The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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Artificial Intelligence in Cross-Cultural Evangelism: Bridging Language and Cultural Barriers
Emmanuel Actor OYEWOLE, PhD
Bishop Crowther College of Theology, Okene (An Affiliate of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo)
[email protected], +2348062463429
Abstract
The propagation of the gospel across geographical landscape of the world in an attempt to actualize
world evangelization has been met with cultural and language barriers. Evangelists and missionaries
who go about proclaiming the good news come across diverse and different cultures and languages
which are alien to theirs thereby posing significant barriers to their evangelistic strides. However, the
introduction and application of Artificial Intelligence in evangelistic endeavours has mitigated such
barriers since it helps in generating human language and interpreting speech, and at the same time
identifying cultural objects and values, thereby bridging language and cultural barriers. Artificial
intelligence has aided the dissemination of the gospel socially and geographically across the globe
because of the bridging gap it provided culturally and linguistically. Many authors have written on
artificial intelligence, but this paper focuses on the strategic application of the use of Artificial
intelligence in resolving language and cultural barriers which are usually encountered by missionaries
and evangelists when proclaiming the good news across cultures of the world. Using historical and
sociological methods to gather adequate and relevant information for this work and data analysed, it is
evident that artificial intelligence helps to bridge language and cultural barriers in cross-cultural
evangelism. Hence, the researcher posits and recommends that every evangelist or missionary who
embarks on the proclamation of the gospel should avail himself or herself of the use of Artificial
Intelligence during such enterprise so as to curb and curtail language and cultural barriers in cross-
cultural evangelism.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Cross- Cultural Evangelism. Language, Barriers
Introduction
Digital globalization in this present dispensation of our contemporary world has brought great and
tremendous digital technological innovations with enviable and indispensable breakthroughs that are
relevant in many spheres of human endeavours. These developments cut across bio-medicine, science and
technology, political landscape, natural and social sciences, academics, together with other areas of human
endeavours. It is worthy of note that Artificial intelligence which is partly the focus of this paper is one of
the dimensions of digital technological innovations which has widely and critically helped in alleviating
human travails which have plunged humanity into rigorous labour in areas such as road constructions, auto
industries, road traffic controls, manufacturing sector, generating human languages, interpretation of
speeches, identification of objects, processing large amount of data or information etc. These tasks are
basically and traditionally human oriented and inclined but they are highly tedious and laborious and time
consuming. However, by the advent and introduction of Artificial Intelligence; which is the ability of a digital
computer or computer- controlled robot to carry out or perform task or function that are commonly
associated with intelligent human beings (Collins, 1987) has brought great usefulness when applied, it
performs tasks with speed and efficiency. Since artificial intelligence performs tasks such as; interpretation
of speech, generating human language, making predictions, identifying objects, processing large amount of
data, this has made it to become bed-fellow and partner in progress in evangelism and missionary strides.
Evangelism is one of the core aspects of this paper “is the proclamation of salvation in Christ Jesus to those
who do not believe in Him, calling them to repentance and conversion, announcing forgiveness of sin, and
inviting them to become living members of Christ’s earthly community and to begin a life of service to others
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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in the power of the Holy Spirit” (Bosch, 2013, pp. 2-12). This proclamation is global, it cuts across
geographical landscapes, from family to another, from one ethnic group to another, from one culture to
another, from one language to another, from one society to another, from one nation to another, it is a
worldwide evangelization. The world evangelist now stands between two worlds, having Artificial
Intelligence in one side which he needs to harness and use to convey the gospel to the society in the other
side. “We stand between two worlds” (Stott, 1982, p. 7). This gospel message which is preached to the society
should be done in a context because the world comprises of the society that is full of people if different
cultural context, hence, the gospel message needs to be passed or preached to them in a culturally relevant
way. This will enhance easy understanding and conviction, which will make them to embrace the message
quickly. The audience or congregation to whom the gospel is preached to should have the gospel message
in their life experiences and natural lifestyles and this will make it to be very explicit to them. “It is the
explication of Scripture unfolding its natural and true meaning, while making application to the life
experience of the congregation” (Calvin, 1989, pp. 32, 34). Artificial Intelligence will be appropriate and
useful in generating contents such as visual aids which will help in contextualizing the gospel message for
the better understanding of the people in their cultural experience. Taking the gospel from one place to
another, from one culture to another will require tenacity and every instrumentality so as to impress it into
the hearts of the hearers who view the gospel as alien or foreign to them. This perception of the gospel makes
people of certain cultural background and heritage to be repulsive. Therefore, the necessity is laid on the
evangelist or preacher to be agile and to use every means to pass the gospel for their acceptance.
