It is amazing to me how similar in worldview and cultural terrain Ethiopia is to the mediterranean world of the 1st century:
1. Word of mouth advertising is used for good purposes or bad. This means that word of mouth can help to plant a church as well as persecute a church.
2. Persecution is very real as many of our Ethiopian friends have experienced being beaten or thrown in jail
3. Agriculture is the main business of the day. The words of the Bible come alive as pictures of threshing wheat, harvesting, oxen plowing etc. are lived out before your very eyes
4. Belief in the supernatural is prevalent. People will turn to witchcraft in a heartbeat to cure their problems. This creates opportunities for power encounters with God.
5. Family bonds are strong. When the head of a family comes to Christ the whole family comes to Christ.
You can see why the gospel spread rapidly in the 1st century and also why it is on the move in countries south of the equator. The question is how can we see more churches planted and the gospel spread rapidly in the Northern Hemisphere? Are there opportunities in our culture which we haven't tapped into?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment