The Missing Key to the Refugee Crisis: Christian Hospitality towards Muslims
We live in a rapidly changing world in which massive amounts of people move from one place to the next. Many people who have come from other places live on the margins of society as socially excluded international refugees or immigrants.
The Secret of Sports Ministry: Lessons from Japan
College friends wore our fundraiser T-shirts around campus. Team parents praised us for flying across the world to spread the gospel. In Japan, we were guests of honor. Local pastors advertised the visiting American athletes to draw people to church. Groups of teen girls wanted to pose with us for selfies. We were celebrities.
Enhancing Character Development through Soul Care
As Richard stood staring out his office window, he knew something was wrong. His enthusiasm for ministry that had accompanied him for nearly thirty years was gone. He was tired, spiritually dry, and growing bitter about his situation.
The Macedonian Call in the Twenty-first Century: Partnering for Contextual Equipping of International Missionaries
The late 1980s and early 1990s were perhaps the most exciting days of modern missions—the Iron Curtain fell, and immediately over twenty countries and four hundred million people had access to the gospel.
The Yellow Shorts Saga: What We Can Learn from Third Culture Kids Research
The Evangelical world is no stranger to the term missionary, ever since Jesus commanded his followers to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” Peter, Paul, Timothy, and Barnabas all pioneered global missions efforts. The children of missionaries are commonly referred to as missionary kids, or MKs, for short.
Culturally Conceived Systems for Healthy Groups: Western and Eastern Paradigms in Contrast
My wife and I have been working in Central Asia since 2013 on a multicultural team. Since the team’s inception, it has at one time or another been composed of members with formative backgrounds from countries as diverse as America, China, Great Britain, Guinea, Italy, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Egypt, a Central Asian country, and some with a mix of the aforementioned.
Managing Conflict in a Multicultural Team
Conflict occurs wherever human beings live or work together. It is no surprise then that conflict is a major issue in multicultural teams. All of the eighty-one people we interviewed explained that their team had experienced some degree of conflict, and in some of these teams, conflict had deeply hurt team members and damaged the effectiveness of their team (Hibbert 2002; Hibbert 2011).
Cultural Self-awareness: A Missing Element in Intercultural Service?
There are a lot of books and articles that help prepare God’s people for working in other cultures. Most of the material provides insights into cultural difference and for understanding how to adapt to, interact with, and share the gospel with those from another culture. The perspective is usually that of understanding the cultural other. In this article, I am turning the reflection back on self and one’s own culture.
Get Face! Give Face! A Missional Paradigm for Honor-Shame Contexts
Imagine we just met in person. While making introductions, I pull a picture out of my wallet and say, “These are my three kids.” But the picture is of their feet. That would be confusing, if not socially awkward.
Pros, professionalism, and periodicals
In Christian ministry circles the terms professional and professionalism have a long history of producing contrary emotions. While everyone celebrates those who do their job like a ‘pro,’ few get excited about people in ministry who go about their duties with professional detachment. The coin of the realm is passionate commitment, not detached objectivity that observes and reports but doesn’t engage deeply and sacrificially.