Martin Luther (1953) rightly opines to the fact that the heart and the flesh are not easily yielding to the word
of God,
The gospel cannot be beaten into our ears enough or too much. Yes, though we learn it and
understand it well, yet there is no one who takes hold or it perfectly or believes it with all his heart,
so frail a thing is our flesh and disobedient to the Spirit (p. 40).
Versatility and proficiency in several languages are very vital in cross-cultural evangelism if missionaries
and evangelists are to be productive and result oriented. Language barriers which arise as a result of the
missionary or evangelist unable to use the language of the locals in another culture to pass the gospel to them
can be mitigated with the use of Artificial Intelligence. The symbiotic relationship between missionaries and
Artificial Intelligence has made cross-cultural evangelism easier and fruitful, since the use of artificial
intelligence has helped to bridge language and cultural barriers. Although many authors have written about
Artificial Intelligence, but this paper focuses on the strategic application of Artificial Intelligence in cross-
cultural evangelism which has actually helped in bridging language and cultural barriers. With the
foregoing, we shall now discuss on key terms of the title of this paper.
Artificial Intelligence
The evolving dynamics in the use of Artificial intelligence globally is unprecedented. According to Collins
(1987), Artificial Intelligence “is the study of how to make computers work in an intelligent way, to do things
that humans do, especially in the areas of language, vision, and movement.” (p. 70). Although, human beings
are created beings, but they are undoubtedly intelligent beings, that is, they have “the ability to understand,
learn, and think things out quickly and well” (p. 759). It is worth stating that the word intelligence, which is
the “ability to understand, learn, and think things out quickly” (p. 759), when categorized outside human
intelligent beings, falls under the category of ‘digital technologies,’ and these include digital content creations
like computer machines, it also includes Information Communication technologies, etc. Amazingly, all these
developments originated and emanated from how the creator of the universe had designed it from the advent
of creation as enshrined in the Bible, but before delving into the Scripture about this concept, many experts
have made their inputs about these thinking machines which function just as human intelligence thinking
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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ability. Of such expert was John McCarthy who Marr (2018) wrote about and cited by Afunugo and Molokwu
(2024),
That Artificial Intelligence is a term coined by John McCarthy in 1956 at a summer workshop he
referred to as Dark Mouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence … Owing to the fact that
up to that point, the concepts surrounding “Thinking Machines” were still divergent, the researchers
summoned by McCarthy rallied together to clarify and develop concepts pertinent to Thinking
Machines … That McCarthy chose the name Artificial Intelligence because of its neutrality in order to
avoid punctuating one of the needs being pursued at that time for the field of “Thinking Machines”
which includes cybernetics, automation theory and complex information processing … That the
essence of Artificial Intelligence as computer system in utilization of human reasoning as a guide to
proffer superior services or actualize exceptional products other than trying to achieve a perfect replica
of the human rationality and mindset. Thus human rationality is adopted as a model in the evolution
of Artificial Intelligence but not actually the ultimate target (p. 90).
Considering this concept from the Scriptural perspective, the Creator who created and fashioned man had
made him in his own image, Genesis 1: 24-30, and put the creative tendency in man hence, man becomes
divinity, Psalm 82:6, which made man to have vast wisdom and ability or the capacity for scientific inventions
and innovations. This creative input or seed which God had deposited in man gives man the capability to
build scientific- technological machines and gadgets and are able to come up with innovations such as
automated machines. Man has the ability to make abstractions, with the tendency and ability of creating and
even to recreate the universe, he is endowed with wisdom, rationality, intuition, etc. Nkemnka (2010) has
posited that, man would not have been able to invent or achieve this great feat of innovations if not for the
fact that the divine seed of the creator was deposited in human beings and was consequently impressed in
man of all the created order (487-508). Russell (1973) affirms that, “Man is a divine, immortal, invisible soul
that centres a visible, physical body which consists solely of thought waves of motion, created for the purpose
of manifesting Divinity. Man’s divine, immortal soul is ONE with the Creator of the universe” (p. 15). Since
man is able to make intelligence that is artificial, definitely, man now stands as the spiritual intelligence in
place of God on planet earth to continue and advance his creative work and man has been playing this vital
role. Russell (1973) posits this by saying “Man is the spiritual intelligence of the ONE MIND of the Creator
of all things, which centres the body as a seat of consciousness. And within man’s soul is the desire to create
a body in the form of man’s imagination” (p. 15). These imaginative abilities or powers become veritable
tools with which man’s creative potentials metamorphosed into invention of machines and substances or
bodies such as robots computers, together with other intelligent gadgets that can perform task like humans.
