Lifebyte 38
Extending The Kingdom: The People Movement Approach (Part 2)

“...you will be My witnesses....in all Judea and Samaria
and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

[click here for a printable copy]

“...you will be My witnesses....in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

We hope your heart and spirit are eagerly determined to reach out to those who have yet to encounter our glorious Lord and King! In this Lifebyte we’ll pursue further factors to help equip you in your service as His representative to bless mankind. You are getting your own self-interests out of the way to focus on “What Would Jesus Do?” This is the only way you’ll represent Him accurately.
In Lifebyte 37 we described “Judea” as those with whom you have some contact points in common even though you may be strangers to one another. These new friendships most likely won’t disturb your relational “comfort zone”.
Your “Samaria” may be more of a relational stretch for you as you purpose to penetrate other ethnic, racial, religious or socio-economic groups in the course of your daily life. We’ll be emphasizing points to help you reach people cross-culturally. Many of these insights easily carry over to your relationships with unbelievers in your own culture.
(For more on various types of relationships, see Going To The High Places: Part 1 of Chapter 1. Invitation to the High Places.)

As you engage others for the Kingdom of Christ, you may need some counsel in how to relate as His joy-filled representative. True, biblical joy is a rather scarce commodity among frantic westerners. On the other hand, happiness in the U.S. culture is so often determined by the pursuit of recreational activities and personal possessions. But those aren’t Kingdom priorities!

“Joy is belonging, not belongings.
And the supreme belonging
is to be our Father’s child.
The true wealth of a Kingdom person
is found in the followers of Jesus he brings to our Lord’s Banquet.”

The People Movement Approach: Reaching Others Who
Aren’t Like You
We hope you realize that a child of God’s Kingdom can’t be atomistically self-seeking in his heart. You ARE a part of His BODY if you’re in His Kingdom! If reaching out to unbelievers from other ethnic or racial groups is an unfamiliar experience for you, we have a few suggestions that may be helpful.
Most people from other cultures normally appreciate when someone from a different culture or racial group takes time to identify with their values and ways. Identification is not so much a matter of adopting this or that kind of dress or food as it is a matter of entering into the life experience of others with a heart that’s seeking understanding.
You need to perceive what they value. By demonstrating that you recognize they have certain values which identify them in their hearts with their kinsmen, you are upholding their dignity. That kind of honor and awareness will lend credibility to the Gospel of the relational God you love and serve.
You must deal with their values honestly and sympathetically. Over time you can reveal to them their eternal need for reconciliation with their true Father and Creator, and how that need can be met only through His redeeming Son who loves them.
When you’re willing to identify with unbelievers in the very real fabric of their personal lives, you’re more readily able to come alongside them in their spiritual searching.
We, too, are sinners who once lived in darkness (Ephesians 5:8) and were slaves to our sin nature. If you’re honest with yourself, from the moment you were first born again it’s taken time for you to more and more fully yield to the Holy Spirit as He sets apart your heart and will to align with God’s. 

This touchstone may be helpful as  you interact with unbelievers: All peoples distinguish between good and evil in some way, but not necessarily according to a biblical view! Sometimes you can find a wonderful connection just by showing your friends that the good they do in their daily lives is in the Bible! It’s a measure of the grace our Lord gives to everyone as being made in His image. Perhaps then they might be more receptive to also accept their sinfulness as revealed in His Word as well.
When you’re involved with people from other cultures, you may want to look for what missiologists call “redemptive analogies” as a starting point. According to our Father’s marvelous plan, “He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
He has made evident from His Creation that He IS; yet that general revelation is insufficient for them to know Him in Spirit. That’s why you’ve been put into their lives to love them and reveal the glorious truth of the Cross and resurrection!
When a new follower of Jesus sees the spiritual meaning that has been hidden or dormant within their own cultural framework, their trust in the love of God for their own people is reinforced. Then their conversion doesn’t deny their cultural background so that they are disoriented.
Rather, they experience heightened insight into both the Scriptures and that within their culture that aligns with the character of God. (They are also able to discern that which is sin against Him and help others understand why obedient trust is His pathway for the people.) This awareness that the One True God “speaks their language” and wants to bring them to Himself helps new followers of Jesus share Christ meaningfully with their own family and acquaintances.

