Christianity Across Cultures

Sunday, I had that experience again. I went to a church service in a language I did not know. While I didn’t understand much, I was never lost. I knew generally what was going on. I could tell what the various elements were as they happened. I participated. I worshiped. I felt belonging.

This time around it was a French service. My command of English, Spanish, and German helped me understand enough words to have a general idea about what was being communicated. My familiarity with scripture helped even more. Despite the cultural and traditional differences, every church in every country I have been in is a part of the same worldwide family. Biblical churches obsess about the same issue—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a follower of Jesus, you can go to just about any city in any country and find a people where you belong. We are family. That is why too, it is so jarring when you encounter people claiming to be about Jesus, when they are off. Cults and offshoots that make Jesus and Christianity out to be something other than what the Bible, and what Jesus was all about.

And, surprisingly (or maybe not), it is in the places where Christianity is most saturated that you run into more rip-offs. When it is culturally acceptable, or even advantageous to be a Christian, more people claim it and skew it.