Cross-Cultural Collaboration

• Life-Giving Holiness - We submit to God’s leading, and God’s teaching and we find that as He makes us holy He makes our lives more rich and fulfilling.

• Love-Driven Justice - We seek to bring dignity and justice to others; to treat all people as the image of God they are.

• Christ-Compelled Multiplication - As our lives are being transformed by our relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to share God’s transforming power with others so that they also may experience new life.

• Cross-Cultural Collaboration – “Dedicating ourselves to becoming a more diverse church that looks like the kingdom of God.” – The Free Methodist Way

Main Point: “From the beginning, God’s intent was to have a people from every nation, culture and ethnicity, united in Christ and commissioned to carry out His work in the world.” – The Free Methodist Way

Jesus was the master cross-culture collaborator; we need to follow His example.

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. —John 4:1-15, 39-41

Through the cross, people of all cultures are one in their Christian identity.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. —Galatians 3:26-29

As we seek to understand cultures that are different from our own, we need to examine “defining moments” of our lives that have contributed to the way we think.

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” —Acts 10:34-35

What else can we do to become more culturally sensitive?
• Read, engage in conversation, listen in order to learn
• Visit/take a VISA trip
• Remember that different does not have to mean wrong
• Be aware of “relapses” and continue to grow

God’s description of heaven is of a place of great diversity.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. —Revelation 7:9

“The Free Methodist Way, therefore, is a two-way street in which we learn from one another, help one another, pray for one another, and grow together out of obedience to His calling. And in so doing, we are preparing ourselves for that day when every tongue, tribe, people and language will gather around the throne of God (Revelation 7:9). Sometimes, we are especially blessed when He gives us a small glimpse of our heavenly future, here on earth.” – Beth and Ricardo Gomez, “Without Borders”

Takeaway – Let’s be committed to crossing boundaries with the love of Jesus.

Questions (From The Free Methodist Way)
1. Consider your network of friends, colleagues, etc. Are they made up only of people just like you or is there some kind of diversity?

2.Have you traveled to places where the culture was very different from the one you are used to? What did you experience there? What did you take away from that experience?

3.What might be one step we can take in our church and personal lives to open the door to pursue collaboration with others?

4.What might it cost you to show collaboration with people outside of your cultural group?

Table Discussion Question: Describe a time where another person made a false assumption or judgment about you. How did that make you feel? How did you respond? What did you learn?