Have you ever wondered how culture impacts the way people receive the gospel? If you’ve ever evangelized in a foreign country, you’ve most likely encountered some kind of cultural barrier as you share the gospel cross-culturally. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about how evangelists can become culturally sensitive in order to share the gospel more effectively in these cross-cultural settings.
Transcript:
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:00):
Have you ever wondered how culture impacts the way people receive the gospel? If you’ve ever evangelized in a foreign country, you’ve most likely encountered some kind of cultural barrier as you share the gospel cross-culturally. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about how evangelists can become culturally sensitive in order to share the gospel more effectively in these cross-cultural settings.
Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:34):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now, here’s your host, missionary, and evangelist Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:58):
I was ministering in, in Pakistan, and I didn’t have a pulpit, so I, I, I read a verse from the Bible, and, and then I, after I finished reading the verse from the Bible, I just set the Bible down on the, the platform behind me. And it actually was extremely offensive to a lot of people, because to them, it’s a holy book. And if you take the Holy Book and you put it on the ground somewhere where you could step on it, ac even accidentally, you step on it, that would be a great insult. And so they came to me and they said, brother, we must get you a pulpit so you can put the Bible in the proper place. And so you have to be really sensitive. I, I remember another time I was ministering down in Costa Rica, and this was when I was a teenager.
(01:53):
We went down there on a, a, a missions trip. And I was doing a drama. And in the drama, I wanted all the kids to yell. So I got all the kids yelling, and he’s like, yeah, yell louder, yell louder. And then after I got everyone yelling, I gave them the, the okay sign. Like, okay, good job. And, and everyone fell into horrified silence. And, and I, I couldn’t figure out, like, you know, in America, if you’d go, okay, I mean, that’s a good thing. But down there they said, oh, don’t use that sign. It means you’re, you’re homosexual. And, and, and so I was like, oh, I, okay. I won’t use that sign anymore. You know? So you have to be careful sometimes ministering cross-culturally. And another time I was in the nation of, of, of Pakistan.
(02:41):
And right before I went up on the platform, I was at this, this big conference of pastors called the, the Alco Convention. It was started back in 1905 by John Hyde, praying Hyde. And it’s been going every single year, ever since 1905. And they invited me to speak to all, all these pastors. And right before I went on the platform the a committee, four or five of the, the, the pastors came to me. And very seriously, they said, brother when you’re preaching there’s something very important that we must ask you to do. I said, well, what, you know, what do you want me to do? They said, please do not say that Jesus is a dog.
(03:31):
And I said, you know, I was not planning on saying that I can agree with you. I will not say that Jesus was a doc. So I get up, I preach a good sermon, and afterwards I went down. I asked one of the pastors, I said, why were they so serious when they told me that? Why did they ask me that? I said, oh, brother. They said, last year we invited a special guest speaker from the United States. And he tried to tell a joke. Now, now, this is the joke that he told. It was, it is not even a very funny joke, but he was trying to open up, and it was about this, this this parrot and that lived in a house and a robber broke into the house, and the parrot started to speak to the robber and said, Jesus is watching you.
(04:27):
Jesus is watching you. Jesus is watching you. And the robber said, oh, what is that parrot know? And he just kept robbing the house. Well, out of the back corner comes this doberman pincher comes up and grabs him. And, and when the police come and, and arrest him and get him out of the jaws of the dog, they petted the dog and said, good boy. And, and they said, the dog’s name is Jesus. And, and when he would say, Jesus is watching you, the dog’s name was Jesus. Well, he just, he told that story. And in Pakistan, it, calling someone a dog is extremely offensive. And so it’s just a casual story. It’s not even very funny, but it’s a typical story that an American pastor might say, in order to break the ice. Well, they took that pastor off the platform after he said that, and they said, you’re not allowed to speak here anymore.
(05:25):
We’re gonna tell all the churches in Pakistan that you’re not allowed to speak. You have insulted Jesus. You have insulted his name, and, and they wouldn’t let him speak. So he, he went all the way to Pakistan, and because he didn’t know the seriousness of different cross-cultural communication. So, so we have to be sensitive when it comes to culture, and we have to work hard not to insult people when we’re ministering cross-culturally. And sometimes it’s, it’s just innocent mistakes. Like, I had one friend who came with me on, on a mission strip, and, and this is what he would do. He would go and he would shake the people’s hands. So he’d shake their hand, and then as soon as he got done, shaking them hand, he’d reach in his pocket and pull out a thing of, of hand sanitizer.