Missionaries of the Mission Station Approach long considered the Navajo  sweat lodge as a pagan practice and forced converts to give it up. One day Mike was conversing with a knowledgeable Navajo man and asked him the background of the sweat lodge. Oral tradition teaches that two thousand years ago a spiritual messenger told their forebears that they needed the sweat lodge for purification.
If you’ve read what we’ve written on the backdrop to baptism, then you know that the mikveh immersion of the Hebrew people preceded baptism. The practice of water baptism in the early Church was derived from the Jewish mikveh in which a person immersed himself in water for purification purposes. This foreshadowed the promise of the “baptism in the Holy Spirit”— an immersion into the Spirit.
What a redemptive analogy to have used with the Navajo! Because there isn’t much standing water in the Southwest, a sweat lodge became the Navajo mikveh. What if People Movement Approach missionaries had gotten to the Navajo instead of the Mission Station types? Perhaps more among the Navajo would have turned to Jesus as their Lord and King if they hadn’t been so readily condemned for their “redemptive analogy” custom!

You Must Open People’s Eyes
As you seek to represent Jesus to unbelievers, you’ll have times in which you don’t know how to steer the topic toward spiritual matters. Remember Jesus’ reassuring consolation to those He knew would soon face persecution for His Name’s sake:

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11,12).

If you’ve diligently planted His Word in your heart and put it into practice, you’ll have nuggets of treasure there for Him to bring to your cognizance.
You’re not dealing with a humanist  “good person/bad person” situation here. This is a spiritual military en-counter! You need to establish a beachhead of awareness for the truth you want to share.

“I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26: 17b,18).

It’s like getting to first base in baseball. You haven’t made a run yet, but you’ve taken the first step. This is where praying and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance in how to open someone’s eyes is so vital.
If people’s eyes are not opened first, they tend to become defensive. Your statements sound more like attacks than lifesaving truth they need. As an example for us, Paul employed an effective “eye opener” to minimize unnecessary antagonism toward what he needed to share with Athenian pagans. Addressing those at the venerable Areopagus, the apostle boldly began by complimenting his hearers that they were indeed people for whom spiritual matters were important:

“Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God Who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands” (Acts 17:22-24).

Jesus used the same pattern of a familiar eye-opener to introduce truth to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-42). He began with her basic need for well water and moved onto her need for the living water of eternal life. Her response led her to rouse her fellow villagers to meet Jesus, and many put their trust in Him as He opened the truth to their “eyes” as well.

Hate the Sin, But Love the Sinner
Jesus came to save sinners (Mark 2: 17)—you were once enslaved in those ranks yourself! If you’ll humbly and obediently keep yourself from passing judgment on your unbelieving friend, you’ll get to “second base”.
Yes, there is real evil in human nature. And you have to stand against that devouring evil. If you’re not against that which God hates, the Spirit of God will not be for you. Yet, there is a crucial balance between loving the sinner and hating the sin to which he’s in bondage.
Even if your friend acknowledges his need to make changes in his life to live according to the will of God, he’s going to find an evil power—his sin nature— within himself that will resist obedient trust in our Lord.
Added to his sin nature’s opposition are demons who will do all they can to keep him from pursuing righteousness. Strongholds play a big role in hindering spiritual progress. You may need to help your friend rid himself of demonic strongholds. Do you recall the testimony of the Spanish-speaking congregation we mentioned in Lifebyte 36? These new followers of Jesus helped their family and relatives find freedom from demonic strongholds so that they too might respond to the Spirit’s call to repent and enter the Kingdom!
Winning the victory against the unseen forces that entice your friend to sin is like reaching third base. But reaching home plate occurs when he embraces the Father’s Covenant, receives forgiveness for his sins through his reconciling Lord, and is sealed with the Holy Spirit.

