A number of years back, in a certain large church I presented a seminar on a Christian understanding of Buddhism which was very well received. The pastor and others commented on how pleased they were with this seminar. At that time I had used Powerpoint and had adopted the lecture mode clearly expected of me.
Later this same church organised a training day. I was asked to take a seminar on cross-cultural ministry. On the day that I gave this seminar a number of seminars were run concurrently in different locations on the same church property. I had prepared a Powerpoint presentation which involved a step-by-step explanation of core concepts. I found myself facing over 100 people and discovered that there was so much light in the room, with no way of blocking it out, that it was impossible to use a data projector. At the last minute I was forced to improvise and adopt an entirely different approach to presenting my seminar.
I have just been reading the excellent book by Judith and Sherwood Lingenfelter on Teaching Cross-Culturally. They observe that reliance on expensive technologies for effective teaching is impracticable in much of the two-thirds world. They advocate as one technique for effective teaching in such contexts the adoption of the narrative approach to pedagogy. But story-telling is looked down on in western education. It is assumed that story-telling is for entertainment, not instruction - the kind of thing you do when putting the kids to bed or when sitting around the camp fire.
I had spent seven years in Pakistan training village pastors, reared in a rote-learning system of education. I had learnt to use anecdotes more than I had been accustomed to do when teaching in Australia.
Anyway, back to the seminar. When it was clear that there was no future in using my Powerpoint presentation I proceeded simply to talk about cross-cultural ministry. As I did so I found myself naturally seeking to illustrate the points I was making with anecdotes. I left feeling disappointed that I had not been able to present my seminar as I had planned but I still hoped the seminar was worthwhile.
Then came the phone call from the pastor. I assume he thought he was giving helpful feedback but he came across in an aggressive and even offensive manner. He had not been at the seminar but some of those present, whom he respected, complained that it was too anecdotal. What they had wanted to know were the how-tos, how to go about developing a cross-cultural ministry. I replied by saying that if the seminar had not been successful then the church must accept a large share of the blame. I had made it clear, when I was invited to give the seminar, that I intended to use Powerpoint but had been allocated a room in which it was impossible to do so (there were other rooms in which seminars were being conducted which did not involve using Powerpoint - rooms which would have been quite adequate for my purpose). I explained that I had had to change my whole approach because of this.
I put a lot of preparation into the seminars I run and set myself high standards. It was therefore hurtful to be told that my seminar was a flop. Yet, as I reflect on this unpleasant experience, I learnt a number of lessons. For example, not relying over-much on technology and the need to clarify what expectations the church has of me and to clarify what approach I will adopt.
I also learnt that one has to take seriously the assumptions of one’s audience. It is commonly assumed, by at least Western Christians, that to do cross-culturally ministry effectively involves learning how to do it. I strongly disagree. What they really need at the foundational level is a basic understanding of cultural dynamics and how to understand cultural differences and how to develop attitudes conducive to effective cross-cultural ministry. It was this latter approach I adopted in this seminar because I had simply been asked to present a seminar on cross-cultural ministry. But I was criticised for not having presented a step-by-step approach on how to do cross-cultural ministry. It so happens that, although my whole seminar was not based on such an approach, I had incorporated into my Powerpoint presentation a section on this, though given the change of plan forced on me, I did not end up covering this. Nevertheless, I have learnt that with Western Christians I do need to take their erroneous assumption seriously, particularly when presenting “one-off” seminars.
The second assumption I needed to take seriously was the common Western view that the purpose of anecdotes is to provide light relief. I was trying to use them to get across key points I was making but my critics felt the seminar was “light on”, too insubstantial, because I had used too many anecdotes. I learnt that with Western audiences one has to be careful in using anecdotes as a teaching technique. If one is able to give a connected series of seminars on cross-cultural ministry then it would be worthwhile to incorporate some teaching on the educational value of anecdotes.
My general experience of church seminars has been that they are often much more informal settings, typically with a smaller group of people with whom it is possible to have some significant interaction. I now realise that at the seminar in question my 100+ audience had assumed they would be given a lecture and had come to listen to a lecture. When I had been forced to change my plan of approach I had considered getting my audience to split into groups and do a case study. However, I realised, given the nature of the room, that this would be pose considerable logistical problems and I quickly gave up that idea. In retrospect I am glad I did. I am quite sure I would have been subjected to even more criticism if I had, because, unlike some other church situations in which I have given seminars, this audience was particularly used to lecture-style education.
Not only teaching in cross-cultural situations, but also teaching cross-cultural ministry itself, involves taking assumptions seriously.
Posted April 15, 2008
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