Yes—Les Feldick teaches that missionaries must adapt to the culture and customs of the people they are trying to reach rather than imposing Western ways.
Les shows this through mission work among tribal people, where methods like an immediate Gospel of Mark presentation failed and had to be replaced with chronological teaching adapted to how the people learn. He also points to the hard reality of polygamy, where missionaries cannot simply send extra wives away without considering the cultural consequences. Paul's pattern of becoming all things to all men, so that he might save some, is the foundation for this approach.
1 Corinthians 9:22 — Paul's statement that he became all things to all men frames the missionary principle of cultural identification.
1 Corinthians 10:31 — Whatever missionaries do, even in cultural adaptation, must be done for God's glory.
In 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 Paul explains that he became as a Jew to the Jews, as one under the law to those under the law, and as weak to the weak, concluding, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." The Bible's principle is not that the Gospel changes, but that the messenger identifies with the people he is trying to reach. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul adds, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Together these verses show that cultural adaptation is legitimate when done for the sake of reaching others and bringing glory to God.
Les Feldick teaches that missionaries must adapt their approach to the culture of the people they are trying to reach. In a discussion of tribal missions, he explains that a missionary friend who took the Gospel of Mark directly to uncivilized people discovered it did not work; the mission board switched to chronological Bible teaching, reducing the language and taking years to communicate effectively (Clip 2). In the same way, missionaries working among polygamous people cannot impose immediate Western solutions. Les notes that when a husband converts and has four or five wives, sending the extra wives away can drive them into prostitution, so missionaries must take cultural realities into account (Clip 3). He also describes missionary friends who befriend jungle peoples in South America and gradually bring them out to communication (Clip 4). His larger point is Paul's pattern: become all things to all men, not abandoning God's moral standards but identifying with people in their situation so some can be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22). Paul entered strange pagan cities trembling but went anyway (Clip 7). Les also challenges Western superiority by imagining new converts in New Guinea sending an offering back to wealthy American churches, which he says might repulse people—showing that missions must flow both ways (Clip 1).
In a conversation about reaching uncivilized tribal people, Les remembers a missionary friend who used to approach them immediately with the Gospel of Mark. Les questioned the method, and the mission board later switched to chronological teaching of the Bible—reducing the language and writing over a long process. This shows that even a straightforward Gospel presentation must be adjusted to how a culture learns.
Les acknowledges that missionaries among polygamous people face hard questions. When a husband is converted and has four or five wives, missionaries cannot simply send the extra wives away, because in that culture they would often have no way to get food and would turn to prostitution. Les says you have to take all these things into consideration—the right answer is not always a Western one.
Paul said he became all things to all men that he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). Les applies this to missionaries, saying that when Paul went into strange pagan cities he did not come with a bold facade—he trembled in his boots but went anyway. The mission requires the same willingness to meet people where they are, even when it is uncomfortable.
Paul's Approach to Those Under the Law
Les explains that Paul adjusted his approach to the Jewish religious element, whose law had been mixed with man-made rules, and that same kind of adjustment applies to missionaries.
New Guinea Offerings
Les uses the idea of new converts in New Guinea sending an offering back to wealthy America to show that missions should not be one-way or culturally superior.
Chronological Bible Teaching
Les shares that approaching uncivilized people immediately with the Gospel of Mark did not work, and missions switched to chronological teaching with language development—showing missionaries must adapt to how a culture learns.
Polygamy and Missionary Work
Les points out that when a polygamous husband is converted, missionaries cannot simply send away his extra wives because it often drives them into prostitution; they must consider the culture.
Befriending Jungle Peoples
Les describes missionary friends who befriend uncivilized jungle people in South America and gradually bring them out to communicate, a model of patient cultural adaptation.
Understanding Cain and Abel: Faith, Sin, and Civilization Explained
Now that tells it as plainly as it can be told that for these people who lived before the law was given, operated on the influence of conscience, that which God had placed in the very breast of Adam and Eve and those following of what was right and what was wrong.
Understanding Cain and Abel: Faith, Sin, and Civilization Explained
Now, you go back into some of the tribal areas that I've already referred to, like down in the central part of South America along the Amazon. When our missionaries go down there and approach these natives running around out there in the jungle, see, they know nothing of a civilization as we do. They don't have villages and towns. They just roam through the forest.
Paul's Courage in Pagan Cities
Les says Paul went into strange pagan cities with fear and trembling but went anyway, and missionaries must have the same willingness to enter hostile cultures.
1 Corinthians 9:20: And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
Paul already modeled cultural identification by becoming like one group in order to reach them.
1 Corinthians 9:21: To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
Even those outside the law were reached by Paul's willingness to meet them without imposing Jewish customs.
1 Corinthians 9:22: To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
This is the key verse summarizing the missionary principle of becoming like those you seek to win.
1 Corinthians 10:31: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Cultural choices, including eating what a tribe eats, should be governed by glorifying God.
Les says missionaries have had to abandon an immediate Gospel-of-Mark approach and instead use chronological Bible teaching, reducing the language and taking a long process. This shows the need to adapt the method to the culture.
Les says it is not easy. If a converted husband has multiple wives, sending the extra wives away can force them into prostitution, so missionaries must take all cultural and practical factors into account.
Paul did this to win people from different backgrounds—Jews under the law, those without law, and the weak—so that he might by all means save some. Les uses this as the biblical pattern for missionary cultural adaptation.
Watch the Teaching: What Does It Mean to Be "All Things to All Men"? — 1 Corinthians 9