In the same vein, many authors such as Hassan, Aimughyirah, Gaber, Kamel, etc., maintained that Artificial
Intelligence is a field of science which seeks to develop computer systems with a level of efficiency which is
similar to that of an expert human.(2003, p. 73-96) This creative energy or force propelled man to invent
gadgets that can generate human languages and gadgets that can interpret human speeches, gadgets that
can identify objects, together with gadgets or machines that can process a large amount of data within a short
interval, which ordinarily would have taken man’s intelligence hours or days to accomplish. These
mentioned roles by artificial intelligence are all very significant and useful in cross-cultural evangelism. As
missionaries and evangelists cross from one culture to another and are faced with language barriers, Artificial
Intelligence helps in translation of languages and interpret various speeches encountered for easy
communication of the gospel and equally brings smooth interaction between the missionaries and people in
their local cultural settings. Artificial Intelligence helps in the identification of cultural objects and values and
equally helps in interpreting those concepts to the incoming preachers or evangelists or missionaries so as to
blend and flow among the people in their cultural settings without being offensive in the new culture. This
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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shows the vitality of Artificial Intelligence in bridging language and cultural barriers during cross-cultural
evangelism.
Cross-Cultural Evangelism
Evangelism is from the Greek word Evangelion, translated as “gospel” which means good news (Blass and
Debrunner, 1973, 119 (1)). Explaining this further, William Tyndale (1848) says, “Evangelion (what we call
“the gospel”) is a Greek word, signifying good, merry, glad and joyful news, that makes a man’s heart glad
and makes him sing, dance and leap for joy” (p. 8). It is because of the essence of this good news of Christ
Jesus the Saviour who redeemed humanity from eternal damnation of hell fire that makes the Church to be
commissioned to go into the entire world to proclaim this good news to all mankind and consequently makes
disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). This shows that, people group of every community of the entire
wide world must be reached with the gospel or good news. Right from the time Jesus Christ commissioned
the disciples, popularly known as the great commissioned, they have been going from community to
community down to this our contemporary dispensation.
One cannot explain the explosive dynamite, the dunamis, of the early Church apart from the fact that
they practiced two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community in the
midst of the visible Church, a community which the world could see. By the grace of God, therefore,
the Church must be known simultaneously for its purity of doctrine and the reality of its community.
Our Churches have so often been only preaching points with very little emphasis on community, but
exhibition of the love of God in practice is beautiful and must be there (Schaeffer, 1971, p. 62).
With the foregoing, this good news must go to people in their various cultures across the globe, and the act
of doing this is called cross-cultural evangelism. The gospel should be presented to them in such a way that
they would see it as glad tidings indeed, hence, the missionaries or evangelists have “create a gospel culture,
one so humane and so attractive that people want to be part of it” (Ortlund, 2014, p. 22). Making this
explanation explicit of how the gospel doctrine should be presented as the gospel culture for acceptance by
the people of such culture, Francis Schaeffer, (1970), has this to say, “If the Church is what it should be, young
people will be there. But they will not just ‘be there’ – they will be there with the blowing of horns and the
clashing of high-sounding cymbals, and they will come dancing with flowers in their hair” (p. 107). Apart
from the gospel of love that every evangelist or missionary must present to the people in their cultural
settings, the complementary roles from Artificial Intelligence cannot be underestimated. For instance,
irrespective of the good and kind gesture an evangelist might have for the people in another culture, if he
does not understand their language, definitely, there will be barrier in communication which will jeopardise
his good intentions for the locals in the new culture. However, if the use of Artificial Intelligence is employed,
the earpiece translator when given to them and they place it in their ears, it will easily translate and interpret
the speech to the locals, which will thereby bring about smooth communication and bridge language barrier.
This will consequently result into good feedback from the locals.
“Evangelism is the act of preaching the gospel of Christ, which includes the message of God’s grace, human
sin, and divine forgiveness” (Packer, 2019, p. 41). This message of God’s grace and the forgiveness of human
sins by God as a result of the propitiation for sins by Jesus Christ must be taken to every community of the
world for everybody to hear. It involves crossing from one culture to another.
There are three categories of mission which are Frontier Mission, Regular Mission, and the third one known
as Evangelism. All these three categories of mission still involve the act of proclaiming the good news to
people commonly known as evangelism. The three categories are briefly explained below:
Frontier Missions: Frontier mission simply means the kind of mission which involves cross-cultural
evangelism by a different cultural worker (missionary or evangelist) in a culture where missiological
breakthrough has not yet taken place. That is to say, an evangelist or missionary or Christian or believer from
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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one culture goes to evangelise another culture where Church has not been established, a totally different
culture where the presence of Christ has not been felt. The people of such a culture are without a Church and
their culture is different from the nearest group of people with a Church, even different from the culture of
the worker or Christian or believer coming to them with the gospel. Carrying out evangelism in such a
different culture entails crossing barriers such as language, dietary, dressing, interaction, etc before someone
can effectively evangelise the people there-in. “One-third of the individuals in the world live within people
with no Church. They are no more spiritually lost than your cousin who has never gone to Church, but unlike
your cousin, there is no Church made up of people like themselves with whom they can fellowship” (Winter
&Hawthorne, 2006, 510). Hence, necessity is laid on Christians to go and evangelise such cultures so that
they also will have Church that is made up with the people like themselves with whom they can fellowship.
