[1 John Series 6] Love in an Age of Outrageনমুনা

A love with hands and feet

Our world is tremendously diverse. All the different nationalities have their own way of expressing themselves even while doing the same things. You can find these differences even in the same city or community nowadays. How can we go about reaching people of different nationalities? From the experience of many who have gone to the field before us, there are a couple of tips we can put to good use.

Do what is important for the culture to reach its people. A morning brunch? A late evening meeting with cake? No food? Lots of food? 

Go to where they are, to where they live. Jesus came to us. Now it is our turn to go. Many would rather wait for them to come to where we are, but the wisest move is to go where they are. Where does the community love to gather? Are there places we should avoid?

Invite the people who would need to be there or who would be interested in learning something new or could use some help. Invite everybody. Don’t forget homeless people. Like it says in the Scriptures, invite everybody to the banquet; do unto the least what you would do unto the Lord; go and save the lost. Invite whoever wants to come.

Dress like they would dress. Get good advice from the locals and don an outfit they would identify with. This way you may avoid being the center of the attention, or at least soften the difference your appearance may strike. Like our Lord, show understanding and concern for ordinary people. And then just pour into their lives. Nothing gets better than that; it is awesome.

Try to get into their world. Ask them questions. Talk about topics you may have in common. Ask them how much they know about your culture. 

Enjoy their company have a great time and just love them. Just sit and eat with them. Do you know who will receive the biggest blessing? You and your team. 

Praise the Lord in their language.

Share the Gospel as clear as you can present it.

Show love to all the community with a simple service that may benefit everybody and not only those you are ministering to, like shoveling the snow off the sidewalks. You never know where that could take you or who might be touched because you are doing something for all the community. 

We get to be a part of it!