(06:11):
And he’d do this, and then he’d shake the next person’s hand, and then he would do another squirt. And he did this. And then he’d pray for someone, put his hand on someone and pray for them, and then out would come the thing. And you know, he was just trying to get rid of all the germs. But, you know, it came across as just a little bit offensive. The way that he was, was, was doing it. One time, my, my wife was, she was a, a crusade director helping an evangelist to set up crusades before we, we met and, and got married. And so one time she was trying to decorate the platform a little bit, and she had an idea, we’re gonna put the flag of the country on the front of the platform. And she accidentally, she didn’t know she did it, but she accidentally put the flag upside down on the, the front of the, the, the podium.
(07:04):
And she got in big trouble for it. All the pastors came to her and says you have disrespected our flag <laugh>. And then I remember one time I, I was down in the, the, the nation of, of Haiti, and, and we were doing a crusade, and, and we always ask our crusade directors for receipts because we are accountable to the government and to our partners for, for all the money that we spend. And so I would ask the crusade director for the receipts, and he ended up being very offended that I was always asking for receipts. You know, he, I, he’d go to the store and, and get some tape, and we came back and say, could you gimme a receipt? Well, it was just me trying to be accountable. But he felt like it was very offensive because he felt like I, I didn’t trust him with money.
(07:58):
And so every time I was asking him for a receipt, he felt like I was saying, I don’t trust you. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it was hurting the relationship. And so I had to sit down with him and ex explain to him something from our culture that at least in American culture, because of the rules that we have in the United States, we have to count for our money. And, and so I was trying to impose my culture, and in his culture, he felt like it was offensive. And so I had to explain, he’s like, no, brother, I trust you. I believe in you. You are a man of God. And I know that you would not cheat me. You would not lie. You would not try to steal money from me. I know that brother, because you are a man of God. But for my sake, with my government, I have to ask for receipts so that I can show that I also am a man of integrity to those.
(08:58):
And so, after I explained it to him and explained my culture and the reason why our culture requires different recording mechanisms for, for our money and stuff then there was no problem. Then he understood I wasn’t doing it because I didn’t trust him. I was doing it because I wanted to, to show that I was walking in integrity. And so, people from other cultures are completely different. We think that deep down, everyone is just like us, but that’s not really the case. Culture is all pervasive culture. It mayeth the man. And so every different culture has a different philosophical outlook, different moral standards, different social rules and behaviors, how you are supposed to interact with one another, and different cultures have different taboos. And so we are called to change people spiritually, but we’re not called to change people culturally. In fact, I think every culture has a piece of divinity in it.
(10:13):
Amen. Because in the beginning of time, God created man, God created all the different cultures, and you know, every different culture has a nugget of God’s character and God’s best in it. And, and different cultures have different standards, different things that they feel are are important. So like here in America, we have a different sense of time than people in other cultures do sometimes. Here in America, we usually will give people grace if they’re five minutes late. You know, we, we’d say, you should be five to 10 minutes early, but if someone’s five minutes late to meet you for coffee, we’re, we’re not offended. You know? That’s okay. There’s probably traffic, you know? And so in, in our culture, five minutes is not that big a deal. I grew up a lot in, in Mexico and in Central and South America, and I found that in those countries it’s fairly typical for people to be 30 minutes to an hour late.
(11:20):
And it’s just normal. You know, you say we’re starting the service at six o’clock, and they know that the, the music will start at six 30 and everyone will get there at seven. That’s just, that’s just how it works. In, in Hispanic countries, they just, and, and so they just have a, and it is not wrong, but I went to Germany one time and they said that the train left at 6 0 3 <laugh>, and if you are not on the train at 6 0 3, you’re gonna miss the train in Germany. It is to the second. I mean, it is, when it turns 6 0 3, that train is pulling out of the station. And so then, but then I went to an African country, and in this one particular country, it was like five hours after the service was supposed to start that people showed up. And I said, you know, we were supposed to start a long time ago.