The determining factors in identifying frontier missions are:
i. The culture has not been reached with the gospel before
ii. There is no viable or an indigenous Church
iii. The missionary crosses from his own culture to another culture where there is no missiological
breakthrough
Regular Missions: This kind of mission involves a “cross-cultural evangelism by a different-culture worker,
in association with same-culture workers, if possible, where a missiological breakthrough has already taken
place” (Winter &Hawthorne, 2006, p. 511). This implies that, a Christian or believer goes from his or her
culture to another different culture where Christ presence has already been felt or where Church has already
been established before his or her arrival, and if possible, he or she works in collaboration with other
Christian workers who are already there to further the course of evangelism or he or she works with his or
her new missionary group to further the work of evangelism when they arrive the new culture.
Evangelism: This kind of mission involves the “culture-worker, where the missiological breakthrough of a
viable Church has already taken place” (Winter & Hawthorne, 2006, p. 511). This means that, a Christian or
believer from the same culture evangelising or preaching to the same culture members where there is the
presence of a viable Church already. This kind of evangelism is more of iron sharpens iron evangelism, that
is, “Renewal evangelism of Church members” (Winter &Hawthorne, 2006, p. 511). Even when the person
evangelized has not been going to the Church before, but for the fact that, the place has an established Church
already and it is the believer of the same culture that is preaching to the person, such a mission is still called
evangelism.
The first two categories of mission above, that is, Frontier and Regular Missions entail someone going from
his own culture into another culture different from his own culture. Here the language is not known by the
incoming evangelist or missionary of believer or Christian taking the gospel to them. Definitely, this will
require the aid of Artificial Intelligence for a smooth and successful missionary enterprise. The Artificial
Intelligence gadgets or machine will help to interpret speech and translate language for easy communication
from the encoder to the decoder and vice versa. The Artificial Intelligence gadget will help identify the
cultural objects in the new culture and help to interpret them and give the feedback to the incoming
evangelist or missionary for an informed decision.
The diagram above depicts the three kinds of mission enterprises, Frontier Mission, Regular Mission, and
Evangelism. It involves two sections, the E-Scale section where evangelism was carried out among people
who have heard the gospel before and among cultures that have not heard it before. While the second section,
P-Scale section, depicts people group who has heard the gospel before and people groups who have not
heard it before.
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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The diagram below illustrates further of how evangelism is carried out across cultures.
Bridging Language and Cultural Barriers
Culture: Culture simply means the total way of life of a people as they attempt to harness and possess their
environment or territory. The following are the elements that are considered to form the culture of a people;
their language, religion, dietary, politics, economics, philosophy, aesthetics, etc.
Language: Language can be defined as the system of communication both in speech and writing that is used
by the people of a particular country.
The inability of an evangelist or missionary to understand the language and culture of the people group he
wants to evangelise poses a great setback and barrier to his missionary endeavour. However, the use of
Artificial Intelligence has bridged such barriers, because Artificial Intelligence helps to interpret speeches
and helps to generate and translate human languages, hence it aids the communication of the gospel message
in the new cultures easily without any language and cultural barriers.
Conclusion
It is of paramount importance that missionary or evangelistic endeavours in this digital dispensation of the
twenty first century should leverage on the availability of Artificial Intelligence. Missionaries and evangelists
should avail themselves of this opportunity to enhance their versatility in their missionary enterprise across
cultures for optimal output and fruitful evangelism. The Master who commissioned us for this great mission
tasks has made adequate provisions to mitigate any challenge that might emanate in the course of carrying
out evangelism across various cultures of the world and one of such provisions is Artificial Intelligence. He
has also promised his presence with everyone who goes out for evangelism, Matthew 28:18-20, and he is our
great spiritual intelligence through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to support the use of Artificial Intelligence
for effective and adequate performance and results.
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The Pastoral Counsellors: Journal of Nigerian Association of Pastoral Counsellors
(ISSN: Print 2971-5199; Online 2971-5202) Volume 4, January 2025
(In collaboration with the Department of Religious and Intercultural Studies and Department of Guidance and Counselling,
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria)
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