Cross-Cultural Considerations
In preparation for her overseas ministry, along with our International Worker, Janice, we took a missions course (as well as the facilitator’s course) with Kairos in 2019 before she left for Ghana in 2020. It was a great refresher course and, in this month’s, CIM newsletter and as a follow up to the newsletter I wrote two months ago on cross-cultural missions, I want to share some of the things we learned in that course and how it applies to CIM.
Cross-cultural ministries are different yet the same as any other evangelical ministry. The purpose is to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ or to bring them to a closer relationship to Jesus Christ. The difference is that in cross-cultural ministries is that it is done in a setting that may be unfamiliar to us. This is at the core of CIM Ministries as we share the gospel to the remote villages in Africa and to the Roma people group.
From the Kairos course, we are reminded that for cross-cultural workers, we are entering a new culture, and we need to be a student of that culture. This often takes time and in reality, never ends. We are always learning and the culture that we are entering is also constantly changing. Before going to Ghana full-time, Janice traveled with me on Short Term Missions to Ghana close to ten times. On many of those occasions, she would stay behind after the missions trip to be immersed in the culture and learn. After arriving in Ghana, she took a year of language studies and eventually married Enoch, a native of Ghana. Talking with her recently, she tells me she is continually adapting and learning the culture still.
There are four successive “layers” of culture.
The first is “behavour: this is what the people do. This is the most superficial layer of the culture. For example, one thing that Westerners notice when visiting the rural villages in Ghana is that we need to do everything with our right hand from greeting people and also for eating. This may seem strange to us at first until we realize that in their culture, the left hand is used for other sanitary purposes. In their culture, if you greeted someone or waved to someone with your left hand, it would be considered rude. The second layer is “values”: behaviour is based on values (what is good, beneficial or best for that culture). The third layer is “beliefs” which takes us to a deeper level of understanding of that culture. In any culture these beliefs answer the question of “what is true”. Values in culture reflect an underlying system of beliefs. And finally, the fourth layer is “worldview”. This answers the question “what is real” to that culture. One’s own worldview provides a system of beliefs which are reflected in actual values and behavior.
(Eating fufu with our right hands)
When we enter into cross-cultural ministries, we need to be aware of these layers of culture and we need to try and understand all aspects of the people’s culture, participating with them in their lifestyle, not ours. I knew an International Worker friend in northern Ghana, who lived amongst an Islamic community just to know their lifestyle more. Instead of just going into their community, he was a part of the community. When the locals saw that he was “one of them”, who actually and genuinely cared for them, they were much more open to the gospel.
(huts where locals live in rural villages)
We enter cross-cultural ministry “humbly” not saying our way is the right way. The methods used to share the gospel in the Western world may not work in a cross-cultural setting. We need to observe their culture, learn it and try to integrate into it. It is important that the people we are reaching out to realize that we genuinely care about their culture.
(Locals collect water from river for everyday purposes)
At CIM, we will do orientation sessions with STM teams and one of the topics discussed is culture and how we should act and behave in the culture we are going to, but the best teacher is to be immersed in the culture itself.
The whole world needs the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, regardless of culture. Each culture is different (even the cultures between Northern and Southern Ghana are different), but each culture still needs the Lord and as followers of Jesus Christ, our mandate is to bring the Good News to all cultures.
A STM trip to Ghana is tentatively scheduled for July 12-28, 2026. If you are interested in applying or want more information, please email us at contact@cimcanada.org
Rev. Isaac Quan
Executive Director, CIM Ministries
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August Financials 2025
1. General Fund - for general and administrative purposes, such as staff salaries
2. Designated Fund - for specific ministries in different field locations as designated (cannot be transferred between funds)
*All financial figures are in Canadian dollars and rounded to the nearest dollar
Pray With Us:
Please continue to pray for peace in Ukraine. The invasion rages on and innocent lives are lost each day. Pray for House of Mercy as they take care of refugees, physically and spiritually. Pray for peace talks and for a ceasefire. There has been much confusion regarding this process. Through it all, people in the Roma villages are still getting baptized and dedicating their lives to Jesus. The challenge for the churches is that many young men are fleeing the country.
Pray for guidance and direction for our next steps for our Roma Ministry. Pray for the STM team traveling to North Macedonia and Serbia from September 14-October 7.
Pray for the pastors and teachers that we support in Ghana. Pray for fruitful ministry and God’s provision for each pastor’s family needs.
Pray for Janice as she continues with her ministry as our International Worker in Ghana. Continue to pray for her home assignment. She will return to Ghana in early October. Their sharing has been well received so far. Pray that this will translate in support through prayers, giving, and going.
Pray for the finances of CIM Ministries. The economic situation in Canada may become very unstable with the uncertainty of a tariff trade war with the United States resulting possibly with less donors. Pray for new donors and a healthy general fund to run our ministries. Praise God that our financial situation has improved over the last year. In order to run our ministries effectively, we are currently seeking monthly donors. We encourage donors to give to our General Fund so we can distribute the funds where the needs are the greatest. Click here to donate.
Pray for CIM USA as they are still looking for an Executive Director and Director of Ministry.