(12:21):
Like, oh, brother, there was a lot of traffic. I was like, I know, but it’s like five hours, you know? But then we would have church, you know, for five hours for another five or six hours. Where here in America, nowadays churches are like an hour and 12 minutes, and then everyone gets dismissed, you know? And, and so different cultures have a different way of looking at things. And, and there’s nothing wrong or right about any particular culture. We, we find that we like our culture more than we like you know, sometimes, but, you know, we’re not trying to change people culturally. We are trying to bring Jesus to people. Hmm. Right? And, and so like the first missionaries that went to Hawaii, they, they were from New England where it was cold in the wintertime, and they would wear wool jackets and hats and stuff.
(13:23):
And they got to Hawaii and they continued to wear wool jackets and hats cuz that’s what everyone wore back where they were from. And all of the Hawaiians just looked at them and said, you guys are silly. You know, it is hot out here. We’re down at the beach. Why are you wearing a wool jacket? So sometimes we, we bring our cultural misconceptions with us when we go to the mission field. And so western culture is not Christianity. Jesus came from the Middle East, and sometimes our culture can actually be a hindrance. But what Jesus does is he cuts through all racial, political, and cultural differences. And so your job as a missionary is not to turn people into you. Your, your job is to make people look like Jesus. Amen. Right? Hmm. Yes. And we have to be sensitive to different cultures. When your, your, your min ministering to people, so, you know, the sermon illustrations that you typically use in the United States would be different than the sermon illustrations that you’re going to use in Africa.
(14:36):
Like here in the United States, I’ve heard pastors give illustrations about popular movies or popular shows that they’ve seen on Netflix. You know, well, in Africa, sometimes a lot of the people don’t even have a tv. They’ve never gone to the cinema to to watch a movie. You some countries, they’ve never eaten a pizza. Can you imagine that? You never, you never had a pizza in your whole life. And so if you’re giving an illustration about eating a pizza, that’s something that someone here would understand that illustration, but would be very different overseas. One time I was in India and I was ministering with a friend and he, he was, he was ministering and he gave an illustration. He, and th this was the illustration. He says, you know, one day I was, I was driving my car and I ran out of gas and I didn’t have any money for gas.
(15:34):
And he says, and I was praying to say, God, you know, what am I gonna do? And he says, then I looked in my wallet and in the back of my wallet, I forgot it was there, I had a, I tucked a a hundred dollars bill. And so I pulled out that, that a hundred dollars bill and I was able to buy gas. And so his point was that God provides for you even when you, you, you don’t know if you’re gonna need it. And so that’s a, that’s a great illustration. It was illustrating the point, but the problem was that not a single pastor at that pastor’s conference had a car. And, and so you’re talking about a car, and to them they’re saying, wow, look at your amazing wealth.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Right?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:15):
And then none of them had ever held a hundred dollars bill in their hands. In fact, the typical salary over there would be about a dollar a day. So, you know, you’re talking about a huge amount of money that he just accidentally misplaced in the back of his wallet, <laugh>. And so they didn’t understand the illustration the way that he intended for it to be understood. Hmm. And so, people in Africa, they’ve never heard of baseball or American football. You know, if you go to, in India or Pakistan, the thing that you wanna talk about is cricket
(17:05):
instead of American football, they, you know, they, they kick the ball When they play football, they don’t throw the ball. Here in America, we throw the ball when you play football, which is strange cuz the rest of the world calls it football. And so some cultures
(17:27):
like in, in Ukraine, if you say something twice, like here in America, preachers will say something twice you know, God is a good God. And everyone says, hallelujah. And they say, God is a good God. Hallelujah. God is a good God. Well, in Ukraine, if you say something twice, they look at you, Hey, do you think I’m stupid? I heard you the first time. Why are you saying it twice? Hmm. So we come to serve people. We come not as ambassadors of our culture. We come as ambassadors of Jesus. Good. And we go to people, we say, Jesus told me to come to preach the gospel to you. And I hope someday that God will open up the door for you to come to my country and to preach the gospel to us. We don’t go as the savior. He’s the Savior. We bring the Savior with us.
