In order to share the gospel, it is necessary to learn about the culture of the person you are talking to.

Here are some practical Tools for Understanding
   The onion diagram starts with what you can see and helps you infer what you cannot see.
   Life Activity Charts help you sort out what is secular and what is sacred
   Tendency pairs (see below) help you recognize a person's priorities.

Insights from students' interviews:
   Understanding local government
   Understanding local customs

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About Tendency Pairs

Anthropologists have discovered many areas in with people may tend toward one extreme or another. For example, some societies give prominence to the desires of the individual, while others expect the individual to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the group (whether family or village).

Most people are found somewhere between the two extremes of the pair. Most people in a given society will tend toward one or the other extreme, but there also will be people who do not fit in with their own society's norms. You need to both understand the general trend of the society you are in, and also the specific tendencies of the individual you are sharing with. It helps if you have thought about where your society fits on these pairs, and how you as an individual compare to the norms of your society. If the person you are sharing with is different from you, it takes effort on your part to accept that person as he is, and to deal with him on his own customs.

Here are some of the common tendency pairs. Can you think of more?

individual/community
direct/indirect
material/spiritual
time oriented/event oriented
rule by eldest/rule by most suitable
democratic/authoritarian

For a more detailed explanation, see the book Ministering Cross-Culturally, an incarnational model for Personal Relationships, by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter and Marvin K. Mayers.