A Little Review
First, discover the appropriate eye-opener for your unbelieving friend and his family or other close relationships. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. He Who knows the hearts of man will give you the handle to their hearts.
As we mentioned, your understanding of their values and your willingness to invest yourself in relationships are your key assets. At the heart of any culture is an element of self-centeredness. Yet, no one can give full allegiance to their culture and be under the Lordship of Jesus at the same time. His Kingdom surpasses all other “societies” for citizens of heaven (see Philippians 3:20)!
Culture implies a measure of homogeneity which holds people together over a span of time. While this identity is received from the past, its elements and values must be learned anew with each generation. In other words, a particular culture is an integrated system of beliefs which bind the people together to give them identity and security.
Each generation generally absorbs its cultural identity and values within the home first. This is crucial for you to remember. In essence, becoming a follower of Jesus is like learning a new culture. It has many facets to it and must be learned and valued through meaningful discussion if it’s to become a way of life.
Therefore, inviting people into your home and visiting them in theirs is your best way to help them make following Jesus and becoming a Kingdom person a way of life.
Please keep this in mind:
If you represent Jesus cross-culturally, you’re going to discover how much of your own faith practice is built on cultural predispositions that have been engrained in you. You need to set these  aside so that you may purely represent our Lord without extra-biblical entanglements.
Sometimes people resist our Father’s Covenant not because they think it’s false, but because they perceive it a threat to their culture. If you’re going to effectively gain a hearing from someone from another culture, you have to develop understanding of that culture, and a genuine appreciation of it. You need to “walk in their moccasins.”
Only through active, loving engagement in relationships with those from other cultures will they see Jesus in you and be responsive to inquire about His importance to you. Those from other cultures need to know that you care for them as people, not as evangelism targets. 
You show your care by learning to understand their values and world-view, by sincerely listening to their questions and responding with loving respect, and by sensitively addressing the pain of their life burdens. This is the nature of being a credible witness that will open the way for their collective commitment to our Lord.
When your friends from another culture do enter Covenant with our Father, make sure you discern their spiritual progress through the lens of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and their growth in Christ-likeness. Don’t fall into a trap of evaluating the reality of the commitment to Jesus by whether they adopt your faith practices.
It’s their responsibility and privilege in the Spirit to establish faith practices that suit their heart ownership of His Covenant. Within the framework of the Bible and their own cultural heritage they must develop their own halakhahs. This pattern is the authority Jesus has given all His followers (see Matthew 16:19; 18:18-20).

Present the Gospel of the Covenant as the first step in pilgrimage to their salvation. The traditional evangelical view of conversion has focused on “getting people saved” at a particular point in time by agreeing with certain biblical truths. But how tragically misleading to neglect the life journey aspect of love-grounded obedience and trust!
It’s vital that you recognize that conversion is the entry into a pilgrimage toward salvation. Your discipleship responsibility is to help your new friends grow in yielded trust and obedience to the Spirit as they live in the Covenant union of love with the Father.
Their journey in Jesus is a way of life! All along the journey they’ll face the ongoing death and resurrection of many “altar experiences” as the Holy Spirit sanctifies them into Christ’s likeness. The apostle Paul calls this process “putting off the old and putting on the new” (see Colossians 2:11). Since this is the same process you’ve been going through, you’re in a position to exercise patience and provide encouragement.
Don’t be a controller who notes every little indiscretion or immature decision! You are not your friend’s “Holy Spirit”. King Jesus insists on occupying the throne Himself. You are to be His loving representative with your palms up. Once Christ has His rightful place in anyone’s life, that person starts his own transformational pilgrimage onward.
As the one who has been used by the Spirit to introduce them to the true Gospel, it’s your place to lovingly help these new converts switch their cultural allegiance to His Kingdom. As you’ve come to realize, the Lordship of Jesus challenges everyone’s moral and ethical lifestyle. New converts have to rethink their fundamental convictions, worldview and values.
This reevaluation and exchange is the ongoing nature of repentance— metanoia—replacing control by our sin nature with the mind of Christ. Within the framework of obedient trust, each person in Christ replaces old, sin-based cultural practices with a Kingdom lifestyle as the Spirit brings awareness and conviction.

Relational humility goes a long way! If you don’t lord yourself over anyone but always remain palms up in your interaction, the conversion of those from other cultures will not “de-culturate” them. You can graciously come alongside to help them discern the cultural patterns which don’t violate Scripture, and encourage them to cherish their culture’s unique ways, hopes, pains and expression.

