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Communicating Faith Across Culture

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According to Sherwood Lingenfelter in Ministering Cross ... Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Communicating Faith Across Culture


1
Communicating Faith Across Culture
  • A ministry of

2
Our Ultimate Goal In Medical Missions
  • Life change in the individual
  • in the community
  • through health
  • by faith in Jesus

3
Factors in Mission Trips
  • Skills of the team
  • Advance planning
  • Culture
  • Sustainability

4
Culture distinctive characteristics of a
peoples way of life
  • According to Sherwood Lingenfelter in Ministering
    Cross-Culturally, culture is used to
  • Help people order their lives
  • Interpret their experiences
  • Evaluate the behavior of others

5
Blunders in Culture
  • Costa Rican evangelism
  • Guatemalan housing
  • Peruvian demands

6
Communication in Culture
  • Requires the use of contextual cues
  • Each culture has thousands
  • Inability to understand the meaning of cultural
    cues leads to misunderstandings and potentially
    conflict
  • Initiating conversation
  • Ending conversation

7
Personal Culture
  • Our personal culture is unique and is a
    combination of
  • Cultural heritage - Things learned when young and
    accepted from parents
  • Enculturation - Acquired culture from the
    community around you and their feedback
  • Our synthesis of adopting or rejecting these
    influences

8
Shared Culture
  • We share a common set of beliefs, values, and
    ways of life with those in the larger community
  • These commonalities are reinforced by
    interactions and trained into children
  • We choose to live with those who are similar and
    reject those whose values differ

9
Shared Culture
  • Allows behavior within our culture to be
    predictable to a certain extent
  • Brews a level of ignorance to culture we are not
    familiar with
  • Culminates in concept that our culture is the
    correct way of doing things and disregards
    possibilities of alternative ways

10
Conflict in Culture
  • Conflict is also created from regard of personal
    culture as moral authority and that others are
    not just different but flawed, rebellious, or
    immoral.
  • Incomprehensible to set aside social standing,
    church identity, or idea of being American
  • Equated almost with godliness

11
Incarnational Model
  • When it was time for the ministry of Jesus, how
    did He complete the work? Is there something for
    us to learn in ministry?
  • Why come as a baby?
  • Why grow up with parents?
  • Why learn in the temple complexes?
  • Why not appear as king or ruler?

12
Incarnational Model
  • she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she
    wrapped Him snugly in cloth.. Luke 27 HCSB
  • ..they found Him in the temple complex sitting
    among the teachers, listening to them and asking
    them questions. Luke 246 HCSB
  • And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and
    in favor with God and with people Luke 252 HCSB

13
Incarnatinal Model
  • Incarnation the willingness to learn as if we
    were helpless infants Lingenfelter
  • Idea of incarnation crucial due to cultural
    ignorance
  • Enter into cultures as a child, learning the
    simplest relational processes again
  • Allow self to be taught so you can teach them the
    ways of the Savior

14
Incarnational Model
  • Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
    who, existing in the form of God, did not
    consider equality with God as something to be
    used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied
    Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking
    on the likeness of men. Philippians 25-7 HCSB

15
Incarnational Model
  • To the weak, I became weak, in order to win the
    weak. I have become all things to all people, so
    that I may by all means save some. Now I do all
    this because of the Gospel, that I may become a
    partner in its benefits. 1 Corinthians 922-23
    HCSB

16
Model of Basic Values
  • Proposed by Marvin Mayers in Christianity
    Confronts Culture
  • Consists of twelve characteristics grouped into
    six pairs
  • Each pair at the end of a spectrum
  • While an oversimplification and doesnt take into
    account individual personalities, is helpful as
    an explanatory model

17
Time vs. Event Orientation
  • Concern punctuality and schedule
  • Allocate time to achieve the maximum
  • Goal-directed
  • Rewards for efficient time utilization
  • Emphasizes dates and history
  • Concern details regardless of time
  • Consider problem until resolved
  • Let come what may
  • Reward is completion of the event
  • Emphasizes present experience

18
Time vs. Event Orientation
  • Jewish culture seems event oriented
  • American culture mostly time oriented
  • Working with others at the opposite end can be
    very frustrating
  • We must adapt to those we are serving
  • Time is a gift from God, and that His priorities
    can always be fulfilled in the amount of time we
    have been given William McConnell

19
Dichotomistic vs. Holistic Thinking
  • Black white, right wrong criteria used to
    evaluate others
  • Security in feeling right and fitting in a role
    or societal category
  • Organized details sorted and ordered for clear
    pattern
  • Open-ended whole person and all circumstances
    used
  • Security in many societal interactions insecure
    if confined to roles or categories
  • Seems disorganized events and pictures are
    complete points

