Posted on April 8th, 2008 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Communication • Cross-Cultural • Culture • Dialogue • Ethnic • Intercultural • Language • Leadership • Missions • Multicultural • Sindhi
Categories: Culture and Worldview
NOTE: A companion workshop to these articles is available to multi-ethnic churches that provides information, exercises and interaction to encourage the implementation of those disciplines that promote healthy intercultural relationships. Please contact Mark at mark.naylor@twu.ca
The Power Distance Contrast
In Pakistan there is a strong tradition of “holy men” who are called Pirs. One day I [...]
Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Communication • Culture • Ethnic • Intercultural • Language • Leadership • Missions • Multicultural
Categories: Culture and Worldview
NOTE: A companion workshop to these articles is available to multi-ethnic churches that provides information, exercises and interaction so that those disciplines that promote healthy intercultural relationships can be implemented. Please contact Mark at mark.naylor@twu.ca
Multicultural Fragmentation
The story of Babel (Gen 11) records the story of the first failure of an intercultural enterprise. Since [...]
Posted on May 5th, 2007 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Cross-Cultural • Culture • Ethnic • Multicultural • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
What is culture? There is a current debate (National Post, March 2-, 2007) about whether fashion should be classified as culture, with implications for government funding. Canada has policies promoting “multiculturalism.” I have read books and heard sermons concerning the need for Christians to remain separate from “the prevailing culture.” [...]
Posted on May 4th, 2006 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Cross-Cultural • Culture • Islam • Language • Missionary • Missions • Sindhi • Training • Translation • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Part V: Theological Basis for “Christ centered worldviews”
What would this worldview look like if Christ was Lord?
I remember the time a young believer brought a friend to me so that I could explain the gospel to him. We were living among the Muslim Sindhi people of Pakistan working with [...]
Posted on April 4th, 2006 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Cross-Cultural • Culture • Language • Sindhi • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Part IV: The Benefits of “Christ-centered worldviews”
When translating the Old Testament in the Sindhi language of Pakistan or when teaching from the Old Testament to Sindhis I am constantly amazed at the similarities of culture and worldview. One believer enthusiastically exclaimed to me, “The reason why we understand the [...]
Posted on March 4th, 2006 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Culture • Islam • Missionary • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Part III: The Problem With a Universal Christian Worldview
Paul Long tells of the conversion of a chief in the African Congo. Those bringing the gospel demanded that he renounce his charms and medicines before hearing the message, culminating with the destruction of his “life charm”.
“Teller of the Word,” [the chief] said, [...]
Posted on February 4th, 2006 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Communication • Cross-Cultural • Culture • Evangelism • Intercultural • Religion • Sindhi • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Part II: Worldview Clarification
Worldview distinct from Theology
In these articles I am arguing that we should speak of “Christ centered worldviews” in the plural, rather than claim that there is only one “Christian worldview” that is correct to which all people should conform. It is important to realize that “worldview” is very [...]
Posted on January 4th, 2006 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Communication • Cross-Cultural • Culture • Language • Missions • Sindhi • Translation • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Part I: Communication within worldviews
It is quite common to come across the phrase “The Christian Worldview” in evangelical writings. I believe that this phrase is unhelpful and misleading particularly for those involved in cross-cultural missions and I would propose an alternative. I believe that we should instead speak of “Christ [...]
Posted on November 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Culture • Dialogue • Evangelism • Islam • Missions • Religion • Worldview
Categories: Culture and Worldview
"I have become all things to all people so I could save some of them in any way possible." (1 Co 9:22)
Making Room
The beginning of missions is "making room" for others as they are; adjusting our program and perspective to match the concerns and priorities of another society. It is opening [...]
Posted on October 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Cross-Cultural • Culture • Missions • Pluralism • Religion
Categories: Culture and Worldview
In Canada we live in a pluralistic (1) society. How are we as Christians to respond to different philosophies, lifestyles, religions and cultures? What is the right attitude for those who believe in the exclusive claims of Christ? Should we appreciate other people’s cultures? Should we appreciate other people’s religious [...]
Posted on September 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Culture • Islam • Missions • Pluralism • Religion
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Skepticism concerning One Truth
Billy Joel (1993) wrote a popular song entitled Shades of Grey which illustrates a desperate skepticism stemming from exposure to the convictions and beliefs of others:
Some things were perfectly clear, seen with vision of youth
No doubts and nothing to fear, I claimed the [...]
Posted on August 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Culture • Evangelism • Pluralism • Religion
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Adapted from Crucial Issues for Christian Mission 5.3 Living in a Pluralistic Society
by Mark Naylor Oct, 2002
Through our church Karen and I run an unconventional Bible study which we affectionately call our "heretics Bible study". Within this group we welcome unorthodox opinions and encourage questions that reflect belief [...]
Posted on July 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Communication • Culture • Dialogue • Evangelism • Islam • Missionary • Missions • Pluralism • Religion • Sindhi
Categories: Culture and Worldview
Approaches to Interfaith Dialogue
E. Stanley Jones was a Methodist missionary in India during the first half of the 1900s who was a strong advocate of interfaith dialogue. He set the rules for his "round table talks" so that "no one argue, no one try to make a case, no one talk [...]
Posted on June 4th, 2004 by Mark Naylor
Tags: Church • Communication • Cross-Cultural • Dialogue • Evangelism • Islam • Missions • Religion • Sindhi
Categories: Culture and Worldview
In Pakistan we lived next door to a mosque. The Maolvi (Muslim clergy) and I would occasionally talk and one day I gave him a New Testament to read. The next time we met he informed me that "this is not God’s Word. But it contains God’s Word." Further clarification revealed [...]