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Reply to Donna
In order to fulfil the Great Commission and reach the nations globally and locally, Christians need to understand that “each society looks at the world in its own way, and that way is encoded in its language and culture.”[1] This, of course, is a barrier to the gospel message because without advanced CQ knowledge, CQ strategy, and CQ action, resulting in excellent intercultural communication skills, it is difficult to share the Good News. According to noted missiologist, Paul Hiebert, besides the need to translate the message into a receiving people’s heart language, “the language that they think in, and understand best,”[2] cultural differences will also affect the gospel message in at least three ways. First, “new believers must learn how to deal with their old cultural ways.”[3] Second, “forms of worship and leadership styles must be adapted to fit the local cultural practices.[4]” Third, new believers “must develop a theology in which Scripture speaks to them in their particular historical and cultural settings.”[5] Those bringing the gospel must be able to relate to the receiving culture and help the new believers in the Christian journey towards transformation.
Though there are limitless “different” worldviews that must be addressed if Christians are to communicate the gospel interculturally, it is important to also understand there is a biblical worldview that transcends ethnicities and cultures. The church “should be able to identify the major non-Christian worldviews that vie for dominance in our society, to understand where they fundamentally differ from the Christian worldview, and to make a well-reasoned case that the Christian [biblical] worldview alone is true, good, and beautiful.”[6] So with a biblical worldview, the Christian can respectfully identify the target worldview and, with wisdom from the Lord, help the unbeliever find hope and eternal life in Christ. In striving to fulfill the Great Commission, however, we must avoid our own ethnocentrism. It is natural to look at the world from our own perspective, but any basis of evaluation of our own or another’s culture can only be “biblical norms.”[7]
In conclusion, effective employment of CQ will allow us to understand the new culture, communicate the correct message, in the correct context, with the correct strategy, and with the correct emphasis. If the message is wrong, there is no hope. If the context is wrong, the message may not be received. For example, Christianity could be perceived as a “western religion”. if the strategy is wrong the message may again not be received because the imperative of the gospel may not be understood. Finally, if the emphasis is wrong, the truth of the gospel may be shrouded in misunderstanding. For example, westerners must not emphasize worship style over the truth of salvation and no missionaries should insist on the scriptures being read in a certain language, or the power of the word may be inaccessible. Effective intercultural communication, informed by cultural intelligence, built on the foundation of scripture will provide the means of bringing the gospel to the nations and making disciples – whether in our neighborhood or at the ends of the earth.
[1] , Paul G. Hiebert, “Cultural Differences and the Communication of the Gospel” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 3rd ed., edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1999), 380.
[2] Steve and Mindy Clover, “What is a Heart Language Anyway,” The Clover Blog, accessed August 21, 2018, http://clovermission.blogspot.com/2015/09/what-is-heart-language-anyway.html.
[3] Hiebert, “Cultural Differences”, 381.
[4] Ibid, 381.
[5] Ibid, 381.
[6] James Anderson, “What is a Worldview,” Ligonier Ministries, June 21, 2017, accessed August 21, 2018, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-worldview/
[7] Hiebert, “Cultural Differences”, 379.