(18:34):
We’re not trying to come to, to rescue their culture or to, to fix people. We go to point people to Jesus. Another difference between the United States and sometimes Africa is that, that here in the United States, we have very individualistic thinking. And so an individual will make a decision for him himself. And so, e even when we get saved, it’s a personal decision. Would you make a personal decision today to choose to follow Jesus? Whereas in some countries in Africa, there’s much more of a, a corporate mentality where they make a decision to, it’s not just the one person getting saved, it would be the whole family or the whole village deciding to follow Jesus. And, and it would actually be very offensive sometimes if you go and you try to get a, a wife saved a and the husband is opposed to that, and it would be considered disrespectful that you would be talking to her instead of talking to the, the head of the household.
(19:49):
Because first you show respect and you explain the gospel message to the, to the head of the household. And then after he decides, yes, we’re our family is going to serve Jesus, then he turns to his wife and says, we’re, we’re the whole family, us the kids, aunts, uncles, the entire family is going to, to come to Jesus. Man, I was just recently in the, the nation of, of Mongolia. And we did a, we did a crusade in the ancient capital of Ganges Khan from, at one time Ganges Khan had conquered all of Asia from this place. And he had one fourth of the world’s population under his control. And now the population there has dwindled. And they only have about 14,000 people in that village, about 4,000 homes. And, and so we took a team, and it’s mostly Buddhists there. We had a hundred Christians with us that came from 12 different countries, less than a hundred Christians in the city.
(20:56):
And so we took our team, joined together with the, the local Christians, and, and went door to door throughout the entire community handing out bibles and giving people a, a gospel of mark. And so they live in these little huts that are covered with fur that are good at keeping in the heat during the winter months. And we’re going door to door knocking on the doors and that they would invite us to come into their, their little hut, and we would tell them why we were there. And, and many of them were, were very hospitable and, and would give us tea. And the traditional drink of Mongolia is fermented horse milk. And so they’d bring this big bowl of warm fermented horse melt. And the pastor gave me and said, this is the traditional drink of my country. And, and, and so I, I tasted it and it tasted like really sour yogurt, like, like unsweetened yogurt, really sour, unsweetened yogurt.
(22:04):
And so I, I tasted it. And you know, their, their idea of a good time on a cold winter night is to sit around the fireplace and everyone tells stories to one another and passes around the big bowl of fermented horse milk. And so I drank the traditional drink of his people, and then I said, brother, I want you to drink the traditional drink of my people. And I brought out a bottle of Coca-Cola and gave him a bottle of Coca-Cola. And, and so we went and, and we visited the household. And so, so in, in cases like that, where you have an opportunity to, to go into someone’s house and you’re, you’re offering to pray for them and to talk to them about Jesus and to, to give them a Bible, you know, if they give you something to drink, it’s appropriate to go ahead and, and take a drink.
(22:52):
If they give you something to eat, it’s appropriate to go ahead and eat. Sometimes you don’t know what it is, but praise God, you say, God bless this food, and I pray that all sickness will stay far away from my body in Jesus’ name. And, and you eat it because that’s what is, is culturally appropriate to do. And you wouldn’t do anything to, to offend them. And usually people are, are very forgiving. Even if you learn just a few words in their language, and even if you mispronounce them, they will love you for trying. One of the things I do sometimes when I’m preaching is I’ll try to learn a few words in their language. And, and so I’ll, I’ll say God is good. And the the translator will say, and I’ll say, good. And the translator will say, went on. So I’ll repeat it in the local language.
(23:47):
And usually I completely mess up and everyone, everyone laughs and I say, the devil is bad. And then they’ll say bad in the local language. And I’ll try to, and I’ll try to say good and bad and good and bad. And, and I’ll, I’ll completely mangle their language and everyone will laugh at me. But it’s a great way to connect with them because I’m, I’m showing that I’m at least trying to learn something of their local language. I’m at least trying to, to relate to them. And even if I mess it up, they can laugh at me. It’s okay, it’s fine, as long as they wanna laugh at me. Just make sure when you’re preaching, never do anything that would show that you’re laughing at them. Right, right. Because if you start laughing at them, well, it’ll just close every door Yeah. To open up for, for you to share the gospel.
(24:47):
But if they can laugh at you, I, you know, I make fun of myself. One time I was in Africa and I, I went with a, an African-American pastor who is really big and very tall, and he’s very regal in the way that he walks. And, and so the, the church is over in Africa, just loved him because he would, he would walk in and so they gave him an African name, and the African name that they gave him, he says, what does that mean? They said, it means the king has returned. And so he walked in with this name, the king has returned, and I had this big backpack that I carried on my back. And it had my camera and all my, my, my bible, my laptop, everything in it. And so I was always carrying this big backpack. And so they gave me an African name and I said, what does my African name mean? And they said, your name means small man with big backpack.