Missiologists have found that converts normally pass through three stages:

1. Rejection. Their new relationship with Christ causes them to believe they must repudiate everything associated with their past.
2. Accommodation. They’re tempted to compromise their new-found faith in relation to their cultural traditions and practices which are unscriptural.
3. The Re-establishment of Identity. The rejection of the past and/or their accommodation to adapt ethnic ways to their faith walk grows into a balanced self-awareness in Christ and culture.

Conversion Is A Power Encounter
When a person embraces the Gospel of the Covenant, he is sealed with the Holy Spirit Who consummates the Covenant. Spiritual power now abides in him, a presence that can’t go unnoticed. God has taken up residence in a human being, and change is going to take place!
That transformation will be evident. In effect, the motivations as well as the actions which were produced by the sin nature-controlled soul are going to change as a new, Christ-like character is being formed. That’s the process described by our funnel diagram in Life-byte 33.
One of your greatest resources as a follower of Jesus who represents Him effectively is describing the varied ways the Holy Spirit has changed you. Testimonies of “this is who I once was, this is who I am now” encourage others in the power of God. And sharing how God overcame hopeless situations is powerful as well! 
In the Greek language, the word for truth and reality is the same. Whether or not the world chooses to accept it, the reality is that Jesus Christ is Lord and King of all creation. He has been exalted by the Father to universal sovereignty, with principalities and powers having been made subject to Him (1 Peter 3:22).
If by His authority you’ve seen the power of Jesus’ name to free yourself from demonic strongholds, you have mighty testimony to help “free the captives” who are still plagued by dark forces to whom they’ve given ground.
Those who’ve responded to the Gospel through your interaction need to be helped to recognize both the reality of evil powers and especially the power of Jesus, the supremacy of His Name and authority. True conversion is a power encounter! The follower of Jesus is freed from the slavery of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of light.
How vital it is that you understand and present the very real hostility of demonic powers that are bent on agitating and destroying relationships—especially those within the Kingdom. You must proclaim the authority of the Lord Jesus over all evil powers! In that way the new believers will both gratefully trust in His loving power and realize they are not to fear Satan’s evil workers.

Group Outreach = Group Conversions
As we shared in Lifebyte 37, the interconnected relationships of those with whom you want to share Jesus are so important. Don’t isolate an individual if you can help it. The collective covenant theme of the Older Testament and the household receptivity and baptisms in the Newer Testament should lead you to desire, work for, and expect family and group conversions in response to the Spirit.
If they embrace the Covenant Gospel along with others with whom they’re already in relationship, they’re far more likely to deepen in spiritual maturity on their pilgrimage to salvation. Remember, when individuals and families aren’t ostracized from prior relational bonds, each new follower of Jesus may become a channel through which the reality of new life in Jesus flows out to their relatives and friends.
If you’re in a family yourself, minister family to family. Enfold unbelieving individuals and families into the relational friendship of your family. Families who have gone forth to other cultures to serve and have used the People Approach have often found that their success has been exceedingly greater than that of individuals or families who used the Mission Station Approach.
The Gospel of the Covenant flows best along the web of family relationships. This web is the transmission line for the current of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction on an entire family group.
If you live within a family setting of those who love and serve Jesus, you must perceive your entire household as our Lord’s representatives. Your collective concern for the lost does far more to impact the darkness than any one of you alone can. In the King’s sight, your household is an outpost for evangelism.

Help Them Avoid The Syncretism Trap
The Bible never presupposes the superiority of any culture over another. However, each culture has its own criteria of truth and righteousness, even though these may not be inherently right. 
Cultural ways must be weighed against the absolute standard of morality as delineated in God’s Word. That way the heart motive for those actions is revealed, and the truthfulness of the culture’s idea of what is righteous or not may be established (see Hebrews 4:12). By trusting in the absolute credibility of the Bible, new followers of Jesus in whatever culture must establish their own halakhahs of applied scriptural truth.
We noted in Lifebyte 36 that  much of Christendom over the centuries has been syncretistic—adopting pagan practices such as cleric hierarchy, elaborate worship edifices, Christmas and Easter celebrations that are alloyed with heathen rituals and customs. Therefore it’s necessary to ask:
 
• By what guidelines do people from other cultures accept or reject their own cultural practices?
• How do they guard themselves against heresy and syncretism that compromise biblical truth?

