We live in a multi-cultural country, in one way or another, are involved in cross-cultural ministry, be it in Malaysia or on an overseas missions. Being outsiders, as we enter the life of another culture, how can we effectively touch life for Jesus? Based on my personal experience and observation of cross-cultural missions, I would like to share a few elements that are deemed important on our part while working with the Holy Spirit in touching life.
(1) Building Trust Relationships:
Before people can trust us, we do not expect them to accept our gift (i.e. Gospel). The minority people that I’m serving have bad experiences of getting free services that enticed them to big spending. When we first entered their village to help the poor and needy, they were suspecting us and watching us. After some time, at a village meeting, they told us: ‘Now, we know that you truly care for us and help us without expecting anything from us’. Later, their hearts were opened and some of them turned to Christ. So, it is very important that we take time to build a trust relationship with people. The way we talk to them and interact with them, they can sense whether we care for them.
(a) Intentionally seeking to know their felt needs: sometimes we are just too focused on delivering the gift or running a program, and neglected what the people really need (physically or spiritually) at that very moment or not knowing whether they are ready for the gift. When someone is struggling, they are just too overwhelmed by their problem; it is difficult to listen to the Gospel. We need to intentionally seek to understand what they are really struggling, before we can be a good mediator to lead them to experience God meeting their felt needs. In Acts 3:1-10, Peter and John knew, what the lame really needed was not money, but encountering Jesus making him walk.
(b) Intentionally seeking for an opportunity to meet their felt needs: when Holy Spirit prompts you that someone is struggling, DO NOT WAIT, otherwise they would turn to something else for answer, we lose the opportunity to touch them with God’s love.
In a village of the minority people group where I served, an old lady was abandoned by her family, staying alone in a very poor condition. When a missionary heard about her, she went to visit her regularly, brought her food when she was starving; fed her when she was too weak; prayed for healing when she suffered pain, letting her experience Jesus’s power; told her the message of HOPE to minister to her hopeless life. No longer after, the old lady passed away. If this missionary hadn’t seized the opportunity, this old lady would have died without HOPE. In the missions field, at times, Holy Spirit prompted me to do something or go to someone, if I ignored His small voice, I would have missed the chance. At times, I did make that mistake.
Indeed, meeting physically felt needs of the people can be a GOOD BRIDGE for meeting their spiritual felt needs. It is the experience of God’s love and God’s power that leads them to turn to Him.
(2) Let People Experience Jesus Meeting Their Felt Needs:
The people need to see Jesus and His Words are relevant to their life; then they will respond to the Gospel and turn to Jesus. So, it is important for them to experience Jesus meeting their felt needs, then they will rely on Jesus, rather than us. Peter used Jesus-given authority to heal the lame, letting him experienced Jesus meeting his real felt needs (Acts 3:6-8).
In Philippines, there was an evangelist that brought many people to Christ. Do you know what she did? When she went from village to village, as people gathered, she listened to their problems; then she turned to the Bible and told each of them what God said about their problems. Then, the people started to experience God solving their problem. Having seen God’s Words are relevant to their life, they continued to come week after week, and many accepted Christ.
There are many people around us and in the missions field who are lost, struggling (i.e. marriage, family issues, addiction, etc.), or live in fear (i.e. evil, sickness, death, etc.). They are still waiting for us to point them to encounter Jesus meeting their felt needs. Let’s not let our hearts grow cold, but be compassionate ambassadors of Christ, directing people to experience Jesus meeting their felt needs.
