Have been reading quite a bit about cross-cultural ministry.
A statement that John Perkins made in his forward to John Hayes' book
Submerge has stuck with me. "Cross-cultural is where the war is and
that's where the violence comes from." He was thinking of national
cultures when he wrote that, but I was thinking "all cultures...everywhere...even
the church." The church is multi-cultural by design. And
challenges to unity come along predictable fault lines.
Can those who are committed to evangelism get along with those
who are committed to discipleship?
Can those who are of Apollos get along with those who are of
Paul?
Can those who are emotional in their approach to God get along
with those who are intellectual in their approach?
Can those who are pioneers get along with those who are
settlers?
There
are perhaps a thousand of these cultural distinctives that can be found in the
body of Christ. One of the roles of a Christian leader is to help people
build bridges across these divides. Remember what Jesus said?
Blessed are the peacemakers. It is near and dear to God's heart to
help people put down the weapons (even if the weapon is a twitter account), and
get along.
