in ministry across cultures for over 20 years now and time and again the gospel train terminates at the station of Goodwill. I’ve actually come to regard Goodwill as an obstacle to ministry across cultures. No! We need to get on the gospel train that goes beyond the station of Goodwill. You and I must be fully intentional about ministering to people from other cultures. I want to challenge you and your churches to commit yourself before God to reach out across cultures and to set definite goals to achieve this. If you are a leader in a church then lead your church to set goals in this area. There is no better tool you can use for planning than The M.A.P., the Mission Action Planning Kit.
I’ve just spoken of the gospel train. Let me tweak that metaphor a little. A train will always run along the same railway lines unless the switch is flicked. I cannot emphasise strongly enough that if you or your church is to be effective in ministering across cultures then there must be intentionality. Unless special measures are adopted then, barring extraordinary divine intervention, gospel ministry will just keep running down the same old railway track.
Here unbiblical views of God’s sovereignty pose a barrier. Remember the response William Carey got when he proposed going to India to reach people with the gospel: ‘Sit down, young man. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He’ll do it without consulting you or me’. In other words, let the gospel train just run down the same old track. It is intriguing to realise that two of the greatest pioneers of modern missions, William Carey and Hudson Taylor, while rightly recognised for their spirituality were both men who studied maps and statistics and were moved not just by biblical convictions but by a statistically-grounded realisation of vast numbers of people ‘without God and without hope’.
Deliberate, intentional measures, informed by both biblical convictions and a thorough understanding of demographic realities, must be taken if we are to be effective in ministry across cultures. Here we all need to come to terms with a fundamental truth: Gospel ministry, left to itself, always travels a short cultural distance.
Throughout church history this has been an undeniable reality. Through all ages the vast majority of Christians have ministered to people like themselves. We need to add to this that even in the Bible, in the early church, this was the case. A key passage in this regard is Acts 11:19-21:
‘Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.’
The Christians driven out of Jerusalem by the persecution associated with Stephen were Jewish believers – there is no record of Gentile Christians coming on to the scene prior to Stephen’s martyrdom. These scattered Jewish Christians, we are informed, were very evangelistic. However, we are also pointedly told that they told the message, communicated the gospel, ‘only to Jews’. Undoubtedly, Luke is scoring some theological points here. He is emphasising, for example, that these Jewish Christans have not deserted the Jewish people; that the gospel is not anti-Jewish. But the fact remains that left to itself, gospel ministry by Jewish Christians is substantially a ministry by Jews to Jews. Gospel ministry, left to itself, travels a short cultural distance. Yes, some Jewish Christians raised in the more Hellenistic areas of Cyprus and Cyrene evidently felt a more natural rapport with Greek-speaking Gentiles and therefore also shared the gospel with them. But note that even they ministered to fellow Jews and supplemented this with some evangelism among Gentiles.
There is no hint of reproach here. Acts 11 is simply recording the reality. There is nothing wrong per se with you as Christians relating and ministering to people from your own cultural and ethnic world. It is a perfectly reasonable and natural thing to do. However, the reality is that at least some people from a community have to adopt special measures if people from other ethnic and cultural communities are to be reached for Christ. That is precisely what the immediately preceding context has been about where it is explained how God moved Peter to adopt special measures which, by the way, he objected to at first and did not come at all naturally to him.
Peter never had the cultural flexibility of Paul. His relations with Gentile Christians in the church at Antioch were damaged when fear of the circumcision party caused his deep-seated ethnocentrism to flare up again. This is recorded for us in Galatians 2. There Paul confronts Peter’s way of treating non-Jewish people. Peter implied that Gentiles were second class citizens in God’s kingdom if they didn’t recognise Jewish customs and law-based culture as integral to the Christian life. Paul hits this implicit assimilationism over the head by emphasising to Peter the guts of the gospel.
Mount Ethnocentrism is a towering obstacle in the path of effective gospel ministry across cultures. Back in the early 17 century Francis Bacon explained that all people see reality in a distorted way. He said this distorted view was due to various factors which he called ‘idols’. This is quite perceptive. I did my M.Th work on idolatry in the Bible and concluded that idolatry in the Bible is especially connected with revelation, ways of understanding deity and ultimate reality. Anyway, Bacon dubbed one of distorted perspectives ‘the idol of the cave’. His point here is that every individual is a member of a particular human group and as a result group loyalties give people specific biases. Consequently, when people look at the world it is only the world they see as they peer out of the particular cave in which they are located.
