1 Corinthians 9:15-23 (Every Christian Should Try To Be Cross Cultural)
The other day pastor mentioned that every person involved in church efforts is doing so voluntarily. His point was, even the paid staff have the option to go somewhere else or get a different job. That may be true, but Paul says that Christians are under a compulsion to tell people the truth. Think about it. If you new that everyone you knew and met was headed for a completely avoidable disaster, what kind of monster would you have to be to not warn people? If you truly believe the message of the Gospel, how can you not tell people?
Paul goes so far as to say that we should do whatever we can to spread the word. We need to reach people wherever they are. We need to infiltrate every culture simply to have a chance to tell people what we know. This is not just a call for a few “super-Christians.” Paul calls on all his readers to do what he is doing.
This is what cross-cultural ministers do as a specialty. They go to a culture that is not their own and try to become a part of that culture. This is also what all Christians should be doing, even those not “called” to cross-cultural ministry. There is still a need to reach people of your own culture.
Of course, for many Christians, there is an implicit need to be cross-cultural. The culture of most non-Christians anywhere in the world is completely foreign to that of Evangelical-Bible-Belt-Christianity. So there is at least one cultural line that needs to be crossed. Unless--of course—you are trying to reach the lost people inside that Evangelical-Bible-Belt-Christian culture. There are a lot of people there who need to hear the Gospel too.
Paul goes so far as to say that we should do whatever we can to spread the word. We need to reach people wherever they are. We need to infiltrate every culture simply to have a chance to tell people what we know. This is not just a call for a few “super-Christians.” Paul calls on all his readers to do what he is doing.
This is what cross-cultural ministers do as a specialty. They go to a culture that is not their own and try to become a part of that culture. This is also what all Christians should be doing, even those not “called” to cross-cultural ministry. There is still a need to reach people of your own culture.
Of course, for many Christians, there is an implicit need to be cross-cultural. The culture of most non-Christians anywhere in the world is completely foreign to that of Evangelical-Bible-Belt-Christianity. So there is at least one cultural line that needs to be crossed. Unless--of course—you are trying to reach the lost people inside that Evangelical-Bible-Belt-Christian culture. There are a lot of people there who need to hear the Gospel too.
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