It’s essential that you recognize that some cultural practices have a theological undergirding which the culture itself may not even realize is biblical. In Lifebyte 34 we discussed “The Melchizedek Factor”, God’s general revelation of Himself to mankind through both an awareness of eternity in their heart and through His magnificent and orderly creation.
Through general revelation God has made His presence known since time began to every tribe, tongue and nation:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

So keep this in mind: People who are responsive to the Melchizedek Factor—God’s general revelation—are receptive when they hear God’s special revelation—the Gospel. As you then build relational bridges of mutual respect, they are often more willing to accept His Covenant as they see the living Spirit of Jesus at work through you.
Do you see how effective it is to discover and reaffirm biblical practices that are already being exercised in a culture? That recognition is a GREAT “eye opener”, one of the best ways to get to first base. You’re affirming an already accepted practice that is also supported by the Bible.
This connection transports the Bible from being the “book of a foreigner” to a message penned specifically for them. An awesome appreciation for the Word of God is an inestimable aid in helping new followers of Jesus to discover halakhahs for their own lives. With the Bible as their absolute standard, they can make a distinction between cultural practices which are good and those which are evil from God’s perspective.
How can people differentiate practices that are supported in Scripture and those that aren’t? First, they rely on the Holy Spirit to quicken to their understanding the rhema (applied truth) of the Bible which they’ve implanted within their hearts. Second, they incorporate the halakhic process of prayer, Scripture search, discernment of rhema, and obedient action as they review their cultural practices.
(See our book Christian Halakhahs for in-depth discussion of establishing biblical applications.)

As you come alongside converts from other cultures to disciple them as spiritual family, remember the spiritual authority which our Lord gives to each one who follows Him:

“Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:18-20).

Let’s study a hypothetical case to show you how the People Movement Approach would differ from the Mission Station Approach in dealing with unbiblical practices in another culture.

The Situation:
The culture practices polygamy. A man with 10 wives and 26 children embraces the Covenant Gospel.

People Movement Approach:
Help him to understand what the Bible says about marriage and family, and encourage him to establish a halakhah for his family circumstance. He may decide, in light of Scripture and his responsibility to his family, that the practice of polygamy will end with him. But because of his responsibility for the well-being of his wives and his children’s need for him, he won’t turn them out. Or, he may prayerfully invite his entire household to respond to the Holy Spirit and be discipled as Kingdom people. He may also later select one of his wives after having made appropriate provision for the rest of his family.
He is guided to search out God’s way but allowed to take ownership of it with his family.

Mission Station Approach:
The man is told he must immediately get rid of 9 of his wives (and subsequently their children as well).

The People Movement Approach has deep regard for the Scriptures, and  respects with sensitivity the convert and his culture.
The Mission Station Approach dominates the culture and disregards the God-given privilege of the people to come before God for rhema themselves. They are told what they need to do but never given opportunity to see the Spirit work God’s will into their own mind, will and emotions.

Cherish Unity and Grant Liberty
The Nicolaitan System/Mission Station approach has incorporated a domineering Europeanized creedal methodology for centuries to recruit and control adherents to their religious belief. Don’t let mental assent to creedalism dominate the relationships you have with those who are seeking Jesus or are being discipled into their journey with Him!
You need to permit people to discuss and establish their own halakhahs of walking in obedient trust with the Lord they love. Families bring with them all sorts of lifestyle practices that were important to them prior to their conversion. Ethnic and racial distinctives will also impact how these followers of Jesus enact their walk in Him.
Difference does not necessarily mean that one particular expression is right and another is wrong. The Bible must be your measuring point, not the traditions and practices of the Europeanized Christendom which may be all you’re familiar with.
Biblically-based diversity is beautiful and should be cherished! In fact, as we’ve written in our article, Hebraic Foundations to Trans-Cultural Ministry, each racial and ethnic group must be encouraged to review their own faith walk in light of God’s Word.
Bringing correction, conviction, instruction, and training in righteousness through both Scripture texts, the Spirit lovingly wields this weapon of righteousness in the heart of those who are indwelled by Him:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Historically, those who relied on the Mission Station approach were often cultural imperialists, condemning everything in the heathen cultures they encountered. We today, however, must realize that many just and good practices within pagan cultures are Scriptural, even if the people in that culture haven’t recognized them from that perspective! 
So whether you’re reaching out to people of different races or cultures, or are already in fellowship with them, respect their right to biblically review their own particular faith practices. Our Lord Jesus gave them the privilege to do this in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.
Affirm their liberty in Christ to retain those elements of their culture and life-style that are not contrary to the Covenant Gospel and Scripture. Offer them the Word of God as the passkey to casting off any manner of prejudice against others. Anyone from any tribe, race or tongue who embraces our Father’s Covenant becomes His child, free to discover from His Spirit and His Word how to demonstrate that love relationship. Don’t mess with their family privilege!!!