(25:55):
One time, my, my wife Jessica, she, she lived for a year in Kenya, and all the different members of her team had babies named after them. And so one of her team members is, is named Scott. And so one day they brought a little baby boy and they said, we are naming this boy Scott. And they couldn’t even pronounce Scott, but there’s Scott, Scott. And so my wife was, she’s like, well, when are they gonna name a baby after me? They named babies after like two or three of the team members. And so one day finally they came to her and they were so excited and, and saying, and, and said, we named it Jessica. Jessica. And she’s like, oh, finally a baby has been named after me. And, and, and the pastor grabbed her by the hand and says, come and see, come and see Jessica. And, and she didn’t really totally understand, but grabbed her by the hand and she went out and out in front of his house, there was his brand new cow that he’s been saving up for. And he said, we’ve named a cow, Jessica. And so all her team members got named after babies, and she got a cow named Jessica, named after her.
(27:11):
Alright. So when we’re ministering to people overseas, the best thing that we can do is to show honor and respect to them, to, to show that we value them as people. We are all created in the image of God. And God does not create trash. You are valuable. You are made in God’s image. And I’ve found that if you will show that you value and respect people and try to learn their customs, try to be polite to them that you will open up doors. Even if you make a little mistake, do a a wrong hand gesture or say something wrong that would be offensive in their culture. As long as you’re showing respect and honor to them, it will smooth over many problems. One time I took a friend of mine with me down to Brazil, and he’s a children’s minister. His name is Mark.
(28:16):
And Mark’s a great guy, and he loves children. And so he just, he ministers like his foot is plugged into an electric socket and he’s just, he, you know, he, he’s excited, but he’s the type of guy who, who has very few filters. And so like, he’s always like, and so I took him with me to Brazil, and during the crusade he’s like, can I take all the kids to the back? And you, you’re ministering the adults in front all this, I, I’ll minister to them. And so he, he took all the kids and he had this big parachute type thing that he spread out on the ground as a tarp. And he had all the kids sit down and he was doing games with them and, and teaching them, telling them Bible stories. And, and I was like halfway through my message, and some someone came running up to me and, and they, they, there’s, they’re, they’re like, you know, talking about witchcraft and there’s witchcraft going on, like, what’s going on?
(29:09):
And, and, and so I, I handed the microphone to someone else, and I went back there and I found out that he was doing a teaching on, on Jesus, the lie of the world. And he brought some of those little candles with him, and he like, put them in a circle on the thing, and he’d lit all the candles. And they thought he was like putting curses on the kids because the witches down there, they actually do that type of thing. And so I’m like, mark, don’t do that. You know, blow out all the candles. And I’m like, don’t witchcraft, okay, you’re not allowed to do witchcraft at the crusade. You know? And he was just doing it as an illustration for the kids, and it was fun. But he didn’t have a, a cultural sensitivity to the, the, the, the, he didn’t know it wasn’t his fault.
(29:59):
But and then I took Mark with me again to Mongolia. And again, we, we were doing a, a children’s, he was, we had a children’s tent set up. We had a big tent for the adults and then a little tent for the kids. And, and so there were local children’s ministers that were, that dressed up as clowns. And they, they had a habit of, of ministering to the kids there, and they had a way of doing it. And the Mongolian people are very proud. They are warriors. They are the descendants of Genus Khan. And even the Christians, I would not wanna mess with them. I mean, they have a warrior spirit in them, and they are a very proud people. It’s very rare that they would invite someone in from the outside to come and minister there because they feel a, like, if they have to bring in, you know, a gift from the outside, that it’s because they’re lacking something in, in their, in, in themselves.
(31:00):
And, and so they’re very proud. So we were very honored to be invited and to, to, to be there. And, and so during the children’s service, you know, I, I told Mark, okay, I want you to sit down with their children’s minister, and you put together a plan, you know, you do some of your ministry, let them do some of their ministry and, and you know, put together a plan for how the whole service would go and share it. And there ended up being a fight between my children’s minister and their children’s ministers because my guy wanted to do it his way, and they had their way of doing it. And somehow they got offended and, and my guy got offended and we had to go. And it actually got to point where escalator, where we had to bring it to the, the leadership level where the pastors, and we had to sit down and I said, oh, I’m so sorry.