We all know Bacon was right. We live just one street away from Oki Jubilee Stadium where the St. George Dragons play half of their games. We are keen Dragon supporters. It is almost impossible for us to interpret refereeing decisions in a neutral manner. We are loyal to the Dragons. We want the Dragons to win. We are quick to criticise refereeing decisions that go against the Dragons – “You’re kidding”, we shout at the ref when he rules against our team. The fact is that when we watch a rugby league game we are controlled by Bacon’s ‘idol of the cave’.
Albert Einstein observed, ‘Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.’ We all belong to a particular social environment or subculture which to a lesser or greater extent shares a slanted way of looking at the world. Ethnocentrism means that when people look at the world they do so from the vantage point of their own particular ethnic or cultural cave. Included in our set of beliefs is our belief about our own culture. It is normal human nature to believe in the pre-eminence of our own culture. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own patterns of behaviour, values and ways of thinking are basically normal, natural, good, beautiful, or important, and that people who behave differently or have different values or different ways of thinking are the lesser for it.
Ethnocentrism is a belief shared by all peoples. The Anglo-Celtic brother of one of my students married a Chinese girl who is the daughter of parents attending one of Sydney’s biggest Chinese churches. Her father has never spoken to her since. Of course, here, not only does his attitude presuppose the superiority of Chinese culture but it goes a step further – into racism. Ethnocentrism easily slips into racial prejudice and discrimination and it’s amazing how often people admit to it. How often do you hear people say, ‘I’m not a racist but…’? The word ‘but’ is the give away, isn’t it?
In my experience evangelical, Bible-believing churches are often more ethnocentric and more racist than surrounding society. Of course, our secular society is plagued by the spreading virus of religious pluralism – the idea that all religions are basically the same or at least equally valid. This may partially explain the higher levels of tolerance found in many, though not all, non-Christian circles. But evangelical, Bible-believing Christians are saps for xenophobic attitudes. For example, at a time when we should be bending over backwards to take the gospel to Muslims all around us, I am personally concerned about the impact upon Christians by the peddlars of Islamaphobia.
Now I lived in Pakistan, a Muslim state, for 7 years. We lived in a rented house in a Muslim neighbourhood and we were there during the Gulf War when virtually the whole Pakistani community expressed their support for Saddam Hussein and their contempt for America. I do not think I can be charged with being naïve and idealistic when it comes to understanding the dangers Islam represents and, indeed, Christians do need to understand the threat of Islam. However, I am concerned by the readiness of Christians to uncritically accept unbalanced demonisations of Muhammad and Islam that lack historical and scholarly integrity. At some level all non-Christian religions and philosophies are systems of demonic deception. Indeed, every non-Christian is demonically deceived since ‘the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers’. But this does not give us licence to demonise our non-Christian friend. We know our Bibles better than that. Yes, all people are radically sinful and sin pervades all that we are and do. Nevertheless, people are also created in the image of God. Therefore there is still a great deal to admire and respect in the people we meet. Indeed, the sheer decency of some non-Christians sometimes puts many Christians to shame.
If you are going to argue that Muhammad or Islam is thoroughly evil and demonic then you’d better make sure you deal with all the evidence, not just your selected reading of it. Yes, we must underscore Jesus’ claim, ‘I am the way, namely the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (Jn 14:6). Indeed, ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is not other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). But this does not give us licence to rubbish people and what they believe. Peter says whenever you explain to unbelievers the reason for the hope that you have: ‘do this with gentleness and respect’ (1 Pet 3:15).
One towering mountain standing in the way of effective ministry across cultures is our own bad attitudes. We must develop generous gospel attitudes. To develop such attitudes it helps to have a basic understanding of cultural differences and the dynamics of culture. It is so easy to get our wires crossed when we are relating across cultures and sometimes misunderstandings stand in the way of cross-cultural ministry.
If you are relating to someone from another culture and you are put out by something he or she does or says then always ask yourself one basic question: Is the behaviour I’ve encountered individual or cultural? Now we all know that individuals from any culture or society can be rude and offensive. However, if the behaviour is cultural then it is very unlikely that it is intentionally rude and, in fact, it is most probably an expression of positive underlying values.
One summer evening, during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, ‘Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?’ The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. ‘I can’t dear,’ she said, ‘I have to sleep with Daddy.’ A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, ‘The big sissy.’
