Jesus in an Ethnically Rich Environment: A Multi-Cultural Study in the Requirements for Effective, Consistent Gospel Communication in Southeast Renton, Washington

Abstract

This project arose from the desire to minister in the dominantly multicultural community of Renton, Washington. The project utilized interviews to reveal common factors that would enable gospel communication across several cultures: Filipino, Caucasian, African American, and Chinese. The scale used to develop the common factors included disquieting experiences, amorphous cultural zones, conception of “beyondness,” phenomenological triggers, soteriological metaphors, second faith, thickness of the cultural border, and the Hofstede cultural typology.

A variety of techniques were used to conceptualize the research such as cultural analysis, sociological and psychological approaches, and human resource theory in order to drive a multi-disciplinary understanding of the topic. Additionally, Meyer’s Culture Map provided a business perspective on communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing and scheduling. The combination of the data gathered from the interview transcripts and the models allowed for a variety of conclusions, including that multicultural gospel communication is possible so long as the gospel communicator remains sensitive to differences among people. The project also yielded a set of eight best practices for effective multicultural gospel communication.