People, not projects: Rethinking cross-cultural evangelism
Guest Blog from Rebekah Carter, PR & Marketing Manager, London City Mission
What if the biggest barrier to evangelism isn’t hostility to Christianity, or even disinterest?
What if the biggest barrier to sharing the gospel is us?
Often, we can easily slip into giving the impression that following Jesus means adopting a particular culture or way of life. We invite people into our churches, our traditions, our social norms without asking ourselves if we’re making it harder for them to encounter Jesus.
Coffee and croissants before the service; hands in the air during worship; pub lunch after church…
None of these things are wrong. But when church culture becomes so familiar to us that we mistake it for Christianity itself, we can unintentionally place obstacles in the way of people encountering Jesus.
Cross-cultural welcome in particular can feel intimidating. What if we say the wrong thing? What if we don't understand someone's background? What if our efforts cause offence rather than opening doors?
These are questions many Christians wrestle with today. As our communities become increasingly diverse, churches have an opportunity not simply to welcome people from different backgrounds, but to become genuinely cross-cultural communities where everyone can encounter Jesus and belong. In many parts of the UK, crossing cultural boundaries is no longer a specialist ministry; it's part of everyday Christian witness.
We’ve been reflecting on this challenge a lot at London City Mission, and were delighted to be joined by Natalie Williams, CEO of Jubilee+, Kumar Rajagopalan and host Jason Roach on a recent episode of our Everyday Evangelism podcast. Through their discussion, a number of themes emerge that can help us share our faith with greater humility, confidence and love.
1. See people, not projects
"Don't see people as evangelism projects. See them as people. They've got needs. They've got lives. They've got pressures. They've got joys."
Kumar is right. It's a simple statement, but one that gets to the heart of so many barriers we unintentionally create.
When we see evangelism primarily as a task, people can quickly sense it. Conversations become transactional and we begin looking for opportunities to deliver a message rather than taking time to understand a person.
Genuine friendship lies at the heart of meaningful evangelism. Trust takes time. People rarely open up about their deepest questions, struggles or beliefs after a single conversation. More often, those opportunities emerge after months or years of consistent presence.
At London City Mission, we've seen this repeatedly. Many of the most fruitful gospel conversations happen after believers have demonstrated a long-term love and commitment to a community. It's often only after repeated acts of kindness, care and friendship that people become willing to explore deeper questions of faith.
This mirrors the example of Jesus himself. He didn't simply deliver truths from a distance. He entered people's lives, ate in their homes, listened to their stories and shared in their joys and sorrows.
As Natalie reflected: "I can learn from every single person because they're made in the image of God."
That posture of humility changes everything. It shifts us from seeing ourselves as the ones with all the answers to recognising that every encounter is an opportunity both to share and to learn.
2. The gospel is not a culture
Yet even when our motives are good, another barrier can emerge. We can end up presenting our culture alongside the gospel, making it difficult for others to distinguish between following Jesus and becoming like us.
One of the most important distinctions we need to recover is the difference between Christianity and culture. Many Christians from non-traditional church backgrounds describe feeling pressure, whether intentional or not, to adopt the culture of the majority alongside their faith.
As Natalie put it: "I started to think being a Christian means I conform to the image of the majority rather than I conform to the image of Christ Jesus."
That distinction is crucial.
Too often, we can unintentionally communicate that following Jesus means adopting particular cultural norms, social expectations or lifestyles. Instead, Scripture paints a wonderfully diverse picture. The gospel gathers people from every tribe, language, people and nation, not by erasing their identities, but by bringing them together under Christ.
Healthy cross-cultural churches don't require people to leave their cultural identity at the door; they create space for cultural differences to be recognised, valued and redeemed under the Lordship of Jesus.
Of course, this is a challenge. It feels uncomfortable to enter into someone else’s culture, especially if we’re unfamiliar with it.
Jason Roach, host of the podcast and our Director of Ministries, tells a beautiful story in his recent booklet on becoming a cross cultural Church. A friend of his recently moved to a South London council estate, aware that his new community was a melting pot of different cultures. Keen to get to know his neighbours and invite them to church, he realised it was a particular struggle to connect with the local working classes. Their paths crossed less.
He knew that the local pub was a social hub for a significant number of them, and while that setting wasn’t his personal preference, he decided to head there to meet with them. Over time, he pushed through the awkwardness and joined the conversations, the laughter, the game of pool… Gradually, he has become a trusted member of the local community – still different, but known and confided in.
Cross-cultural witness often begins not with getting others into our spaces, but by entering theirs.
As Natalie put it: "The onus should be on me to be the one who's uncomfortable, not on them."
3. Share your life, not just your message
One verse frequently quoted at London City Mission comes from 1 Thessalonians 2, where Paul writes that he shared not only the gospel but his life as well. It's a principle that has shaped Christian witness throughout the centuries.
Rather than relying solely on presentations, programmes or persuasive arguments, we need to be willing to share our ongoing relationship with Jesus.
Natalie described increasingly talking with friends and family about what God is doing in her life right now, including answered prayers, disappointments, struggles and moments of joy.
That kind of witness feels authentic because it is authentic.
Similarly, Kumar spoke about praying with family members, walking with them through illness and grief, and allowing spiritual conversations to emerge naturally from those relationships.
People may argue with our opinions. They may reject our beliefs. But it's harder to dismiss a lived experience of faith that is marked by love, consistency and hope.
Many people are already asking profound spiritual questions, particularly around suffering, loss, purpose and death. Often, what they need isn't someone arriving with assumptions about their problems, but rather someone prepared to walk alongside them and point them to Jesus in the midst of real life.
A challenge for us all
A good place to start is with a simple question: who is in your friendship circle?
Natalie offers a practical challenge: "Look at your friendship circle and widen it."
Not simply becoming friendly with people who are different from us, but genuinely allowing them into our lives and stepping into theirs.
That challenge resonates deeply with the vision behind London City Mission's cross-cultural work. Mission and evangelism depends on us crossing boundaries, taking steps out of our comfort zones to meet with real people, crossing boundaries of ethnicity, class, language, culture and religion with humility, courage and love.
Not because people are projects. Not because we have all the answers. But because Jesus, who went before us, crossed the greatest divide to reach us.
These themes are explored in greater depth in London City Mission's Everyday Evangelism podcast episode, How to Share Your Faith Across Cultural and Religious Backgrounds, featuring Natalie Williams and Kumar Rajagopalan.
You can also explore London City Mission's free cross-cultural resources, including our church leader's guide, designed to help churches become communities where people from every background can encounter Christ and belong at lcm.co.uk/crosscultural
*Opinions expressed in guest posts are those of the author, and do not represent any official position held by Jubilee+.*