Jeremiah 29 and the Blueprint for Cross-Cultural Ministry
In the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet pens an infamous letter to a people living in exile. Many are quick to rush to verse 11 for God’s plans, but verses 4-7 offer first a blueprint on how to be a faithful person in a foreign land. There is instruction on how to live, how to engage the people, how to pray. In God’s Message to Missionaries and Immigrants, Luiz Cardoso brilliantly shares the insight God has given to him through this passage and a faithful life lived according to it.
God’s Message is a beautiful handbook for how to thrive in and not just survive cross-cultural ministry. Cardoso draws deeply from his own lived experience of living in different places growing up (being on a cultural island amidst a broader culture) to his missionary experience in many different countries. He rightly points out for the reader how we all filter our experience through the culture that formed us. It is good to know and celebrate our own culture, but we need to learn our new cultures when we move and the resulting transitions that occur. For when we are neither living in our original culture nor yet fully adept at our new culture, we often create a third culture in our missionary homes. Being aware means we can be present to others.
The same goes for the exile, refugee, immigrant, and those offering hospitality. Cardoso writes, “The truth is that all Christians are part of the mission to proclaim that Jesus is the Savior of the World; some will do that as doctors, others as builders, but we are all called to proclaim the virtue of a God who called us from darkness to His marvellous light.” (p10)
How to Adapt to a New Culture and Build Relationships
Knowing we all need this wisdom leads us to incarnate ourselves where we find our calling. This means we eat the food of the people we serve. Reflecting on Jeremiah’s letter in chapter 29, “When God asked people to plant a garden in exile, He was commanding them to discover what the land would produce.” And once we learn this, eat the food. Food is a critical part of the culture. If you want to show love for the immigrant or for the new culture you now reside within, its not enough just to know how and what ‘they’ eat. You must taste it and cook it yourself. The same can be true for so many cultural markers.
Of course this can lead to culture shock and living through the Honeymoon, Negotiation, Adjustment, and Adaptation phases. Luiz guides the reader through these stages for the missionary and goes on to cover the ‘re-entry’ or ‘reverse’ culture shock that occurs “when the person returns to what was once home, after spending some years in a new culture.” (p32)
Cardoso’s intent is ”to help missionaries and immigrants understand that they will be transformed in the process of acculturation.”(p40) Like Paul becoming all things to all people, so also the immigrant and missionary become more like Christ. They take on new language, intentionally live among the people, and become part of the community they have moved into.
Christian Mission Begins Where God Has Placed You
We are called in our ministry to always seek the welfare of the people who surround us – to always be ready to bless the people and the land. “Wherever you go, you continue to be God’s children; you continue to be a channel of God’s mercy and redemptive love to that people.”(p59)
Cardoso does a masterful work in drawing out how we are all witnesses where we are now, not just when we go. “Understand that you are where you are to be a witness of God, to make disciples and to help the nation to be a better place. You are there as a fulfillment of God’s plan for that country. Now, you can either help the nation and be used by God or disobey God and not be a witness.” (p63)
Prayer and Faithfulness in Cross-Cultural Ministry
Of course there will be issues in the new community. Scripture and God’s love compels us to confront all such darkness with the light of the gospel. Further, “the first and last resource for anyone who believes in Jesus should always be prayer.” (p77) Cardoso continues to offer encouragement and practical resources for all who desire to be intentional about incarnating their faith wherever they end up. “God wants to use you and me to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. He continues to send His children to be witnesses throughout the world by the power of the Spirit.”(p96)
Whether you have lived in a new location for years or are getting ready to embark; whether you have chosen the locale, were appointed, or were forced to move – Cardoso offers practical wisdom and spiritual truths for us all in following Jesus, loving our neighbor, and living out the good news. He weaves scripture, reflection, and scholarship together to form a handbook that I would highly recommend to any Christian living in a culture not one’s own.
Both the missionary and the immigrant have the high call to re-present Christ to the world. Many of us would not be where we are if it were not for the faithful who carried the faith from Jerusalem to Judea, and from Judea to Samaria, and from Samaria to the ends of the earth.
May we be faithful with our call to continue to proclaim God’s message in our time.
*This is a book review written by Joseph Seger of the book God’s Message to Missionaries and Immigrants by Luiz Cardoso. You can purchase the book here.