Cross-cultural

God has always used cross-cultural workers to speak the gospel with clarity into the local church. Paul as a world missionary is able to speak with gospel clarity and focus into churches' local struggles and ministry. In this pattern we can see how world missions today has a unique voice to clarify, direct, and focus the work of the American church and begin to frame how our own ministries and leadership can benefit from Christ's global mission.

To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which people ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.