[Intercultural Communication: "Biblical Foundations of Intercultural Engagement", 3-26-2026

(Created in) God’s image (“Imago Dei”) mentioned in Genesis 1:27 to me means that we are all spiritual children of the Creator Almighty God, which means that each individual no matter what gender, nationality, creed or religion (outside the Christian values, norms and worldview to begin with) is naturally entitled a due dignity, respect, rights, and liberty/freedom befitting a human being—“Imago Dei”, indeed. Mingle that with the human’s destiny to co-rule and co-manage the ever-so evolving and -interacted globalized world we live in in this day and age of the 21^st century with other human beings with vast array of backgrounds in culture in particular  in accord needed harmony, peace, love and care, then we as born-again Christians and disciples of Christ deeply understand the need to follow and keep the Two Greatest Commandments given to us (cf. Deut. 6:5; Lev.19:18; Matt. 22:37-40) as in “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)—ever more so than perhaps in any point in the history of mankind (Let’s remind ourselves that at the time of the construction of the Tower of Babel, at least the world language was one).

The aforementioned biblical references plus the “love chapter” from 1 Cor 13, the “faith chapter” in Hebrew 11 et al serve as the biblical foundations/principles to drive and “ “guide my communication, posture, and presence in diverse cultural settings” of today’s world. But let’s  first recognize this very fact:

first of all, I am amazed and glad that Liberty University even offers a course of this nature and contents to its students. That is awesome, and it speaks volumes about the greatness, dynamic, Christocentric, and biblically oriented nature of the wholesome Liberty education. Kudos to the administration, faculty, and everyone else involved as Ting-Toomey and Chung point out, “with enhanced cultural and personal awareness, we can extend our newfound knowledge to engage in diversity and “otherness” with more understanding, patience, and even empathy.”[1]

In essence, however, I must say that my whole life, the entire being that I am as I strive to live every day in likeness of Christ my Savior and Lord is the sole motivation, testament and reason for my desire and wish for accountable, peaceful and responsible co-living with all other members belonging to the Intercultural Community at large: it is not just a few or random biblical passages or verses which drive and guide me towards that goal: it truly entails everything that I am, have gone through, and  have learned and incorporated into my own existence on earth thus far: to be more like Jesus as I relate to the Lord and my neighbors. To live holy, humbly, and lovingly to reflect Jesus within me to other people who would need to see Jesus and God’s love through me. Of course, I am not successful all the time.

Also, it is not some cultural curiosity, fad or passing whims which might motivate or made me act in some favorable or positive ways as Ting-Toomey and Chung write that “(pop culture) It gives us a snapshot of our life, what we consume, and what we love in the moment, present time frame. These artifacts can have sustaining power or die off. The cycle has the ability to repeat itself in a reboot decades later. The beauty of pop culture is that it is ever-evolving, revolving, and all-consuming. In this context, U.S. popular culture tends to dominate the global market.”[2] It was interesting to see that when I joined a certain local church here some years ago where I currently live that some Korean Culture Wave-bitten members belonging to non-Asian cultural background started to gravitate towards me and my wife due to the seemingly unsatiable appetite for anything Korean at the time—K-drama, K-music, K-food, BTS, you name it. I always looked at their curiosity and approach with skepticism, concerns and doubts as such behaviors are not borne out of biblically driven motive. True disciple of Christ is beyond such passing pop cultural  fad and phenomenon as their love for neighbors is based on godly selfless love.

Well, unlike the first fifteen years of my life which I lived in S. Korea, I knew that America was a “melting pot” as soon as we touched down on the Seattle International Airport in 1983 to rejoin my pastor dad who came to America 1.5 years ahead of: he was then living in the small town called the Tri-Cirties in the state of Washington, about 4.5 hours’ drive away from Seattle pastoring a small Korean American congregation in a town called Kennewick. We all know that America was, is and will be continuously built on the influx of new immigrants and groups of people from vast different cultural backgrounds as the natives welcome them here. That has been the identify of America since the very first time when Columbus touched town on the soils of the  New World or the Pilgrims came onshore on the Rock of Plymouth.

Well, in the passing decades I have had numerous intercultural encounters in the states as any  regular citizen of Ameira would have had: I have learned to incorporate into my own life the loving, fostering, understanding, considerate, encouraging, living peacefully, repenting, forgiving characteristics as we together build and leave a better world to live in to the next group of generations to come forth in this country. Even though I can relate to and connect deeply with some of the cultural mistreatments which Professor Tim Chang had encountered as fellow Korean American, truthfully though, I cannot claim to be a victim of intercultural bigotry all the time. What about me? At least I have noted how some members of my own Korean American community misbehave or talk disparagingly toward some other ethnic group(s) while being Christian at all. That bothered me deeply. At times I confronted such individuals and tried to correct them.

