Simon Cox Blog: Use Globalization for the Gospel

Thursday 5 October 2017

Use Globalization for the Gospel

The four corners of the world are now in your neighborhood.

Although Dubai is an Arabian city on the Persian Gulf, there are still Starbucks everywhere. Within these coffee shops you find a microcosm of the city. Women—fully covered in black abaya robes and head scarfs covering every strand of hair—chatter at one table, while a mixed male and female group of Europeans with bare legs and shoulders sit at the next. Talk about a culture-clash! But no one seems to notice because diversity is all over our city.

If you look closely, you’ll find diversity in your city also. In America, I’ve met an Iranian woman in Target, a Bangladeshi at Whole Foods, and a friendly Egyptian working at LAX. We only have to open our eyes to find diversity in our own hometowns. Globalization has presented all of us with remarkable opportunities to meet people from the four corners of the world and share the good news of Jesus with them. People who know nothing of the God of the Bible are coming to a town near us. It can be our privilege to tell them about him.

There are so many ways to build friendships with internationals, who are likely craving relationship because they have left so many behind.

Welcome a college student from China into your home for meals on weekends and holidays.
Get your church involved in assisting Somali immigrants with their needs in that nearby apartment complex.
Be a language partner, helping an Afghan friend learn better English.
Take a meal to the Indian family down the street.
Arrange a play date with your child’s East Asian friend and invite her mother over.
Frequent a park in your neighborhood where Middle Easterners hang out and engage them in friendship.
Invite your Eastern European friend to an evangelical church to hear the gospel preached.

It’s ...