(32:00):
We didn’t know. We did not understand your culture. I’m so sorry that this has happened. As a leader, I, I take full responsibility for anything offensive that was said. That was not our intention. We just, we want to work together with you. And so we were able to, to smooth it over. But there was still a little bit of offense. And so kind of the way we smoothed it over is like their, their children’s ministers got one night and then my guy got one night, but we weren’t able to get them to, to work together because of, of the offense that had come, just because of a, a misunderstanding of that, that Asian culture, you know face very important in the Asian culture, you, you would not want to insult someone or to cause shame to come upon them. You know, so, you know, in front of people, I, I would always lift people up, always speak, encouraging words, you know I, I encourage people. All right. So those are some, some thoughts about culture. Let’s go ahead and open it up for questions and if you have any questions about culture or anything that I’ve said go ahead. We have a microphone here. You can come and, and ask your question right here at this microphone and I’ll do my best to answer any questions that you would have about culture.
(33:21):
Yeah, yeah. That’s how they told me we’re supposed to do it.
Evangelism Student #1 (33:27):
That’s right. I think
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:29):
In the c fan culture, that’s how
Evangelism Student #1 (33:31):
They
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:31):
Recording have instructed me to do it.
Evangelism Student #1 (33:34):
Yes. Regarding I just want to know, how do you prepare when you have to go in in a new country? How do you prepare just regarding the, the cultural aspect? Do you ask questions to the local leaders? Do you, do you have people from your team going there just to, to try to understand, do you watch movies? What, what are you,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:57):
What what country are you from?
Evangelism Student #1 (33:59):
Ivory. I’m native from Ivory Coast, but I live in Canada. I’ve been living in Canada over the last 20 years, so,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:03):
Okay. So are you can Canadian or Ivory Coast? I’m both. What is your culture?
Evangelism Student #1 (34:07):
I’m, IM bicultural actually. Okay. I’m I live half of my life in, in every coast. Mm-Hmm. And the overall half in Canada, so,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:15):
Okay. My, my wife is actually from Canada. Okay. Her family is Chinese. Okay. So both her mother and father are Chinese. Okay. And, and they were, her father was born over in Hong Kong. Mm-Hmm. Her mothers from a Chinese family. Okay. But they immigrated to Canada. And, and so she is Canadian, Canadian mostly by culture, but with some aspects of Chinese culture, just little that they got saved. And so when they got saved mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, a lot of the, the negative things in Chinese culture, they, they took out of their family, but she, they still, I mean, she still cooks me Chinese food, which is delicious. <Laugh>, you know, the
Evangelism Student #1 (34:57):
Food is always important.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:00):
So what, what what have you found is different between like, the culture in Ivory Coast and the
Evangelism Student #1 (35:05):
Culture? Oh, I found a lot actually.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:07):
Like, like what are some examples?
Evangelism Student #1 (35:08):
I remember like the, the Indi individualism is something like being in Canada was the first thing that struck me. I was so, so impacted that the people in Canada was, was most interested into the, the things coming from a coast. It’s like we, we care for others. We, we, we are very welcoming to people we don’t know. So basically it’s like, this is something I have to learn. For example, in in, in co devo in our coast, people are welcoming first, they’re very welcoming. Actually, like about 20% of the population comes from out of the country. So we are very used to having people coming from outside. So, and the first thing I, I have noticed like primarily in Covo in our coast, people are very welcoming, but it is very difficult to go deeper into things. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So you have to build trust. You start with like a basic level of, of trust, but then you have to go forward. In Canada, it’s like different people in, in, in Quebec in particular, because I don’t say Quebec is different from Canada. Sure. It has
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (36:29):
A diff Quebec is more French
Evangelism Student #1 (36:31):
In their culture. Exactly, exactly. And exactly. I live in Quebec. Yeah. So Quebec is different from other portion of Canada. In Quebec, you have first to build trust to, to to know people and then they trust you. There’s no basic level of trust that you have from the start. You have to find your place and build that, that trust. If you are in a context where you are friends, then it’s different. But before that you have to build your own, like your own, I don’t know how to say it. Your own relationship and Yeah. And go from there. Yeah. And this is one portion. And also I’ve noticed that, I’ve noticed in my own church also this what, what you are sharing, I have noticed this like fight over misunderstanding cultures. Yeah. And about time, for example, how, how do you bring people that have another understanding of time and the importance of time.
