different…but the same

Last weekend I went on a Missions Interlink Short Term (MIST) training weekend, which included all sorts of stuff about cross-cultural ministry. The main message, I think, was that it’s hard! That didn’t come as that much of a shock, though a few things on the weekend really made me think.

One ‘penny dropping’ moment was during the ‘Know and tell the Gospel’ session. The presenter asked us to write down the basic elements of the Gospel as we’d explain it given the chance, so I wrote ‘creator God, rightful ruler, rebellion, punishment deserved, Jesus takes our guilt…etc’. Through that our cultural orientation to innocence/guilt thinking was highlighted, and contrasted with the way other cultural worldviews. For example, some cultures really work on a pride/shame basis – maybe Japanese and Middle Eastern cultures – and others on power/fear thinking – maybe some Asian and African cultures.

I probably should have known that already, but it really helped me understand why different people react to different parts of the gospel so strongly. I while a ago I blogged about sharing the story of the prodigal son and his forgiving father with some Chinese people. They were amazed that the wronged, dignified father RAN to the son, which shows their pride/shame orientation.

So I guess the thing is the gospel doesn’t change, but it’s amazing that God uses different parts of it to speak to different people groups. Worth thinking about more…