Discipleship Across Cultures

Title: Discipleship Across Cultures

Date: 6 January 2026 (8-9:30pm)

Speaker: Daniel Jesudason

Daniel and his family served with Wycliffe in Papua New Guinea for 20 years in two language groups.  Today, he is still actively serving as a pastor (part-time now), as well as in various organisations doing training and consultancy. On a personal note – he became a happy grandfather in Oct 2025!

Discipleship – Whose work is it?

Daniel dove straight into a very important point that underlies all discipleship. In Ezekiel 17:24b God said: ‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ It is God who works in the hearts of people and keeps them faithful and growing spiritually. Daniel recounted a miracle earlier in his life where 30 teenaged boys prayed to receive Christ but he did not have an opportunity to follow up any of them. He was worried that they would not be discipled. By chance, 33 years later, he met one of them who is now an active and contributing church member. God preserved His own!

What is “Christian” behaviour?

Daniel asked everyone to state how a person could prove that he is a disciple of Jesus. What behaviour would display the actual intent of the heart? He gave the example of the poor widow who gave so little in her offering – some people would see her as unspiritual. But we all know what the Lord Jesus thought of her! 

He pointed out that although behaviour can be an indication of motivation, the same behaviour could also be the result of wrong motivation. Behaviour is also highly linked to cultural preferences and practices. When serving cross-culturally, we need to be discerning about what are biblical principles and what are our own preferences, and refrain from imposing behaviours from our own cultural context on other cultures.

The betel nut dilemma

Daniel said that, in certain contexts, local believers should be the ones to make decisions about what their church should and should not do. He used the example of betel nut chewing. Although betel nut is carcinogenic, for the Umanakaina people, chewing betel nut is common. Moreover, sharing betel nut is also used as a way to show forgiveness in their culture. Disallowing this would in effect be removing the way to show forgiveness. Should cross-cultural workers discourage or forbid the chewing of betel nut on health grounds? Daniel said that he and other Christian workers decided not to intervene. 

The local church eventually came to a decision that Christians could chew betel nut in the context of reconciliation and showing forgiveness, but they would not to encourage it for other reasons. The main learning point here was that local Christians should be allowed to discuss and come to a conclusion without outside interference. In order for them to do this, they need to have access to the Word of God in a language they understand well – that’s why Bible translation is needed! Patience is also required – these decisions can take years of Bible study and prayer, and will not be instantaneous.

Betel nut