The Last Twelve Feet
The Last Twelve Feet
By Steve Wilson
One evening, as I was walking in our neighborhood, I saw friends from Sudan cooking dinner in their garage. When I greeted them, they offered me a plate of food. I had already eaten and wasn’t hungry, but knowing how important it is to receive others’ hospitality, I gladly accepted.
Our family had recently returned to the United States after living and serving in Costa Rica and Mexico for about four years. We settled in a diverse neighborhood in Atlanta where students at our local elementary school represented more than 40 nations. Besides the Sudanese family, our neighbors included people from Eritrea, India, and Mexico.
Across the United States, neighborhoods are changing rapidly. In many communities, people from around the globe are living next door, and followers of Jesus increasingly find themselves forming friendships with people whose cultures and religious traditions differ from their own. People have traveled 12,000 miles and moved across the street from us. To begin loving our multicultural neighbors, we need only cross those last twelve feet, introduce ourselves, and get to know them. Cross-cultural and interfaith encounters are increasingly becoming part of ordinary life.
Pew Research Center reports that 61% of U.S. adults have at least some friends from a different religion than their own. Proximity to people of other faiths is now the rule, not the exception. Yet only about three in ten Americans say they talk about religion with anyone outside their family as often as once or twice a month.
For followers of Jesus who want to share their faith, that can raise a very practical concern: “I don’t know where to start, and I’m a little afraid of saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing.” Those fears can leave us hesitant to reach out, but we do not need to have every answer before we begin building a relationship.
We begin with a conviction that has not changed: Jesus is the good news. Across cultural differences, our goal is to point people to Him in ways they can understand. That means approaching our neighbors as learners, listening to their stories, asking thoughtful questions, and getting to know what matters to them.
Going as a Learner
When we lived in Atlanta, I walked across the street one day to visit our Indian neighbors. They welcomed me into their backyard and showed me their vegetable garden. Everything they were growing was unfamiliar to me, so I asked them about the vegetables and what advice they could offer for my own garden.
That simple conversation opened the door to an ongoing friendship. We began sharing tools, and they would stop by to ask, “Do you have this? Could we borrow it?” Those everyday exchanges gave us opportunities to talk, and little by little, we got to know one another.
They knew we were followers of Christ, and as our friendship grew, I looked for ways to share the truth about Jesus in everyday language they could understand. Because we knew their struggles and what was happening in their lives, we could speak about how the good news of Jesus offered hope in the circumstances they were facing.
A willingness to learn, an open home, and a growing friendship do not, by themselves, constitute evangelism. They do, however, help us know and love our neighbors so that we can share the good news of Jesus with sensitivity to their circumstances and discernment about when to speak. That requires attention to the cultural context of our conversations. We may need to learn unfamiliar social cues, recognize different expectations, and reconsider assumptions about how to discuss faith. Contextualizing the gospel means communicating the truth about Jesus in ways our neighbors can understand, with care for how our words and actions may be received.
Peter had to learn this, too. Though he had been close to Christ, he still needed what I call a “cross-cultural conversion experience.” He stayed in the home of Simon the tanner (Acts 9:43), whose work carried associations with ritual uncleanness. Later, he entered the home of Cornelius, accepted his hospitality, and proclaimed the good news (Acts 10:24–48).
But God was at work before Peter ever entered Cornelius’s house. Cornelius was already praying when an angel of God told him to send for Peter (Acts 10:1–8). Meanwhile, God was working in Peter, confronting assumptions that would have kept him from entering a Gentile’s home (Acts 10:9–23). By the time Peter crossed Cornelius’s threshold, God had prepared both men for the encounter.
For Peter, crossing that threshold meant crossing a boundary he had previously believed he should observe. Once inside, he acknowledged what God had shown him: “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Peter then began to speak about Jesus, and while he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon those who heard the message (Acts 10:34–44).
This was a journey for Peter, and it will be a journey for each of us, too. Crossing cultures in the name of Jesus may expose things in us that Christ still wants to transform.
Conversations That Point to Jesus
As I spend time with people from different cultures and faiths, both around the world and at home, I continue to learn how to speak about Jesus in ways that communicate good news. Whether across the globe or across the street, God faithfully guides us as we learn how to point each person to Jesus.
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus came alongside two people and asked what they were discussing as they walked. He noticed their sadness and invited them to share their story (Luke 24:17). Something holy can happen in these moments when we draw near, ask questions, and listen.
Paul offers another picture in Colossians 4:2–6. He calls followers of Jesus to devote themselves to prayer and asks them to pray for opportunities to speak about Christ. He urges them to live wisely among those who do not believe and to make the most of every opportunity. Their conversations should be gracious, so they know how to answer each person.
As my friend Jorge Acevedo has written, “Prayer creates awareness of ‘divine opportunities’ that God’s prevenient grace is preparing and is already at work in the lives of our neighbors and friends.”³
Prevenient grace means we do not bring God into an encounter with our neighbor; God is already at work before we arrive. In Acts 10, we see that grace at work in Cornelius before Peter visits, even as it prepares Peter to go. We, too, are invited to participate in what God has already begun.
Recently, on a long flight, I had a wonderful conversation with a young Muslim woman from Manchester seated in my row. We talked for hours, listening respectfully as we shared our beliefs. As I listened, I began to recognize signs of God’s work in her life—signs I could help her notice and consider.
There is much we can learn about communicating the good news to people from different religious backgrounds. As we pay attention to God and to our neighbors, we learn how to speak about Jesus in ways that connect with their particular questions, hopes, and struggles. Through prayer, listening, and gracious conversation, we can help our friends recognize the good news of Jesus in their own lives.
Crossing the Last Twelve Feet
Crossing those last twelve feet begins with a willingness to say, “I have something to learn from you.” As we listen, build trust, and come to know our neighbors, we also find opportunities to say, “I have something to offer you.” In the give-and-take of friendship, we learn how to share the good news of Jesus in ways that speak to their lives.
These everyday encounters connect us to a much larger story. God’s mission, from everywhere to everyone, is on our doorstep. We belong to the global body of Christ, and we are invited to participate in the unfinished work of making Jesus known That invitation still calls us across the globe. We need to partner with churches, sometimes 12,000 miles away, to reach people who have never heard the good news. Yet we do not have to travel far to begin following Jesus into His mission. Our next step can take us just across the street.
As we cross those last 12 feet, we may discover that God has already been preparing the way, working in our neighbors’ lives and opening our hearts to them. And we may find that our neighbor’s life is not the only one He intends to transform.
The post The Last Twelve Feet appeared first on Good News Magazine.