CROSS-CULTURAL EVANGELIZATION

“I, Paul, ambassador of Christ and now a prisoner for Him, appeal to you for my child, whom I have begotten during my imprisonment.” –Philemon 9-10

Paul led Onesimus, a runaway slave and fellow prisoner, to the Lord (Phlm 10). Paul had also led Onesimus’ owner, Philemon, to the Lord (Phlm 19). Paul converted both slave and owner, both poor and rich. In his ministry of evangelization, Paul even did the unthinkable by converting both Jews and Gentiles.

Most people come to the Lord because of the witness of someone like them. It takes an amazing person to lead to the Lord people of different backgrounds. For example, most people who would identify with and have compassion for a runaway slave, don’t also relate to the slave-owner, or vice versa. It requires exceptional compassion to care about both the slave and the owner.

List the people you have been instrumental in leading to the Lord. If you observe significant differences in your converts’ ages, backgrounds, races, and economic status, then you have a love that covers a multitude of sins (1 Pt 4:8) and bridges the greatest gaps.

Evangelization is primarily a matter of deep love, and cross-cultural evangelization is a matter of even deeper love. May we love the lost more than we love ourselves. May we have a river of love so deep that it will cover not only those close and familiar to us, but also those far away and different from us.

PRAYER: Father, may Your love impel me (2 Cor 5:14) to break new ground in sharing my faith.
PROMISE: “A time will come when you will long to see one day of the Son of Man but will not see it.” –Lk 17:22
PRAISE: Pope St. Leo the Great wrote: “In spite of the many parts of [Christ’s] holy body, the Church subsists as an integral Whole.”