Choose someone you know who is from a significantly different culture than your own (look for differences in things like country/region of origin, ethnicity, language, religion, time orientation, etc.). This person should be an unbeliever (or you will need to pretend that they are an unbeliever for the sake of this paper), and they should be from a macro-culture (think of a culture associated with a foreign country). You will write a formal academic paper about the cultural elements of this person. This paper will prepare you to share God’s story with them in an effective way for their culture and worldview.
In this section, you should introduce the person you have chosen to receive the Gospel message. Answer the following questions in a paragraph or two. (Questions in parenthesis are suggestions to help guide you as you describe the person.)
- Give details about their identity (What is their age? Ethnicity? Where are they from? What religion do they follow? What language they speak? Where do they live now? What do they do for school/work, etc.?).
- Provide information on your relationship with the person. (How do you know them? What are your interactions with them? Are they a coworker or neighbor? Do you see them on a regular basis or just periodically?)
- Discuss how their current circumstances affect their cultural practices. (If their family is from a foreign country, but they have grown up most of their life in America, how does that affect their worldview? Do they adhere to all the traditional cultural practices on their parents?)
- Discuss their interest in issues of faith? (Is this person open to hearing the story of God?)
Cultural Systems
In this section, you should choose at least 4 of the 6 cultural systems from Chapter 4 of Leading with Cultural Intelligence. Discuss each cultural system and identify which of the pair apply most directly to the culture of your friend (For example: Does your friend’s culture have a nuclear or kinship family system?). How does that cultural system affect your friend’s way of life, interactions, aspirations, and openness to issues of faith? Aside from interviewing your friend and referencing the course text book, you should include research from at least 1 outside source to support your arguments.
Cultural Value Orientations
In this section, discuss at least 7 of the 10 cultural value orientation pairs. Which cultural values are strong in your friend and their culture (For example: Does your friend’s culture have a short-term or long-term value orientation?)? How do each of these cultural values affect your friend’s worldview and actions? Use at least 1 outside resource other than interviewing your friend to support your assessment of the culture.
Elements of Communication
Discuss at least 3 elements of verbal and non-verbal communication which are prevalent in your friend’s culture. (Think about the verbal and non-verbal communication strategies presented in Chapter 7 of Leading with Cultural Intelligence.) You should include at least 1 verbal element and 1 non-verbal element. The 3rd element can be either verbal or non-verbal. How do you see these elements of communication in your friend’s culture? How do these elements of communication affect the way your friend sends and receives messages? Support your statements with at least 1 outside source other than an interview with your friend or the course textbook.
Strategy for Communication
In this section, you will create a plan to communicate effectively to your friend. Answer the following questions in a couple of paragraphs. (Questions in parenthesis are suggestions to help guide your thoughts).
- Discuss how you will use your knowledge of these cultural value orientations, cultural systems, and elements of communication to share the gospel effectively with your friend. (Which of their cultural value orientations should you keep in mind as you try to communicate with them? How will you adjust your communication, your approach to the conversation, and your language in order to best communicate the gospel message?)
- Discuss how you will craft your story to meet your friend where they are. (Are there any themes you may use to focus your presentation which would most speak to your friend according to their culture and worldview? What part of the story do you think they will relate to most based on what you know about their cultural systems and cultural value orientations?)
- Section 3: Outline of God’s Story
- Prepare to share the Gospel by outlining the Story of God you would share. As we have discussed the Grand Narrative of scripture, we have covered many different topics and stories from the Bible, but there are some key elements which must be included in your story.
- Essential Elements:
- Creation
- Fall-Sin
- Promise-Covenant
- Prophecies
- Virgin Birth
- Incarnation
- Deity (fully man–fully God)
- Jesus’ life (person and works)
- Jesus’ Death
- Resurrection
- Ascension
- Return
- Reconciliation
- Kingship
- This section should be a bulleted list of each of the elements above. For each element, you should write 2-4 sentences summarizing the element and describing how you would present that part of the story to your friend. You should also list scripture references for each element that you present. While you do not need to recite the scripture as you tell the story, we want to see that you know where in the Bible to point someone to if the opportunity were to arise. In your outline, you should list enough content to show that you know what each element is about, how it connects to the bigger picture of the grand narrative, and the best way to share the story.
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