Our VLI class in evangelism has been discussing the need to be culturally sensitive. And I came across an article today that explains this perfectly -- in the context of explaining why some women get mammograms more often than others!
The article was available online from Reuters, quoting from the journal Cancer, June 1, 2004.
To improve mammogram rates, it is important not to lump together all women of the same racial or ethnic group, according to Magai.
"For example, there are various sub-groups of black women, including U.S.-born African-Americans, Jamaicans, Haitians, Trinidadians, Nigerians, South Africans," Magai told Reuters Health.
"To assume that they all share identical social histories and cultural values, beliefs and attitudes would be a mistake, yet much medical research is not yet aware or tuned in to this kind of intercultural variation," she said.
To encourage more women to get mammograms, "we must understand and address the particular groups we want to reach in their own cultural language," Magai said.
So if we just make a small change in that quotation, and replace 'mammogram' with 'evangelism', we'll have a good approach!
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