A mission team from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY recently took the Gospel, and some bluegrass, on a mission trip to Newfoundland.

The team consisted of 19 students and faculty members from the seminary. The team put together a bluegrass band comprised of seminary students, and used the music as a means to draw a crowd. Other team members then interacted with listeners and attempted to steer conversations to the Gospel.

My impression from the article (available here) is that the music enjoyed a warmer reception than the message. The students did learn valuable lessons about sharing the Gospel in another culture. Newfoundland may not be that different from American culture in general, but from the culture of Louisville, KY there is considerable difference.

Sometimes you can take something that seems incongruent, like bluegrass and Canada, and those two actually have a common denominator in that they can tie together to get a hearing for the Gospel.

It seems bluegrass and the Gospel can cross cultural boundaries.

If you’re interested, you can read the original article here.