To be honest, what I wrestle the most (mentally/psychologically) with are the hypocrisy, bigotry, and racism/ethnic supremacy at the hands of fellow Christians or built-in Christian establishment, who treat them as if “business as usual” as they hush it up, or try to sweep it in under the rug as if nothing happened so to speak: we all know they exist within our own spheres.

Now as I am both much older and wiser, I am grateful as I have already begun to celebrate the very intercultural, inter-racial and inter-ethnic nature and components which are built within the very fabric of my own family members now: the thing is that the second generation of my own immediate family in persons of my nephews and nieces have married outside “our own Korean race” as they married or dated people from mixed race background, white, black, Southeast Asian origin, and whatnot—you name it. I can truly say that my own family is the embodiment of the United Nations on display. And that seems to serve towards easing or alleviating some of the pangs, headaches or heartaches which I might have suffered or had to deal with. In essence, one cannot  dwell on it since it is unhealthy and unproductive, but we all have to recognize the dignity and equal values of every single human being—even the unsaved ones—since doing that is what God intends us to live our lives according to His bountiful Grace and Providence. We all came from one original parent—Adam and Eve. Plus, and there are far too many good people in this world in intercultural relationships who continue to amaze us, bless and enrich our lives in Christ the Lord. Hey, at times I have had intercultural clashes with my own wife who is a through and through S. Korean born, raised and educated person. Bilateral Communication accompanied by earnest prayer is essential in breaking down some of the intercultural misunderstandings.

[1] Stella Ting-Toomey, Leeva C. Chung, Understanding Intercultural Communication, (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 18.

[2] Ibid., 20.

**My response to someone named Mercy:

Dear Mercy,

Thanks for your thoughtful and insightful post: I really enjoyed reading it and I felt some kind of similarity to my own life story and a certain level of camaraderie too as a fellow “fresh off the boat” immigrant.  God bless you and your loved ones as I wish you a blessed and successful life/transition and career in this adopted country of ours.

First of all, I really liked how you emphasize agape love and the fruits of the holy spirit as in “patience, kindness, not envious, not boastful, not proud, respectful, selfless, not easily angered, forgiving, truthful, righteous, protective, trusting, hopeful, and persevering” as your guiding principles in intercultural relationships. And prayer too! That last part is really important, you know. And that is one aspect of Liberty U education/experience which I can personally appreciate as well as apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17; Mark 11:24; Colossians 4:2). Unfortunately, not too many Christian-oriented seminaries/university would say or emphasize that prayerful and the Spirit-filled daily living is the central activity/focus of our Christian life AND practice it too. When asked about it, most would be non-committal and often just equivocate or babble away. The comforts and lackadaisical lifestyle of the 21^st century might be one contributing factor.

Secondly, let me tell you about my own experience dealing with the Halloween thing: I look at the custom of celebrating the Halloween as how S. Korean Christians still venerate their dead ancestors through the rites called “Jesa” on the anniversary of their birth (sometimes on the date of their passing through actual worship service), which is exactly that: honoring the dead evil spirits. I found out a long ago that when the living descendants are performing the rite of “Jesa” giving homage to their dead ancestors, the actual invisible spirit entities which do visit the site/rite and enjoy the veneration are none other than the demonic spirits themselves, which scoff and mock at the follies and idol worship of the humans. That was the reason why I got rid of my own household’s worship service in honor of my deceased pastor dad one year after his passing  long ago in year 2004. Guess my utter surprise when I first joined a local church here several years ago when the whole church seemed to be celebrating the Halloween-related activity! As David Livermore writes, “Most leadership advice is biased: despite the compelling evidence for why leaders need cultural need cultural intelligence, a great deal of leadership advice is written as if everyone wants to be led the same way. It often includes kernels of truth; but leading with cultural intelligence begins by critically rethinking a lot of what passes as essential leadership advice in light of the diverse people and contexts you lead...”[1] How true that statement is: if we educate the leaders properly, then our whole society and the Christendom at large will greatly benefit, and that is the primary reason why Satan is after the leadership within our own church to corrupt and make them fall at first. Then the domino effects would follow as it sweeps across the rest of the unsuspecting congregations and the blindsided followers. One thing Prof. Harper did make me rethink when I watched her lecture video was that “there should be an expanded emphasis on intercultural differences between different generations/age groups.”[2] Absolutely. As I told to my octogenarian mom after visiting her several weeks ago, “Mom, as you get older, I find you to be acting like a little girl, almost a little child to some extent.” My mom agreed. I should be a lot kinder, gentler, and nicer to my own mom, who has shown a tremendous amount of selfless love, devotion, godly love to me throughout her entire mothership. She is still the one who prays most for me excluding my own wife, I’d bet.