20
Dichotomistic vs. Holistic Thinking
  • OT prophets used historical events or pictures to
    convey message
  • Pauls teaching rational and abstract thinking
    typical of Greek culture
  • Jesuss teaching used analogies (salt and light,
    yeast), parables (sowing seed, wheat and weeds),
    issues (Sabbath, law, marriage) , and personal
    lessons (leper)

21
Dichotomistic vs. Holistic Thinking
  • Our challenge is to recognize and adapt to the
    general line of thinking where we serve
  • One culture may judge with tight, legalistic
    standards while another the total person
  • Danger is our thinking influences how we judge
    people and we often reject those whose thinking
    is not like ours

22
Crisis vs. Non-Crisis Orientation
  • Expects crises
  • Plans for events
  • Quick decisions
  • Follows established, authoritative, planned
    procedures
  • Looks for advice from experts
  • Minimizes crises
  • Experiences dictate
  • Decisions delayed
  • Looks at available options to make decisions
  • Advice of experts not trusted

23
Crisis vs. Non-crisis Orientation
  • Jesus responds both ways with parables and
    questions that raise issues and not hurrying in
    ministry vs. firm decisions
  • We error in thinking our style is best
  • Proclaim the message persist in it whether
    convenient or not rebuke, correct, and encourage
    with great patience and teaching 2 Timothy 42

24
Task vs. Person Orientation
  • Principle oriented
  • Goal achievement brings satisfaction
  • People with similar goals sought out
  • Achievements pursued with loneliness as
    consequence
  • Relationship oriented
  • Personal interactions bring satisfaction
  • People with group focus sought out
  • Personal achievements put off for group
    interaction, loneliness shunned

25
Task vs. Person Orientation
  • Suggest that the most productive people may not
    be the best missionaries in person oriented
    cultures
  • Productive nationals may not make the best
    leaders depending on culture
  • Missionaries that do not appreciate cultures
    where interaction in work is entwined can reject
    those they serve

26
Task vs. Person Orientation
  • Example of Jesuss priorities in Mark 6
  • Starts with attempt to debrief in secluded place,
    seek Father, and eat with disciples
  • Had compassion on crowd, taught, even fed them
    later got to tasks of day
  • We need to modify our modes and expectations to
    those we will serve

27
Status vs. Achievement Focus
  • Birth and rank identity
  • Level of attention fixed despite any flaws or
    mistakes
  • Expected to play role goal is higher rank
  • Relationships with social equals
  • Achievement identity
  • Level of attention varies with success failure
    performance
  • Sacrifices made to achieve more
  • Relationships with those with similar achievements

28
Status vs. Achievement Focus
  • Repeated in Bible long genealogies
  • Pharisees received status with heritage, societal
    memberships, and family rule
  • Many remarks about Jesus associating with the
    outcasts of society
  • Both camps have dangers superiority or judgment
    of other school of thought

29
Status vs. Achievement Focus
  • Jesus seems to favor neither group
  • Encourages those that honor to be humble
  • Calls those who hate family and own life
  • Martha and rich, young ruler
  • Our self-worth must be found in our relationship
    with God
  • We must respect and acknowledge the practices
    where we serve

30
Concealing vs. Exposing Vulnerability
  • Protect self-image avoid failure
  • Emphasis quality
  • No unknowns
  • Hide weakness by lack of participation
  • Criticism and alternate ways difficult
  • Personal life vague
  • Error and failure accepted
  • Emphasis complete
  • Enters unknowns
  • Admits weaknesses and shortcomings
  • Criticism and alternates accepted
  • Personal life open

31
Concealing vs. Exposing Vulnerability
  • Jesus teaches support for both views
  • Building tower and going to war in Luke 14
  • Paul teaches weakness as Gods strength
  • Conceal - righteous expose condescend
  • We must realize personal, cultural, and
    individual view of vulnerability otherwise
    arrogance and conceit may result

32
Summary
  • Goal is not to move others from their cultural
    prison into our own
  • Goal is to make Christ known and life change to
    occur through Him
  • Attempts at incarnational adaptation can lead to
    guilt over leaving current cultural practices or
    inability to master new ones

33
Summary
  • Realize who we are in our culture
  • Seek out the values and behaviors of those we
    serve
  • Recognize conflicting values
  • Submit and adapt to our new surroundings
  • If all else fails, remember Philippians 25-7 and
    1 Corinthians 9 22-23.
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