Crossing Cultural Barriers
A
T THE 2008 GENERAL ASSEMBLY, I felt impressed of the diversity is a must. Jesus is not just the Messiah and Savior of black
Lord to lead the Church of God in three key initiatives: folks, white folks, Hispanic folks, or Asian folks; He is the Savior to all
Prayer, The Great Commission, and A Quest for Trust. A key who call upon His name. If we are going to lift the downtrodden and
component of fulfilling the Great Commission is the need emancipate the lost, we must be willing to cross cultural barriers.
to analyze and evaluate our effectiveness in reaching oth- Just what are the barriers? The barriers are those things that
ers across cultural barriers. The demographics of a local church ide- impede and separate individuals, countries, churches, marriages,
ally should reflect the ethnicity of its community. schools, and governments. These barriers are often economic, racial,
Luke 4 tells that Jesus was handed the scroll of the Book of Isa- religious, environmental, linguistic, political, or social in nature.
iah. When He opened it, He read the following passage: “The Spir- Not only must we cross the barriers mentioned above, but we
it of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach must also cross the barriers in our own thinking. Acts 10 reveals
the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, that Peter had a problem fellowshipping with Gentiles. God ele-
to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the vated his thinking by teaching him that He had created all people.
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the Acts 8 teaches that Philip crossed racial and spiritual barriers to
acceptable year of the Lord” (vv.18-19, NKJV). teach and baptize the Ethiopian eunuch. We must do the same.
We must examine ourselves and
Scripture Teaches a
remove any hint of judgment of others
Cross-Cultural Gospel
Notice that this Scripture empha-
For Christians, cultural diversity
based on color, race, gender, or social
status. In Matthew 7:4, Jesus teaches us,
sizes Jesus’ ministry to the needs of oth-
is a must. Jesus is not just the
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let
ers and makes no reference to the dif- me remove the speck from your eye’;
ferences in individuals’ culture, color,
Messiah and Savior of black
and look, a plank is in your own eye?”
race, or creed. (NKJV).
To effectively advance the kingdom of
folks, white folks, Hispanic folks,
The Gospel transcends all cultural
God on earth, cultural barriers must be barriers. We have been commissioned
crossed. Racial profiling continues to be or Asian folks; He is the Savior to cross all barriers and tell men and
practiced in our society and, unfortunate-
ly, also in the church. There exists a huge
to all who call upon His name.
women that we serve a God who can
comfort lonely hearts, who can remove
but traversable gap between blacks and
whites, whites and Hispanics, and others
If we are going to lift the
difficult hindrances, who can change
adverse circumstances, who can par-
within the structure of our communities.
downtrodden and emancipate
don disappointing failures, who can
Prejudice and racism continue to rear open blinded eyes, who can move
their ugly heads, holding hostage those
the lost, we must be willing to
mighty mountains, and who can lift up
who are in need, as well as those who can heads that are bowed down. This is the
supply the need. For Christians, cultural cross cultural barriers. good news of the Gospel!
6 EVANGEL • FEB 2009
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