(37:38):
People are more focused on relationship than on rules. This is very like, it’s like a fight. You don’t, you don’t put this together. So in, in, in Canada, what I’ve noticed from my local church, for example, the, the pastor is very focused on principles. Time is important and you do this, but African are more focused on relationship. Yeah. You have to understand this different. I understand both. So because I, I’m coming from Africa, but I live in Canada, so I understand also the, the priority of time and rules and so on. But I also understand that also honoring people is extremely important. You don’t mess with that. If you, you, you, you misunderstand. This part is very difficult, different. And coming from Africa, I also understand that that portion, and I also understand the fact that you have to go to straight to the fact and don’t mess around with things that are not that important.
(38:35):
I live both culture inside of me. And the most important, which is for me is the culture of the kingdom. This is what is most the most important to me. Yeah. But for me, it’s like we are getting prepared to go preach, preach the gospel. I’m going back in Africa and different countries in Africa, hopefully, and I know the cultural shock, even coming from Africa, I still have to learn some things. Perhaps the, the, the, the gap is not as big as someone else, but I still have to get myself acquainted to different cultures, to different way of thinking. Because in Africa, in itself, from a country to another, it’s not the same, the same culture, you still have to learn. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (39:22):
Yeah. Even within a country, different tribes Exactly. Will have a completely different
Evangelism Student #1 (39:25):
Culture. Exactly. For example, in KVA we have 50 languages that are spoken just in Covo. So you cannot take for granted that, because I understand this way of thinking that it’s like the same everywhere. No, it’s not. And if you go with also local leaders and local officials, it’s not the same. Also, you have to, to understand that it’s a process that you have to learn. And for me my question was, was like regarding your experience
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (39:58):
Yeah.
Evangelism Student #1 (39:59):
How do you do to get yourself prepared? And how much did it take you to, you know, to be like more flexible regarding that cultural aspect?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (40:12):
Yeah. Well, I still make mistakes. Okay.
Evangelism Student #1 (40:15):
<Laugh>.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (40:16):
But I think
(40:19):
I showed you how I do it in this question. Yeah. You know, first of all, I love people from Ivory Coast. Yeah. You know, so I would start there that I love you. Yeah. I see that you are a man of God. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, and you have a passion for God. And so that gives us something common that, that we can, we can work with. And then I would look for anything that we would have in common. So, you know, my wife is from Canada, so I share that. Oh good. You are from Canada. That’s wonderful. So, you know, I’m looking for, I’m looking for things that we do have in common. Cuz every human has things in common, you know you know, I, I share stories about my son and my daughter. I find all over the world, people are proud of their sons and their daughters, you know?
(41:02):
So that gives us something, you know, I talk about my wife, everyone understands that because they have that, those types of relationships. So I look for things in common, then I ask questions and I listen mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And so I think your insight is extremely valuable, even for, for all of us. Because you do understand both cultures. Yes. The the culture that you came from and then your adopted culture in, in Canada. And you, you have an understanding. And, and, and so I think that I, I try to listen, I ask questions. I try to listen. Like before I go, I would do research on the country research on their religion. What religion they believe I would, I would look at different things. Just try to, to to prepare myself. Okay. But ask questions, listen, show, honor and respect the same things I’m doing with you now. Thank you. Yeah. Very good. Good question. Come on. Give him a great big hand. Wasn’t that? Yeah. Great insight.
Evangelism Student #2 (42:10):
Yeah. Hi. I’m from Germany and God just called us, like us as a family to be missionaries in the United States. Welcome and thank you. And it really came as a surprise because I, I thought God will send us to Asia or Africa. And then he talked about the United States, and I was like, okay, that’s easy. Like that’s a western country. But I talked to missionaries from Germany. They are they are living in the States, and they said it’s a different culture and we have to learn a new culture. And that surprised me. So, and I’m asking you so what could you give me any tips or what to be aware of when you are a German coming to the States and like what topics are, you know, you know what I mean? Like what is important to
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (42:59):
Know? How, how long have you been here?
