Ministry and Culture

I was reading in GO (ONE 2010) how some missionaries in an Asian nation asked their neighbours why they thought they had left their own country and family to live with them. They were shocked by the response:
“Well, that is quite obvious. You couldn’t find a job in your own country, so you came here, and […]

Samuel Escobar observes that, as in the New Testament, so too in the 16th century, God used migration to accomplish his mission purposes. For John Calvin was a migrant, forced to flee France and become a refugee in Geneva. Indeed, the population of Geneva was increased 50% by immigrants in those decades, with Escobar citing […]

It is interesting to read in the latest issue of Philosophy Now that a Northwestern University (Chicago) study has found a correlation between the extent to which a country is individualistic and the level of depression experienced by its residents. The study identified Britain, USA, Australia and Western European nations to be the world’s most […]

Last night I attended a David Livermore seminar on Cultural Intelligence (CQ). David provided a helpful way of thinking about helping people to develop competency in relating and ministering across cultures.
His own particular focus in relation to CQ has concerned short term missions. He cited research indicating that in those organisations which have a good track record […]

In a recent interview Dr. Krish Kandiah (Executive Director of Churches in Mission for the Evangelical Alliance, UK) explained what’s called The Square Mile project. MILE stands for Mercy, Influence, Life-Discipleship and Evangelism. The aim is to help churches and Christians connect their everyday lives with God’s work in the world. 
At one point the interviewer, […]

During September 2007 some men from a small tribal group called the Kastam traveled from Tanna, Vanuatu to visit London. This was at the invitation of a British TV company.
The Kastam people have some peculiar religious beliefs. For example, they believe that England and Tanna were once the same country, both erupting from a volcano at […]

In Romans 12: 2 Paul exhorts, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” The word “pattern” alerts us to the contrast, since being “transformed by the renewing of the mind” involves being “conformed to the likeness of [God’s] Son.” Indeed, Romans 12-13 forms a sub-unit and is bracketed by this emphasis on […]

In our denomination, the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales, we have two people available, through M & M (Ministry and Mission), to help our churches get ESL Ministry off the ground or to develop it further:

ESL Coordinator: Judy Rowlands
CCM (Cross-Cultural Ministry Coordinator): myself

Here are some of the prior things that need to happen before […]

Effective ESL Teaching involves a lot of repetition, so maybe PARROT TALK is a useful acronym for remembering the key principles of effective ESL Teaching:  
P: The Praise Principle
Students are given constant praise and encouragement.
Filling 

A: The Activity Principle
Every lesson should have active students doing lots of different things.
Filling 

R: The Ratio Principle
All lessons, at all levels, should aim […]

Yesterday I attended Judy Rowland’s seminar on ESL (English as a Second Language) church-based ministry. Those there received excellent input.
Judy had asked Fiona Oates, who supervises the ESL conversation classes at Epping Presbyterian Church to  share what they had learned about doing ESL. Among other things Fiona identified seven keys to helping those who get […]

In his helpful book Cross-Cultural Conflict Elmer explains how difficult it is for missionaries, for all their talk of empowering others, to give up the power they have due to their education and knowledge and ability to raise money. Also, being generous in a cross-cultural context carries complications because giving is power: “It is power […]

Hendrik Kraemer wrote The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World back in 1938 at the request of the International Missionary Council. Much of what Kraemer has to say about the crisis of religion in the East still applies.
The Eastern crisis of religion is caused by external factors, primarily the penetration by the West, whereas the […]

Hendrik Kraemer wrote The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World back in 1938 at the request of the International Missionary Council. It is a classic. What Kraemer has to say about the Western crisis facing the church still applies.
Kraemer maintains, “The outstanding characteristic of our time is the complete disappearance of all absolutes, and the […]

Prior to Federation on January 1, 1901 all six colonies were already committed to restricting non-European immigration. By 1901 the population of Australia was made up of 2.9 million Australian born, 860,000 overseas born and 67,000 indigenous people. The overseas born was comprised of 76,000 from Europe and predominately Britain, 26,000 from New Zealand and […]

Sowell defines racism as:
The theory or idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture and, combined with it, the notion that some races are inherently superior to others…  The most straightforward meaning of racism is a belief in the innate inferiority of some race […]

In his classic work The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, Hendrik Kraemer makes a significant observation. In a section dealing with what he calls “adaptation”, but which today is dubbed “contextualisation” by missiologists, he comments concerning Paul and John:
They probably did not bother much about adaptation as a special problem, but about expression of […]

In the January/February issue of Philosophy Now there is an excellent article by Kristina Pelletier entitled “Keep Out!” Pelletier considers why there is no place for philosophy in American public schools. Recently, I reviewed Teaching Cross-Culturally by Lingenfelter and Lingenfelter. In that book Judith emphasises the importance of what Philip Jackson has called “the hidden […]

In the Lingenfelters’ book Teaching Cross-Culturally they address, among many other things, a common problem faced by western-trained educators when teaching in the two-thirds world - the problem of cheating. It is common for western-trained teachers, in response, to try to find ways of eliminating or minimising the problem of cheating. But, as the Lingenfelters point […]

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 […]

Most of my days are pretty international, but especially so today:

I solved a cryptic crossword clue - “The place of my marine service in South Australia” before leaving for work. Answer: Smyrna.
Coincidentally on the train to work I was reading “The History of Christianity” by Vivian Green and re-read the story of Polycarp, the Bishop of […]

I was at Granville Presbyterian Church yesterday, having been invited to give input on how to develop cross-cultural ministry. I emphasised that the key principle for effective multicultural ministry is that of reducing cultural distance and that the two major ways of doing this are finding a leader from the people for the people or […]