Mark Naylor DTh (missiology) – Page 116 – Cross-Cultural Impact for the 21st Century

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 use another’s possession. In our Canadian culture, when an object moves from one person to another, ownership remains with the person to whom the object belongs. In such a setting "sharing" makes sense as it is based on a principle of ownership highly valued in cultures that consider the freedom and rights of the individual preeminent. However, where ownership is more communal and the concerns of the community take precedent over the individual, the concept of ownership of objects has less importance than the need of the community member who has access to the object at that moment in time.  This cultural value difference is obvious in the frustration of people from our culture who are faced with the "theft" of many objects by friends and servants while residing in Pakistan.
This situation demonstrates only one aspect of the myriad challenges that face those who seek to communicate the gospel cross-culturally which are in addition to all the challenges that anyone ministering within her / his own culture will face.  To "preach Christ" cross-culturally means entering into a new dimension of understanding and relating in which the communicator experiences a radical shift in the assumptions and "self-evident truths" previously relied on to communicate the message.  Those who desire to make a gospel impact must learn anew what the Lordship of Christ means within the "narrative" of a community that is foreign to the "narrative" of their own culture.  How can people be trained adequately to face such challenges and be prepared to live, relate and communicate cross-culturally?  How can people be prepared to survive, adjust, assimilate and participate significantly in a reality different from their "normal" world?
In order to explore this challenge and discover the priorities leaders in cross-cultural training are making in preparing people for cross-cultural gospel communication, I posed the following question: What would you list as the top three needs for training in cross-cultural ministry?  The following is the result of that survey.  For the sake of clarity and to reduce redundancy, I have taken the liberty of condensing the responses to the following items which are categorized but not prioritized.
<h3>Spiritual Formation concerns</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to develop, maintain, and enhance their spiritual walk in contexts that often lack the immediate support of a faith community. This requires a holistic understanding of spirituality: emotional, social, mental, moral, physical.
- to recognize and foster appropriate character traits and spiritual vitality in a cross-cultural ministry environment.
- to use and develop their spiritual gifts in a variety of settings.
- to recognize and adjust to their personal strengths and weaknesses in the stress of unfamiliar settings.
- in radical discipleship. True discipleship involves a crucified mentality, intimacy with the Lord, and persevering through suffering and all types of character formation tests.
<h3>Adaptation skills</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to understand, adapt to, and in specific scenarios even adopt the host culture.
- to manage time and family in a cross-cultural environment often with little immediate accountability.
- through first hand experience in local setting and not just as "armchair missiologists".  If the trainee lives with a family and pays room and board to remove the stress of finances for the host, she / he will receive willing help with cultural issues.  The trainee will develop a sense of the pace of the culture and learn cultural means in dealing with conflict.
- under the mentoring of a national leader who is capable, dedicated and empathetic.
- in the presence of one who is an appropriate example of a competent cross-cultural minister.
<h3>Relationship skills</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to develop effective interpersonal relational skills that enable them to cultivate significant relationships in unfamiliar cultural settings.
- in community living by putting into practice the "one anothers", peacemaking and conflict resolution.  Western culture values independence which can produce attitudes and actions detrimental to the gospel and be a stumbling block to participation in others’ lives. The inability to recognize or renounce an ingrained value of independence can cause the cross-cultural worker to fail to build important relational bridges because of their refusal to enter into interdependent relationships.
- through mentored experiences in cross-cultural living and interaction.
- in teamwork with their colleagues. Working with other missionaries or national believers can be one of the most important tests of one’s ministry.
<h3>Communication skills</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to relevantly and effectively contextualize the gospel.
- in apologetics: Biblical knowledge and the ability to answer basic questions about the gospel.
- in language acquisition skills.
- to develop culturally sensitive communication skills.
- through mentored experiences of intercultural communication.
<h3>Cultural sensitivity development</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to recognize and avoid North American cultural weaknesses (e.g.  aggressiveness, materialism and "in your face" confrontational approaches).
- to develop an appreciation for cultural diversity and a recognition that God endorses all cultures.
- to perceive the ways religion is at the heart of cultural bias – using the functional model to understand the way religion distorts culture.
- to relate relevantly in a Shame/honor culture.  Western culture is guilt/righteousness oriented.
- in anthropology / sociology so that cross-cultural workers can understand the function of cultures, work with them and adapt to them.
- in the religion and worldview of the people they plan to live among. Knowing the beliefs of the people they want to impact – both the ideal and the actual – is an important prerequisite.
- to develop tools needed to acquire cross-cultural understanding.
- to discern the impact of one’s own self – family, cultural, ethnic, personality, church backgrounds – in cross-cultural ministry.
- in legitimate biblical hermeneutics, so that one’s own cultural perspectives do not hamper the inculturation of the gospel in another cultural setting.
- to recognize both the values that provide a foundation to their lives and the legitimate values expressed in the host culture.
<h3>Attitudes</h3>
Cross-cultural workers need to be trained:
- to be learners continually, throughout life.  A great weakness of training people out of context is that once the training is complete, they then enter their host environment with a focus on contributing and being significant.  To lose the attitude of being a learner, a guest, a stranger is to lose the legitimacy that allows one to relate to the culture in a healthy way.
- to be Observers. Missionaries should be the most curious group on the earth trying to figure out why people do what they do.  It is not until the meaning of their actions comes clear that the gospel can be significantly related to those actions and beliefs.
- to cultivate a long haul mentality. While it runs contrary to today’s trends, in resistant countries  a commitment to long term stay in building relationships within the culture is essential.

Author: Mark Naylor DTh (missiology)

9 Top Three Needs In Training For Cross Cultural Ministry