Evangelism Student #2 (43:02):
So now I’m here since the end of December, but we are going to move here, I think in summer. Okay. So, yes, it’s very fresh. <Laugh>.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (43:10):
What, what what are some of the differences you’ve already noticed?
Evangelism Student #2 (43:14):
The people are very open and very friendly and very cool. And making friendships. And it’s different in Germany, like you’re building trust over a period of time and you’re not so open as a German. So yeah, that’s a big difference. I
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (43:31):
Think that’s true. Americans tend to be very friendly, but sometimes it’s a superficial Yes. Friendship. It’s very surface level. Like, Hey, I’m your friend, and then you, like they never call you or anything. Okay. <laugh>. And so that might be difficult to get used to. Yes. so I think that, that you can bring the good from the German culture, the the value of, of deep friendships. Yes. And, and, and build some deep friendships. But you’ll have to be intentional about building friendships with people. You’ll have to, to to work at it and realize that just superficial level of friendliness is it will be unsatisfying. You’ll think everyone is friendly, but no one is my friend. Yes. So to have true friends, you still have to work at it here in America. Yes.
Evangelism Student #2 (44:27):
Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. Yeah. So do you say, would you say it longer to really build real friendships like Sure. And to invest and
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:38):
So on? Sure. The, the only way to build a friendship is, is time. And Yes. Shared Yes. Shared experiences. Yes.
Evangelism Student #2 (44:47):
So thank you. Yeah. That’s good to know. <Laugh>. Thank
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:49):
You. I hope that you feel very welcome here. Yes. So we welcome you. America needs you. Yes. We need a revival. Bring Amen. Some fire from Germany. Yes, my sister. Hi
Evangelism Student #3 (45:03):
Everyone. My name is Annmarie and I’m from VOI and I have always had a problem. I’m a picky eater and I’m still working on it. So I guess this is going to be my problem. So my question is, what do you do when you go on a mission field and people, they offer you food or drink, and it’s very difficult. <Laugh>, for example, you say no, for example. Yes. For example, in the Ivory coast in the South, we have a tradition of offering people some hot, really hot paper. Really hot paper. It’s powdered chili, powdered real, nothing mixed with that chili powder. <Laugh>. You have never eaten chili. How do you eat that? And then we also have this issue of drinking, for example, some Christian that say you can drink wine. Some others said, no wine, because it’s still alcohol. Do you drink that wine when we you have stopped drinking wine or any kind of alcohol for years? How do you do that? That’s my question. I
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (46:39):
I would just be polite and, and grateful, say, oh, thank you so much. I, I don’t drink that, or, or, thank you. You, you honor me with your bringing me this. But you know, can I, may, may I have some water or something? Okay. You know, I, I think you can be sensitive to it, but without insulting it. Okay. You know,
Evangelism Student #3 (47:01):
So we can say no.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (47:03):
Yeah. You can say,
Evangelism Student #3 (47:04):
No, this is not good for my
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (47:05):
Health. I can say no. Yeah. You can say no. Say, oh, I’m fasting today. <Laugh>.
Evangelism Student #3 (47:10):
Okay. That’s what I was.
Evangelism Podcast Announcer (47:15):
Are you called by God to be an evangelist? Do you wanna lead millions of people to Jesus? Do you desire to be trained in the practical side of building a ministry? Then check out the Daniel King School of Evangelism. Learn how to be an effective evangelist from Dr. Daniel King’s 20 plus years of experience. Daniel King has done crusades all over the world in over 70 nations, and has seen over 2 million people give their lives to Jesus. But it wasn’t easy. There was no crusade school. So Daniel traveled the world learning from and observing top evangelists, noticing how they successfully won souls for Christ. Now he wants to share decades of knowledge and experience with you. Topics of the Daniel King School of Evangelism include what is an evangelist, how to be a master soul winner, how to give an altar call, how to organize a crusade, how to raise money for your ministry, and much more. If you wanna be an evangelist, but don’t know where to start, the Daniel King School of Evangelism is for you. Enroll today in the School of Evangelism by going to Daniel King ministries.com/evangelism.
Daniel King (48:17):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus, and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from Hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the Evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with King Ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
Evangelism Podcast Announcer (49:38):
For more information about how to share your faith, or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.
