The Diaspora Chinese Gospel: Pursuit of Success on Philippians 3:7-14
Traditional Western guilt-based culture evangelical tools are not effective when reaching out to non-Western people ingrained with an honor/shame culture, such as the Diaspora Chinese. This in-depth exegesis of Philippians 3:7-14 from the standpoint of Paul's pursuit of success, along with personal testimony, stories, and experiences from the author's life, presents a culturally relevant perspective to reach Diaspora Chinese for the Gospel. The goal of Paul's pursuit was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not worldly success. The way of his pursuit was to achieve righteousness through faith in Christ. The difference in emphasis between sin in a guilt-based culture and righteousness in an honor/shame culture is an important distinction. Paul continued his pursuit by pressing on to reach others with the message of relationship and righteousness with Christ. He focused on "one thing," the prize, his missions to reach others with the Gospel message. The Gospel message must be contextualized for the recipients but the core must never change. Contextualization is the dynamic process to deliver the Gospel message in a concrete cultural situation.