Cross-Cultural Confusion
Early on in my attempts to deepen my ability to converse in the Sindhi language, I learned a new idiom for “dying,” which is similar to the English “to pass on.” I decided to use it while conversing with an acquaintance and said casually, “When I pass on…” He started and a look of [...]
All Articles having the tag "Communication".
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This is the fourth in a series of articles on the importance of dialogue as the basis of Significant Conversations: Evangelism that resonates with our Canadian context. The first two articles provided theoretical support for dialogue, in contrast to proclamation, as a valid and effective method of evangelism for our Canadian context. The previous article [...]
This is the third in a series of articles on the importance of dialogue as the basis of Significant Conversations: Evangelism that resonates with our Canadian context. The first two articles provided theoretical support for dialogue, in contrast to proclamation, as a valid and effective method of evangelism for our Canadian context. This article introduces [...]
Both literal or “word for word” translations as well as meaning-based or “thought for thought” translations are legitimate representations of the original biblical manuscripts. Each style of translation has strengths and weaknesses in providing readers access to the content of the biblical writings in their own language. The argument in these articles is that a [...]
Both literal or “word for word” translations as well as meaning-based or “thought for thought” translations are legitimate representations of the original biblical manuscripts. Each style of translation has strengths and weaknesses in providing readers access to the content of the biblical writings in their own language. The argument in these articles is that a [...]
Both literal or “word for word” translations as well as meaning-based or “thought for thought” translations are legitimate representations of the original biblical manuscripts. Each style of translation has strengths and weaknesses in providing readers access to the content of the biblical writings in their own language. The argument in these articles is [...]
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 via the Contact Me form.
The High Power Distance / Low Power Distance1 Culture Clash
HPD = High Power Distance [...]
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 via the Contact Me form.
The Power Distance Contrast
In Pakistan there is a strong tradition of “holy men” who are called Pirs. [...]
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 via the Contact Me form.
Multicultural Fragmentation
The story of Babel (Gen 11) records the story of the first failure of an intercultural [...]
Translation seeks Communication
When our main translator walked into the translation office last December in Shikarpur, Pakistan, I greeted him with, “I have a problem with heaven.” He laughed and responded, “Well, if you have trouble with heaven, what’s left? There is not much more to hope for!” I explained that it was not the concept [...]
Three ways to understand the Bible
My wife, Karen, heard a message by a young woman with no theological training on Jer 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you….” The young woman spoke of the verse as if it was addressed to us today and talked about the plans God has for us. Although [...]
Many years before I was involved in Bible translation, I happened to be in the public library and I picked up a copy of The Three Muskateers. A different copy of the same book was also lying on the shelf. I opened the second copy and was astounded to find that [...]
In The Shaping of Things to Come, St Thomas’s Crookes is given as an example of a church that is shaped around its participation in God’s mission to the world. The basic level of the church consists of cells whose aim is to relate relevantly and redemptively with a particular [...]
I admit it: I am doing Bible translation1 because I want to see the Sindhi culture change. I want to see people affected by the word of God so that they put Christ at the center of their lives. As people use God’s word as their guide to life [...]
Bible Translation Shapes Faith
A missionary colleague phoned me up quite irate about a translation choice in the Sindhi NT1. A couple of Muslim friends had dropped in for a chat and asked him why Christians did not pray like Muslims by prostrating themselves to the ground. My colleague replied that the Bible speaks of worship [...]
Importance of Clarity in Bible Translation
In discussing Bible translation and Bible versions with a number of people in our churches I have discovered a not uncommon assumption – that the more formal or literal a translation is in maintaining the form of the original language of the text, e.g., NASB, the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Religions do not bring people to God
H. Kraemer in his influential book, The Christian message in a Non-Christian World, builds a strong case for the inability of religions, as human constructs, to bring people to God. The revelation of God in Christ is solely a redeeming act of God, and not aided [...]
A recent book review in the Evangelical Baptist (March / April 2005, p. 20) on the book Ishmael: My brother – A Christian Introduction to Islam, contained the provocative statement, “from a biblical vantage point, Allah does not exist.” Such a claim is based on the reality that Allah is not [...]
A High View of Scripture
Walk into any store in Pakistan and almost inevitably high up in a corner the Koran can be seen wrapped up in expensive cloth and covered in fresh rose petals. Hand a copy of the Koran to a devout Muslim and they will kiss the book reverently [...]
Learning to be an effective change agent for Jesus Christ in another culture is the goal of a missionary. This can be mistakenly reduced to methods of communicating the gospel message which do not reflect sufficient appreciation or validation of the existing culture. Cross-cultural ministry is not a matter of learning [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
<p>While we were learning the Sindhi language in Pakistan during the 1980s my wife, Karen, tried to discover the word for "share" and was given a word essentially equivalent to the English "give". The problem was that "share" is a concept based on a principle of individual ownership and the permission required for another to [...]
The people in the best position to teach others are those who are actually involved in doing the task that needs to be taught. This conviction is behind the goal of creating an experience-based mentored environment for the training of cross-cultural ministers through Northwest Baptist Seminary (www.nbseminary.com/), located on the [...]
The Perfect Translation Illusion
The translation of Scripture into other languages is a cross-cultural mission activity that enjoys enthusiastic support in evangelical circles. But curiously this support is coupled with wide spread ignorance concerning what constitutes an accurate Bible translation. There seems to be an illusion that the perfect translation is [...]