How to Share the Gospel Across Cultures

Jen is an everyday Christian who used a neighborhood social media app to meet women of other faiths and share the Gospel across cultures in her neighborhood.  I pray her remarkable story will inspire and embolden you to share the gospel across cultures where you live.

Who Are My Neighbors?

Jen moved across the country and into a new neighborhood with her husband and two small kids. Just before the move, she had done a Bible study on biblical hospitality with a small group of long-time friends from her church.  Lonely for good company in a new city, she took her kids out for a stroll in her new neighborhood to meet the neighbors. She wondered,

“What would it look like practically to love my new neighbors?”

Just then, a woman with a colorful blue hijab with two energetic kids tumbled out the front door and into a minivan across the street. “Would you love this one?” the Lord seemed to say. “Sure, I’ll love that family,” Erin responded.  Then she noticed another neighbor from another culture.

“Would you love this one too?”

That’s when she first noticed that she and her husband had moved into an incredibly diverse neighborhood. She wondered,

“Does anyone around here look like me?”

Out of Her Christian Bubble

Until this move, Jen had never met women of other faiths and cultures. She’d worked with Christians. Lived among Christians. Went to church with Christians. It was her world. Now she was living in a whole new world as a stay-at-home mom putting down roots in a neighborhood filled with women of many other faiths and cultures. She had no idea how to meet and befriend the women who were so very different from her, let alone share the gospel.

For a few weeks, she stuck it out alone at home with her kids. “I had an MBA I wasn’t using, and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I needed something to fire up my brain again. So, just for fun, I decided to learn Arabic. I figured maybe I could use it.” She did that for about two weeks when she realized she needed help. “Using a neighborhood App on my phone, I wrote a quick message, “New in the neighborhood. Want to practice speaking Arabic and meet people?’

She hesitated a few seconds. Was she really going to do this? Oh, what did she have to lose? She took a deep breath and hit “Send.” Four women in her neighborhood responded immediately. One invited her over for tea and cookies the next day. There, she met several new neighbors. They were hospitable women from Pakistan, Dubai, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

“I had no idea that women from so many faiths and cultures lived all around me.”

Share the Gospel Across Cultures

During that first visit, she learned that through their mosque, the women were volunteering their time to befriend and help the many refugee families that were moving into their city. Jenn didn’t even know that was a thing. They asked her,

“Do you want to come with us to meet some of the refugee families?”

“Sure,” she said. And within a week, she was breaking bread with a new family from Afghanistan.  “If Muslim women from the local mosque are helping out all these refugees,” she wondered, “maybe there are Christians who are doing the same.” Jen searched online, found a refugee resettlement organization, and began plugging in.

Since then, Jen has had countless opportunities to share the gospel across cultures in her large metropolitan city.  She’s thankful that the Lord planted her in such a diverse neighborhood. Jen reports, “My Muslim neighbors are now some of my dearest friends. Our kids play together. We talk about deep spiritual things. I’ve had countless opportunities to point these women to Jesus, to pray with them in Jesus’ name, and to love them in words, actions, and deeds.”

Helpful Resources

One of the resources that helped her share the gospel across cultures was the book Muslims: 5 Biblical Essentials Every Christian Must Know and Do. “I wish I’d known about iHOPE Ministries’ free donor-supported resources and this book when I first started sharing the gospel across cultures,” Jen confides.

Today, Jen can see that the harvest in her city is plentiful, and the workers few.  Men and women all around us desperately need the hope of Jesus. Sharing Him with these women has strengthened Jen’s faith.

“I can’t believe I get to share the Good News with them. God is at work in my neighborhood. And wherever God is at work, that’s where I want to be.”

Jen’s great adventure started with this simple prayer, “Lord, I’m willing to love my neighbors. Show me how.” Now she’s declaring God’s glory to women from many nations, right where she lives.

Your Turn

If Jen can learn to share the gospel across cultures, you can too. Start small by praying that the Lord will use you to declare His glory in your neighborhood. To help you, download this popular donor-supported podcast before your next walk around your own neighborhood, and listen as Jen shares her story. This episode will inspire you to love your neighbors, share the gospel across cultures and give you bite-sized steps to begin.

 

 

 

 

Tags:  How to share the gospel across cultures, Biblical hospitality, Share Jesus without fear, how to share the gospel