My Story
Do you hear what I hear? Upon moving to Hong Kong, I discovered the answer to that question was often “No.” Why? Because of cultural differences. Living in Asia for 13 years opened my eyes to diverse cultures from the one I had always known. Our church in Hong Kong included over 30 nationalities, most of which were Asian.
Soon after our arrival, I began working with university students from mainland China. I remember one girl rushing into the church and saying breathlessly, “Tell me about the God I’ve been told all my life doesn’t exist.” What a fantastic opportunity! But what a tremendous challenge. How do you explain faith to someone who knows nothing about God, Jesus, or the Bible? I tried using the ways and words I’d learned—the Roman Road, the Four Spiritual Laws, even my testimony. The blank look on her face told me I was talking, but I wasn’t communicating. The problem wasn’t she couldn’t speak English; she could. The issue was I needed to know how to speak her language—not her spoken language but her cultural language.
Searching for Ways to Speak God
I spent my years in Hong Kong searching for ways to talk about God that didn’t include church language and made sense to someone from another culture. I faced cultural barriers and needed to form cultural bridges to communicate God’s truth effectively. So, I became a student of culture.
Only 30% of people in the world live in an individualist (i.e., Western) culture. The rest live in collectivist cultures that share many similarities. The more I learned about Asian cultural values, the more parallels I found to biblical ones. As I studied Majority World cultures, I found the same cultural dynamics mirrored in the Bible. I welcome you to join my journey of discovery. Knowing the biblical authors’ context and culture will uncover life-changing, biblical truths hidden in plain sight.
6 Comments
Nancy Lucenay
Hi Jane:
Thank you for reading and for your question. Will you please give me a little more background and context for your question?
Thanks so much!
God bless you!!
Jane Samwell
Dear Nancy, this article is very interesting but not on the subject I am exploring at the moment. Do you have any thoughts on the subject “following the rules versus individual freedom to choose”, ie. legalism versus faith? This is clumsily put but you will understand what I mean I think. Thank you.
Jane
Esau Dominguez
Dear Mrs. Nancy,
I’m a missionary in a Buddhist Country, and was in an online webinar were it was shown a map showing the different cultures Guilt/Shame/Fear in the world, but I did not quite agreed with my own country. Looking for another Map, I found the map you used which is more convincing. This is how I came to find out about your website. It’s wonderful, I read a a couple of your post and it was a big blessing. Do you have a list of Bible stories classified in the 3 different cultural languages? Thank you so much, may our missionary God continue to use you and bless you,
Esau Dominguez Sanchez
Nancy Lucenay
Dear Mr. Esau:
Welcome to Beyond the Front Door! Thank you so much for your note and for reading several of my posts. I’m honored and grateful you experienced a blessing.
In ancient times, as today, guilt, shame, and fear existed in every person and every culture, although to different degrees. “The Bible Speaks to All Cultures” illustrates from Genesis 3. As we become familiar with different worldviews and cultural dynamics, we see them throughout the Bible. “How to Recognize Different Cultures: Guilt, Shame, and Fear” may be helpful to you. “Cultural Dynamics: Why They Matter” provides links to posts on each of the six cultural dynamics I explore. Those posts explain the dynamic and provide biblical examples.
I don’t have a list of stories categorized by worldview, but the idea is intriguing. I’ll give it some thought. Of course, the biblical world was collectivist, like 60-70% of the world today. The dominant worldview was Honor/Shame. Fear/Power and Guilt/Innocence were also present to lesser degrees. We can see Fear/Power in Moses’ encounters with Pharaoh and Jesus’ exorcisms. Those who have been reared or trained in Western cultures have learned to identify and interpret the Bible through the Individualist, Guilt/Innocence worldview.
Thank you again for reading and writing. The online webinar you participated in sounds interesting. Can you tell me who sponsored it?
I pray God’s richest blessings on your ministry. I would love to know more about your work if you can share it.
Blessings,
Nancy
Lynn Sherwood
Ken Ham book ‘Gospel Reset’ opened my eyes to the secular direction that America, which was founded on a Judeo-Christian worldview, was moving and the need for the believer to learn how to reach out to those who had no concept of God. It was these questions 1. How did it all start ? 2 why was I here ? 3. what was my purpose? 4. is this all there is?
that brought me to Jesus.
BTW I came across your site because I was in prayer (about the political situation of this day) and was thinking about Elijah and how after his battle against the forces of darkness, he felt like he was the only one fighting against wickedness in his day. So of course I put some words in my browser to look up something and came across your posting from just yesterday ‘Elijah’s battle with depression- and ours’.
After reading your article I went on to I King 19 to look up what the Lord had spoken to him when he complained that he was the only one left to fight against wickedness. The Lord tells that which will take place, but even when it is happening he has left those who have not bowed their knee to Baal. The number 7,000. Nothing in the word is accidental, even in the number God provides evidence of His sovereignty.
The last verse in 1 Kings 19 was what I was looking for and needed for encouragement for my day this morning, but I am happy I found it in a round about way by coming across your site.
God Bless
Lynn
Derby, ks
Nancy Lucenay
Dear Lynn:
Thank you so much for your note! And I thank God for leading you to my site. I hope you’ll come again.
I’m grateful to read of your devotion to the Lord and your prayer for our country. In the midst of this crisis, God gives us opportunities to stand with him and share his love. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Wishing you God’s richest blessings!
Nancy