The mission of a Christian in the world is verbal and non-verbal, voluntary and involuntary preaching of faith, and spreading it. After His resurrection, the Lord said to the apostles: “Go and teach all the nations” (Matthew 28:16). With these words, the goal of the Christian mission was proclaimed: to spread faith and increase the number of followers of Christ. In serving to spread the Gospel and empower and encourage brothers and sisters in Christ, it is often necessary to interact with representatives of different cultures. The knowledge and use of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural communication is a vital link essential for spreading the Gospel since navigating the situation with people representing another culture is extremely important1.
The level of cognitive strategy is responsible for the metacognitive component of cultural intelligence. It allows a person to develop rules for social interaction in new cultural conditions, adapt and adjust behavior strategies to cultural characteristics2. It includes an individual level of conscious understanding of cultural peculiarities in the process of intercultural interaction3. With the help of mindfulness, the strategy is applied more specifically, for example, during the encouragement of brothers and sisters in Christ. It can be assumed that the dialogue took place with a Christian from any of the Eastern countries. There, an indirect style of communication prevails when information is not communicated directly, incredibly unpleasant. This can be difficult for the Western person, who does not understand what their parishioner wants to say. Therefore, sharing the same perspective in different styles is a strategy that every preacher should develop.
The considered aspects are necessary, first of all, for planning relationships between parishioners of different cultures. These strategies should be mandatory study for Christians living in the modern global world. The success of the preacher’s activity will depend on adequately built relationships with partners belonging to a particular culture. Cultural intelligence should contribute to forming a genuine understanding among representatives of different cultures because only in this case does a full-fledged dialogue become possible.
Bibliography
Lingenfelter, Sherwood. “Pathways to Empower.” In Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership, edited by Stella Ting-Toomey, 43-76. Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008.
Lingenfelter, Sherwood. “Leading Cross-Culturally.” In Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership, edited by Stella Ting-Toomey, 76-88. Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008.
Livermore, David. “How Can We Become Ethical Intercultural Communicators?” In Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success, edited by Soon Ang, and Linn Van Dyne, 250-265. New York: AMACOM, 2015.
Siewert, Frances, ed. Amplified Bible, Classic Edition. Michigan: Zondervan, 2015.
Footnotes
- David Livermore, “How Can We Become Ethical Intercultural Communicators?” in Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success, ed. Soon Ang, and Linn Van Dyne (New York: AMACOM, 2015), 255.
- Sherwood Lingenfelter, “Pathways to Empower,” in Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership, ed. Stella Ting-Toomey (Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008), 52.
- Sherwood Lingenfelter, “Leading Cross-Culturally,” in Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership, ed. Stella Ting-Toomey (Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008), 85.