Finding myself in Sierra Leone, a country with seventeen ethnic groups, and each with their own sets of beliefs, traditions and customs. It is my dream to see every one of these groups subjecting themselves to the kingdom culture which sets Jesus at the center of all, spreading God’s love to everyone in relation to each of their differing views, traditions and cultures.
To do such, I normally engage myself on outreach sessions and one-to-one sessions with people. It has helped me a lot in sharing the gospel of Christ at the Kroobay Community and the neighboring communities. The gift of being a good listener as a tool to capture the minds of people with different sets of beliefs. Because someone who believes in listening to people’s story, and knowing their heart from where they speak from and how their way of life speaks of what they believe. One on one discussions helps a person opens up to you about their personal life and share their experiences about their traditional beliefs. I try always to know; what is most important to the person and the story that person tells himself in order to explain his reality.
Sharing the love of God and the Gospel can be challenging when you have to share it with someone or a group of people that already have contrary beliefs based on their traditions or customs. Asking questions about the person’s background, hometown or country, family, cultural holidays, hobbies, passions, and future goals helps in order to get a clear idea of how his traditions or culture affects his mindset.
Ask questions like: “What do you believe about God?” and then listen keenly to how the person describes their views of God, humanity and the stories embedded in their traditional or cultural practices.
In as much as it will seem as if you are listening to an interesting story but, religious traditions, experiences and societal values communicate just as much about a person’s view as it also does with their intellectual beliefs and convictions.
After listening to such, then you can now naturally begin by sharing your own story of meeting Jesus and then share the story of Jesus to them, as much as it may seem little at first but constantly keeping in touch with them reminding them daily of the love of God through Jesus Christ.
In all of this, I still think wonder what other best ways can we use in making sure that the culture of the Gospel is well aligned with the cultures, traditions and beliefs of our countrymen that will make it easier for us as Christian to propagate God’s word.