The little boy interpreted his dad’s behaviour, sleeping with his mother, as being motivated by the same things that motivated him. Cross-cultural confusion occurs when we mistakenly assume the behaviour of a person from another culture is undergirded by the same motivation and values which characterize that same behaviour in our own culture.
Take eye contact, for example. During my boyhood my stepfather – my own father died when I was a young child – drummed it into me that a real man looks you straight in the eye; that you can’t trust someone who doesn’t look you in the eye; that looking people in the eye shows that you are paying attention. Note that I was clearly taught that certain values underlie direct eye contact – values of manliness, honesty and attentiveness. I remember an Anglo taxi driver in Sydney once pontificating to me, ‘You can’t trust Asians. They never look you straight in the eye’. Well, there is a cultural difference here, isn’t there? Many people from many other cultures tend to avoid direct eye contact. But I remember that one of the members of the Parish Council in a Sydney Anglican Church, a man raised in mainland China, said, ‘When I was a boy it was drilled in to me that when I am in the presence of someone with authority, like a teacher, I must show my respect by lowering my eyes’. You see the point. You come across someone from say some Asian country who doesn’t look you straight in the eye. It’s not individual but cultural behaviour you are encountering and more than this it is an expression of positive underlying values, e.g. treating people with honour and respect.
Indeed, just as Westerners may misinterpret indirect eye contact as an expression of negative values, e.g. lack of honesty or attentiveness, in the same way an Asian may misinterpret direct eye contact as an expression of negative values, e.g. aggression and lack of respect. So critical to removing the mountain of bad attitude and mentality is the need to have a basic understanding of cultural difference and cultural dynamics.
Let’s assume you’ve already resolved to take the gospel across cultures. With full intentionality you have set yourself some definite goals. You’re acting on your biblical convictions and your sober knowledge of demographic realities. You are asking the Lord to give you generous gospel attitudes. You are growing in your understanding of cultural difference. Let’s move from the image of a gospel train to driving the gospel car. Have a guess where the next big problem will come from.
At one point during a soccer game, the coach said to one of his young players, ‘Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?’ The young boy nodded in the affirmative. ‘Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?’ The little boy nodded yes. ‘So,’ the coach continued, ‘when the referee gives a free kick against you or the linesman says you’re offside you don’t argue or curse or attack the referee. Do you understand all that?’ Again the young boy nodded. ‘Good,’ said the coach. ‘Now go over there and explain it to your father.’
Would that it were not so, but let’s wake up to reality. It is often the case that it is not so much the people you are trying to reach who will set up roadblocks to gospel ministry, but your own family, that is, fellow Christians. Of course, this was the very problem Paul and Barnabas had to contend with, when many Jewish Christians objected to letting the gospel car having free movement on the roads – the problem taken up at the Jerusalem Council, as recorded for us in Acts 15.
A good friend of mine is one of the most effective NESB workers in the Presbyterian church. There is a seriously declining Presbyterian church in his suburb which has a large property and good facilities, catering for a congregation of less than 30 persons. His own church is thriving, bursting at the seams, but though his church is also Presbyterian, the local Presbyterian church will not grant permission for his NESB church to share the church facilities – they are no doubt worried that my friend’s church will take over their church. Millions of dollars of great assets are not being utilized for gospel ministry, while my friend’s church meets on rented property and may be forced to make a disruptive move. A while back my friend sent me an email and this is what he said:
The big challenge is this: I am a Presbyterian and proud of it. The irony is that the biggest obstacle for us in reaching out to as many as possible is not non christians, but fellow Presbyterians, who feel threatened by having us within their ‘parish.’
To take just one example, this non Anglo friend and others from his non Anglo Presbyterian church, were evangelizing people in a park in the suburb where their church meets. This included evangelizing Anglos. A leader from the local Presbyterian church objected to this because he saw this as encroaching on his church’s ministry, even though his church had no evangelistic program whatsoever.
There are some obstacles you can’t remove and you just have to find ways round them. But one of the keys to dealing with this obstacle is by building teams.
Building a strong team is essential for effective multicultural ministry. A good friend is the pastor of an Indonesian church. This church has commenced an English speaking ministry and my friend has a vision for developing a multiethnic English speaking ministry, that is, one which will reach out to all English speakers in his area, not just Indonesians. However, if this team is composed of just English speaking Indonesians do you think it is possible to achieve this vision?