• Do you have contact with people who are ethnically or racially different than yourself? If you do, how are you building relational bridges?


• If you don’t have contact with those from different backgrounds and perspectives, what is keeping you from that? How might you encounter people and authentically build relationships that might lead to fellowship in our Lord Jesus?


Before the Dark Days of Chastisement Be Earnest To Represent Our King
As Kingdom people our supreme task is to effectively represent Jesus to unbelievers—not only to those of our own culture, but to other cultures as well.
Some of the unbelievers you’ll encounter are people who’ve embraced a false gospel and have been entrenched in Nicolaitan religious systems. In essence, denominations each represent facets of different “cultures”, especially in light of our definition of culture:

Culture implies a measure of homogeneity that holds people together over a span of time. Cultural patterns are received from the past, but must be learned anew with each generation. An integrated system of beliefs, culture binds the people together to give them identity and security.

You may have been deeply integrated into one of these denominational “cultures”. You can appreciate the difficulty in becoming “unchurched” in the sense of having been dependent on your former denominational framework.
In contrast, living as a Kingdom person, you are privileged and responsible to walk in obedient trust according to His Spirit and His Word.
Wherever Nicolaitan domination has preceded your contact with others, you need to help them deprogram from un-scriptural lies they’ve embraced. Res-pond to them as if Jesus Himself had come to them with the Gospel. Show them:

• how He would have shared it;
• the halakhic responsibility He would have given them;
• the nature of community as family in Him that He would have established.

Man-serving religious practices of  Nicolaitan systems need to be confronted and set aside. And, if your new friends have earlier embraced a false gospel, they’ll need a power encounter with the Spirit to show them the difference!  They’ll also need to be encouraged to establish halakhahs for themselves.
You need to remind yourself that there is no greater cause on earth than helping a person embrace our Father’s Covenant and complete their pilgrimage by being welcomed into heaven. Think of the beauty of helping them walk faithfully in the resurrection life of our Lord Jesus!
Enormous liberation of the human spirit is possible as conversions multiply. It’s essential, if you belong to Jesus, that you clearly believe that the Lord of the harvest has sent you to reap.
You can’t remain in His Kingdom hoping that someone else will carry the burden for the lost (Matthew 25:14-46). You must devote regular time in prayer and respond to the Spirit’s prompting by befriending unbelievers, even from other races and cultures.
Remember, we called-out ones have been called with a purpose: to serve our God in the process of extending His Kingdom on earth. Our mission is the loving witness and presentation of the Gospel of the Covenant. Our objective is to participate in and cooperate with our Lord in graciously fulfilling His redemptive work (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
None of us should claim rest until we see the glorification of the Name of our God throughout the entire world!
Please remember these points:

1. Both you and your family need to be clear about your collective goal in the Kingdom.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, and focus on the people for whom He penetrates your spirit with yearning to come alongside.
3. Encourage new followers of Jesus to remain in relationship with their own family and friends as much as possible. If they are excluded for their faith in Jesus, help them bear it cheerfully without bitterness as unto Him.
4. Help them to collectively establish biblical applications for their lifestyle and choices. (See our book Christian Halakhahs.)
5. Help new converts to not isolate themselves from their privilege and responsibility to represent their King to others.

A Final Note:
If you’re from another culture yourself and have received a Europeanized/ American form of Christianity, prayerfully rid yourself of the “cultural entrapments” which have so permeated religious belief and practice in this country.
Do you hunger to become a Kingdom person in loving service to the King of kings? Please, discuss with those close to you in your faith journey—your family in particular—the points we’ve shared in these Lifebytes. Prayerfully discern that which the Spirit is directing and empowering you to put into practice.