I was thinking this morning about our Lord’s disciple, Thomas the Apostle.
According to ancient Christian tradition, Thomas arrived in India around 52 A.D., landing at the ancient port of Muziris on the Malabar Coast in present-day Kerala. He is credited with bringing the Gospel to India and laying the foundation for one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. It is also traditionally believed that he was martyred and buried at St. Thomas Mount near Chennai, about fifteen miles from where my wife and I lived for many years after we were married.
As I reflected on the Apostle Thomas and his ministry in India, one question kept coming to my mind.
How did he engage with the local people?
India is unlike many other places in the world. Culture and religion have been intertwined for thousands of years. Family life, festivals, weddings, clothing, food, language, customs, and daily traditions are all deeply influenced by religious beliefs. In many ways, culture and religion are woven together as a way of life. Anyone who desires to share the Gospel in India must first understand the people they are trying to reach.
Thomas certainly never changed the message of Jesus Christ, but I believe he must have understood something that every effective missionary throughout history has understood: if you truly love people, you first seek to understand them.
That thought led me to another question.
How important is cultural sensitivity within the true Body of Christ?
First and foremost, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, and by His grace, I belong to the true Body of Christ. I’m also a U.S. citizen of Indian origin, and I’ve lived in the United States for 27 years.
During those 27 years, I’ve had many opportunities to interact with people from different backgrounds. Occasionally, conversations have revealed cultural misunderstandings about pronunciation, food, careers, clothing, education, immigration, and even appearance. In my younger years, those moments often hurt deeply. But God, in His grace, has blessed me with patience and humility. Today, I try to see those moments as opportunities to build understanding, gently share my perspective, and learn from one another.
That experience has led me to ask myself:
As a follower of Christ, do I love people enough to first understand them before I seek to be understood?
Perhaps that’s a question every one of us who belongs to the Body of Christ should prayerfully consider.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:28:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Paul wasn’t saying our cultures disappear when we become Christians. Jews remained Jews. Greeks remained Greeks. What changed was that their identity in Christ became greater than their cultural identity.
One of the greatest mistakes Christians sometimes make is confusing our culture with biblical truth.
Every one of us has a culture. Americans do. Indians do. Africans do. Europeans do. Asians do. None of us are culture-free.
The Kingdom of God is bigger than all of our cultures.
Jesus demonstrated this repeatedly.
In John chapter 4, He intentionally spoke with the Samaritan woman. He crossed ethnic barriers, religious barriers, gender barriers, and social barriers without ever compromising truth.
In Matthew 8:5–13, He praised the faith of a Roman centurion, a representative of the nation occupying Israel.
Jesus never allowed prejudice to determine who deserved His love.
The Apostle Paul followed that same example.
In 1 Corinthians 9:22 he wrote:
“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Notice that Paul adapted his approach, not his message.
History confirms this principle.
Some of the most effective missionaries were those who intentionally embraced the culture of the people they served rather than expecting people to become like them.
Amy Carmichael is a wonderful example. She left Ireland and dedicated more than fifty years of her life to serving in India. She learned local languages, wore Indian clothing, respected cultural customs that did not conflict with Scripture, and immersed herself in the lives of the people she served. She didn’t ask Indians to become Irish. She introduced them to Jesus. Because she loved people enough to understand them, God used her to rescue hundreds of children from temple prostitution and establish the Donavur Fellowship, where countless lives were transformed by the Gospel.
Hudson Taylor demonstrated the same heart in China. He dressed like the Chinese people, wore his hair as they did, learned their language, embraced their customs wherever they did not conflict with God’s Word, and removed unnecessary barriers to the Gospel.
These missionaries understood something many Christians still struggle to understand.
Cultural sensitivity is not compromise.
It is love expressed through humility.
Sometimes we unintentionally wound people with comments about pronunciation, food, education, clothing, or where they come from. We may never intend to hurt them, but our words can make someone feel like they don’t fully belong in the family of God.
James 1:19 reminds us:
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
Imagine if every church practiced that verse.
Imagine if we asked questions before making assumptions.
Imagine if we listened before speaking.
Imagine if we became known for curiosity instead of criticism.
Paul also writes in Ephesians 4:29:
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Personally, I have learned that most culturally insensitive comments come from unfamiliarity rather than hatred. Most people are not trying to be hurtful. They simply have never experienced another culture.
That realization has helped me replace offense with grace.
At the same time, grace does not mean silence. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is gently educate one another.
Proverbs 15:1 reminds us:
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
As believers, we all have opportunities to learn from one another. Every culture reflects something beautiful about God’s creativity, and every culture also has areas that must be transformed by the Gospel. None of our cultures are perfect, including my own. That is why our identity in Christ must always be greater than our cultural identity.
One of the most beautiful pictures in all of Scripture is found in Revelation 7:9:
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
Heaven will not erase our diversity. It will redeem it. Every nation, every tribe, every language, and every culture will worship together before Jesus Christ.
If that is God’s picture of eternity, shouldn’t it also be our picture of the Church today?
As I think back to Thomas the Apostle arriving on the shores of India nearly two thousand years ago, I wonder if one of the reasons God used him so powerfully was because he loved the people enough to understand them. He faithfully proclaimed Jesus Christ without compromising the truth, yet he planted a church that has endured for centuries among people whose culture was vastly different from his own.
The same was true of Amy Carmichael in India and Hudson Taylor in China. They never changed the message of the Gospel, but they were willing to adapt themselves so that people could clearly see Christ instead of being distracted by cultural differences.
Perhaps there is a lesson for all of us.
Cultural sensitivity is not about political correctness.
It is not about compromising biblical truth.
It is about reflecting the heart of Christ.
Romans 12:10 tells us:
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
I continue to witness the hearts of so many young people who have a deep love for the Lord and a genuine passion for missions. That encourages me tremendously.
As a son of the Most High God, I also believe I have a responsibility. Whenever God gives me the opportunity, I want to help educate the next generation about my culture if they sense His call to serve in India. Not so they become cultural experts, but so they can become more effective ambassadors for Christ.
My prayer is that they would carry the unchanging truth of God’s Word while demonstrating the love, humility, and cultural sensitivity of Jesus Christ. May they never compromise the Gospel, but may they remove every unnecessary barrier that might prevent someone from hearing it.
And perhaps, just perhaps, that is one of the reasons Thomas left such a lasting legacy in India.
This message is not just for those who may one day serve in India. It is for every one of us. Whether God calls us across the street or across the world, may we love people enough to understand them, while never compromising the truth of His Word.
May we become people who listen more than we speak, seek to understand before being understood, and reflect the heart of Christ in every culture He places us.
This has been My 2 Cents.
Love you all in our Lord’s love.
