THE SALVATION ARMY

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SPIRITUAL NEEDS PRE-EMINENT
Our cultural differences must always be
subservient to the spiritual needs of others.
Although every cultural taboo forbade Jesus from
the route He took, for some reason He chose to
use the road through enemy territory. The
question is why? Jesus had a job to do and
somehow He knew that there was a community that
needed Him spiritual needs overrode the
tradition of His culture.
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COMMON GROUND
Cultural differences must not be allowed to
dictate spiritual responsibility.
The first step in cross-cultural ministry is
obvious, yet so often ignored go to them.
Jesus met her in her home in her comfort zone.
He didnt wait for her to come onto His
turf. Jesus found and used the common ground.
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CULTURE SHOCK
Cultural differences must be subservient to
spiritual needs
Jesus didnt let culture stand in the way, He
knew He couldnt minister to the woman until He
was first able to communicate with her across the
cultural divide.   Jesus example cultural
differences are an insufficient excuse when it
comes to Gods work. Our cultural differences are
all part of the amazingly beautiful mosaic of
Gods creation but God never intended for this
variety to be an excuse for us to say its too
difficult to make myself understood and not
attempt to share Gods news.
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CULTURE CONTROLS
Cultural differences must be subservient to
spiritual truth
When the woman named God and made God a cultural
issue, Jesus immediately pointed out her error
(vs 21-22) She had made God subservient to what
her cultural tradition had taught her.
When culture comes into conflict with what God
has said in Gods word, culture is wrong and must
be rejected. Culture, no matter how precious, is
invalid when it gives wrong information about God.
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CROSS-CULTURAL CONFLICT
Cultural differences must be subservient to
spiritual outreach
Racial tensions and cultural divisions are often
fuelled by selfishness as we attempt to protect
what we feel are our rights and shield ourselves
from confrontation with the unfamiliar.
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THE BOTTOM LINE
We must not allow our cultural baggage stand in
the way of discovering contextually relevant ways
of communicating spiritual truth, meeting
spiritual and physical needs and reaching
across the cultural divides. It is only in this
way that we can hope to grow the family of God.
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PRAYER
God grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change, The courage to
change the things I can, And the wisdom to know
the difference. Serenity Prayer