In all probability the answer will be ‘No’. To develop a multiethnic ministry you need to have a multiethnic team. If you want to reach Mandarin speaking Chinese living in your area then you are not going to do that through a team of essentially Anglo Christians. You will need a team of Mandarin speaking Chinese. You may start with a Mandarin speaking church planter but he will then face the challenge of building a Mandarin speaking team.
Here are some of the areas that are in need of critical development for any denomination serious about multicultural ministry:
1. Providing support to the pastors and leaders of your NESB congregations and helping them in their ministries.
2. Ensuring that your NESB congregations are in good relations with the rest of the denomination. While a measure of independence is essential, effective ministry is impeded when conflicts arise.
3. Providing consultancy to existing denominational churches to help them work out how to establish and/or develop effective ministries across cultures.
4. Training clergy and laity for ministry across cultures.
5. Producing written and audio-visual resources to facilitate ministry across cultures.
6. Promoting the importance of this ministry and making sure it is not treated as a minor special interest area.
7. Developing structures for thorough demographic analysis and strategic planning.
8. Facilitating church plants in defined geographical areas (e.g. Fairfield, Canterbury) or among people groups that are unreached or inadequately being ministered to.
9. Initiating and/or developing specialised ministries, e.g. English conversation classes, ministries to refugees and international students.
10. Developing appropriate denominational structures to facilitate multicultural ministry.
This is not a job description for one person but for a team of people or even teams of people. The major challenge is to build and train teams of workers to address these areas.
But there is another issue involved here. To be effective in multicultural ministry we need to develop appropriate church models and we then need to act wisely to ensure they work well.
You’ve no doubt heard of the man who had lived in the city all his life and who inherited a farm property. He got permission to remove a band of trees. He went into the local hardware store and asked what he should use to do this. The hardware store owner recommended a chain saw. The man bought the chain saw and headed off. The next day he came back with the chain saw. “I have to return this”, he said. “It’s useless”. I worked with this saw for 12 hours yesterday and only managed to bring down one tree. The hardware storeowner took hold of the chain saw and then he pulled the cord. Jerking his head up the man asked, “What’s that noise?”
It’s one thing to identify the right model. It is another to make it work well. Hurstville Indonesian Presbyterian Church is keen to develop an international or multiethnic model. At present we have lots of Mandarin speaking migrants flooding into Australia. We need Mandarin speaking churches to reach them. A host congregation might share its facilities with one or more NESB churches in various ways. This might amount to no more than a landlord-tenant relationship. But sometimes it involves more substantial relationships, for example, forming a single church community in which all of the pastors form one ministry team. I came across a church in Melbourne recently which has been successfully using a bilingual church service model, using both English and Japanese. There are many different models. But whatever model might be chosen wisdom is needed to ensure it operates well.
Time and again the key to the effective working of a church model hinges on the relationship between the leaders concerned. For example, if the the Anglo pastor of a host denominational church and the pastor of a guest NESB church have a strong friendship then this will permeate both churches and result in positive relationships between the two churches. But if the relationship is merely superficial then you can bet that this is how the relationship between the churches will also be.
Let me summarise the key things I’ve been saying:
1. Make sure you have a gospel-driven heart. Meditate on, modify and apply to your own ministry situation those 10 ministry principles or core values that make up the Serampore Covenant.
2. Plan for ministry across cultures. Don’t just nod your head. There are too many gospel trains which terminate at the station of Goodwill. Remember, gospel ministry left to itself will only travel a short cultural distance. So develop personal plans for ministry across cultures and lead your church to develop plans for this ministry.
3. Develop generous gospel attitudes in your dealings with people from other cultures. This involves consciously resisting ethnocentrism and its dogged follower, racism. While sticking to gospel truth with super glue, never demonise what people believe. Always treat people and what they believe with great respect and graciousness. Learn to discriminate between individual behaviour and cultural behaviour recognising that if behaviour is cultural then it is almost always, with very few exceptions, an expression of positive underlying values. Make sure you have a good understanding of cultural dynamics and cultural difference.
4. Build a team to help you reach out across cultures. Here, expect that fellow Christians, rather than the people you are trying to reach, are likely to present greater obstacles to this ministry. When you encounter this be all the more determined to build an effective team. The job is simply too great for any one person.
5. Identify the most appropriate church model for your church to use and especially ensure that strong relationships are built between leaders.
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