Following His lead

God's plan for cross-cultural relationships

Our first week in FCM, Edson Suzuki came to speak to us about God's plan for cross-cultural relationships. Suzuki is a linguist, Japanese by ancestry, raised in Brasil, and has a heart for the indigenous tribes in Brasil. Suzuki also adopted Hakani, a child who barely escaped infantacide. I wrote about Hakani in my blog here
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In John 1:1, we know that God created man and communicates with man through the word. We bring our thoughts to existence through words. and God reveals His intents through his words. Jesus is the Word who became flesh, visible and tangible. In Gen 1:27 and Gen 2:20  we see that God created man in his own image, in the image of God. Thus we can live in eternity. Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, thus God gave man Complete  knowledge. Gen 11:1 says “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” We had Adam’s language and Complete  knowledge. We are equal to God which was God’s intent in the beginning.  But sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and the Israelites found a plain in Shinar and decided to settle there where they wanted to build a city and make a name for themselves. Their intent was not to be scattered over the face of the earth, but become one powerful people without God. This was the establishment of Babel, and in Gen 11:6  the people become one, had one language and said nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. But in Gen 11:7  God came down on them, and confounded their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth. This was how God allowed Knowledge to be divided amongst the nations. Thus the analogy was a large puzzle but the pieces where scattered all over the earth. Each one with it’s own language and own culture.  This is how the cultures of the world were created.
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Cross-Cultural relationship 
The nations are divided with different languages and different cultures, but marvelously has relationships with God’s plan in mind. According to Edson Suzuki, our speaker and linguist, He gives linguistic evidence of God’s intricate design. ¨The nature of the difference between the languages is complementary , instead of contrastive. He gives examples of how languages complement each other (which derives from cultural believes as well) like verbal tense vs. verbal aspects in different languages. Direction of the action Vs. purpose of the action in different languages and cultures.  But God is faithful to us, and He gives us a covenant that He will unite the cultures and languages and nations again. In Gen 12, God gives his promise to Abram ¨Leave your country…¨I will make you into a great nation… ¨I will make your name great, ¨…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
The start of God’s restoration of the Nations becoming one again reveals itself in Acts 2.  ¨And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  This incident leads into the great commission in Acts 1:8 and Matth 28:19 where we go out to the Nations. The complementary characteristics of God’s languages and cultures, when we go preach the Gospel, (which we go and live and learn new languages and cultures) bring us closer to God’s original design of Man.  in Eph 3:10 it says  ¨To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” When we go out to the Nations, and spread the Gospel, to become one again, Then the manifold wisdom of God  will be revealed thus the Complete knowledge will be restored.

Ministering to others in cross-cultural contexts.
My most important concept to take away from the speakers is the triangle concept  form on top, and meaning at the bottom. Although the form may be different (the way of praying healing over another, the way of worship, the clothes, the way to say hello), the meaning may be the same (healing, lifting God up, sharing God’s love). We need the Holy Spirit to discern what the form is and apply the meaning. Also we need an attitude of humbleness, and willingness to learn and develop the whole picture God intended us to be, by fitting the cultural pieces of other cultures together. To do this, we need the Holy Spirit to humble ourselves, and have the discipline to learn with a heart of servitude, and not a heart of teaching.

The perfect model for cross-cultural application is Jesus. He transcended all cultures but was able to connect and relate to all cultures
To Posterous, Love Metalab