One of the fascinating things about watching the World Cup is seeing so many different cultures come together around the same game—what we Americans call soccer.
Most of us know that, at least when it comes to men’s soccer, the United States is a bit of an outlier. But nearly every nation enters the tournament carrying an unspoken conviction: Our way of playing football is the best way.
You can see it in the history of the game. The Dutch became known for “Total Football.” Brazil captivated the world with The Beautiful Game. Even the recent Finale between Argentina and Spain showcased very different philosophies—one team emphasizing physicality and grit, another relying on patient passing, movement, and possession.
Each country celebrates its own style, and it’s not uncommon for fans to criticize the way other nations play.
In many ways, soccer is simply a picture of something much larger.
Every culture develops its own understanding of reality—its own assumptions about what is true, what is good, and what makes sense. Most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re carrying those assumptions until we encounter someone who sees the world differently.
That subtle tendency appears whenever we hear ourselves say, “I just don’t understand why they would do that.”
Usually, we aren’t simply observing another culture. We’re measuring it against our own.
We naturally interpret another person’s behavior through the lens of our own values, beliefs, and worldview. When their actions don’t fit our expectations, it’s easy to conclude that they’re irrational, misguided, or simply “don’t get it.”
Meanwhile, they’re doing exactly the same thing with us.
The result is often confusion, frustration, and unnecessary tension—not because either side is intentionally being difficult, but because each is interpreting the other through a different cultural lens.
History shows that powerful cultures often expect others to adapt to them rather than taking the time to understand those who are different. The United States is certainly not unique in this. Yet because of our nation’s influence—economically, politically, and militarily—that tendency often seems magnified.
Missiologist Dr. Lloyd Kwast describes culture in four layers:
- Behavior — What is done
- Values — What is good or best
- Beliefs — What is true
- Worldview — What is ultimately real
Behavior is the part we see first.
When someone’s behavior surprises us, we often evaluate it through our own values, beliefs, and worldview. Rarely do we stop to ask what assumptions lie underneath theirs.
Even when conversations move beyond behavior, we often spend most of our time debating values. Yet values themselves are rooted in deeper beliefs and worldviews. Until we begin understanding those deeper layers, genuine communication remains difficult.
This becomes even more challenging here in the United States.
We often speak of “American culture” as though it were singular, when in reality our nation contains many different cultures, traditions, histories, and ways of seeing the world – even before we factor in those we currently view as immigrants. We may share a passport while carrying very different assumptions about what is good, true, or important.
Assuming that everyone around us shares the same worldview has contributed to misunderstanding, suspicion, and division.
An even greater danger is assuming that one culture is inherently more righteous than another—especially when we attempt to justify that conclusion with Scripture.
Friends, hear my heart.
The United States is not the nation described in the pages of Scripture. The heroes of the Bible were not modern Americans, nor does the Bible present any ethnic group as God’s ideal culture. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s story is one of gathering people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 7:9). Any ideology that elevates one race or culture as closer to God than another is fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel.
Certainly, many would argue that our nation was influenced by biblical principles at its founding. Whether one agrees with that assessment or not, no culture—including ours—should assume that its reflection of the Kingdom of God is superior to that of another.
That isn’t an indictment of America.
It’s simply an acknowledgment that every culture, including our own, reflects both God’s common grace and humanity’s brokenness. Every culture has strengths worth celebrating and blind spots that require humility.
If we believe our culture is God’s preferred culture, we will inevitably confuse discipleship with assimilation. We will expect people to become more like us rather than more like Christ. That has happened throughout church history, often with devastating consequences.
The Gospel does not call us to export Western culture, American culture, or white culture. It calls us to proclaim Jesus Christ faithfully within every culture, trusting that the Holy Spirit—not our cultural preferences—is what transforms people.
The truth is that even people who spend years studying cross-cultural communication find it difficult. It requires patience, humility, emotional energy, and a willingness to admit that our own assumptions may not always be as universal as we think.
The Kingdom of God is not colorblind—it is breathtakingly multicultural. The redeemed are not united because they all become the same, but because they all belong to the same Savior. That means our task is never to defend the superiority of our culture. Our task is to faithfully introduce every culture—including our own—to Jesus Christ, allowing His Kingdom to affirm what is good, confront what is sinful, and redeem what is broken.
As followers of Jesus, that should shape the way we approach His mission.
If our calling is to communicate the Gospel to every people and every nation, then our first step is not mastering someone else’s culture. It is examining our own hearts.
Are we willing to hold our own assumptions with enough humility that we can truly listen?
Are we willing to learn from people who do not look, think, speak, or live like we do?
Are we willing to understand before insisting on being understood?
Because the goal has never been to make people more like us.
The goal is to help people see Jesus more clearly, and move towards Him.
And that is the part that matters most.