This article by Jackson Wu provides four keys to communicating the Gospel to people from honour/shame cultures.
Traditional presentations mainly use legal language, focus on individuals, stress the futility of works, and appeal to people’s fear of pain, whether physical or psychological. I didn’t do that.
Instead, I highlighted a basic but often overlooked fact: honor and shame are inherent to the gospel.
What’s more, humans have a basic desire for honor. Everyone wants to be accepted and even praised by others. So-called “honor-shame” cultures exist in the East and the West.
With this mind, we should rethink how we do evangelism. If honor-shame remains a blind spot, we won’t see fully how the gospel addresses the needs of all people. Therefore, I will mention four key ideas for sharing the gospel in honor-shame cultures.
Wu expands on these four headings in the article:
1. People
Focus more on who people are, not simply what they do.
2. Praise
Find out whom it is that people most want to please. Whose praise (or criticism) do they care about?
3. Power
To whom do people give their allegiance? Whom do they follow? For whom do they generally conform?
4. Practical
Show people the gospel makes a practical difference.
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