Blessings, Mercy. Take care.

Joo Won

[1] David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Leadership, 2024), 20.

[2] Melody Harper, “Why Intercultural Communication and Engagement?” (video lecture in GICE 650 at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, March 26, 2026).

**My response to someone named Leslie:

Dear Leslie,

I enjoyed reading your post: it is a straightforward and honest narrative of your real life as you recollected some “misfired” verbiage in one particular intercultural encounter at your own workplace, which upset a co-worker of yours with Muslim background. I would bet that that is rather a common occurrence in our neighborhood these days as we welcome more people groups of Isam cultural background inside the borders. And as you alluded to, I’d bet that in some cases the intent and purpose of initiated verbal delivery were purely neutral, if not honorable, but inoffensive nor invidious at all too. It is just that at the receiving end, the message might have been rather intensely interpreted, unfortunately. The power balance swings in your favor heavily, and the individual at the other extreme naturally feels somewhat mistreated or being victimized. That is normal despite the fact that they are wrong to believe so.

Couple observations:

As you said, “Since God loved everyone in the world enough to send His Son to die on a cross for our sins so that we might live eternally with Him (John 3:16), the first biblical principle that should guide me as I interact with people from different cultural backgrounds is to love people as God has loved me. I agree with the assertion Dr. Harper made that it should be Christians who lead the way in intercultural communications.[3] I need to imitate the love of God to others across the diverse cultures both in the church and in the community (Eph. 5:1-2). Amen. That is actually one of my favorite verses in the entire bible. When we Christians fail to deliver the message of God’s love towards our neighbors as the salt and light of the world, the entire world loses hope and vision for tomorrow. You know, the work of evangelism is really HARD. But every little act of kindness, considerateness, love and care shown to an unbelieving person of different cultural/religious background could pay dividends one day. As the Lord reminded us all, “For the Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost,” (Luke 19:10) and “How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone away?” (Matt. 18:12): for whatever geopolitical reasons, the US has turned into mission fields where we can easily reach out and evangelize to the various unbelieving people of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Personally, imo, the best-timed and opportune time and place might be when we the evangelists visit and make the initial contacts when they are vulnerable and are in most need as in refugee camps or at the first settlement stage. Once passed that, then they might be content in going back to what they feel the most comfortable with—amongst their own brethren of unbelieving faith and whatnot.

Yes, absolutely: intercultural communication involves groups/individuals of different generations, regions, locales as well as prof. Harper elaborated in her lecture video. I still cannot sometimes get over my perhaps inbuilt notion/generalization of how I at times view/regard the locals here where I currently live. But I have meant well to them all along. Years ago. It is actually a reflexive action, unconscious if anything.

Well, even though I strive with every fiber in my entire being to treat every single person that I come in contact with due dignity and considerateness befitting a human being created in God’s Image, every once in a while the encounter does not go as nicely as I expect or intend to. It gets off the track rather quickly when the other party rather misbehaves toward you or mistreats you at first contact in a way that you feel disrespected, slighted, belittled, or plain rude. Oh well, I think it over, relive the moments, would repent and try to rehab my thinking as I think of my own Savior and Lord: how he came to earth born in a manger of all places, dying for me on the cross… the resurrection, the ascension, and the Parousia. Then I become humbled to the point of groveling to my inner conscientious self in self-purge and -cleansing. Oh Lord, please restore me…

As Ting-Tommey and Chung write, “the diverse workforce represents opportunities and challenges for individuals and organizations. Individuals at the forefront of workplace diversity must rise to the challenge of serving as both global employee and transformative change leader (McNulty & Brewster, 2020)”[1], we do have a whole new brave world out there as the third world countries are literally being brought to us closer right in our backyard: as the ambassadors of the Word for His heavenly kingdom, let’s not waste our golden opportunities. So help us God dear Lord.

[1] Stella Ting-Toomey, Leeva C. Chung, Understanding Intercultural Communication, (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 9.