Teamwork Cross-Culturally

EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 4

Reviewed by Karry Kelley (PhD) who is a church planter with World Team, and, together with his wife Charlyn, trains church planting teams.

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This valuable book introduces the reality of “wicked” problems in cross-cultural teamwork in missions. The authors’ research provides teams and their leaders with a deep, gospel-grounded framework for facing, on a case-by-case basis, these inexorable challenges.

“Wicked” problems are a topic of scholarly, sociological research. They are problems that can neither be completely understood nor finally solved. A tell-tale sign of a wicked problem, the authors explain, is when a leader is repeatedly surprised by new obstacles at every redoubled effort to lead the team. Because of cultural differences, the best a good leader can do is lead the team to a temporary, “clumsy” but “in-Christ” solution. Clumsy solutions involve compromise when elegant solutions from one culture conflict with the elegant solutions of another culture.

Teamwork Cross-Culturally is developed around five case studies of current cross-cultural ministries. Chapter 1 includes the first case study and an explanation of wicked problems.  Chapters 2 and 3 demonstrate an example from Galatians of a wicked problem that surprised the apostle Paul and biblical essentials for leading teams to in-Christ responses.

Chapters 4–9 describe six deceptions found in the world and demonstrate how these deceptions exacerbated the wicked problems described in the case studies. Three deceptions are labeled organizational: management, problem solving, and return on investment. The other three are interpersonal: values conflicts, personality needs or hungers, and spiritual self-deception. Chapters 10–13 present the remaining four case studies. The final two chapters conclude the book with a summary analysis of the lessons drawn from the case studies.

Clumsy solutions are discovered when leaders use what the authors call “redeemed power” that comes from Christ and from a position of weakness when following the example of Jesus. As leaders get to know team members by listening deeply, the team can find an in-Christ, clumsy pathway to work together. It will be, they argue, a work of faith, a labor of love, and a steadfast hope.

The authors address the question of whether teamwork is worth all the trouble. It is if we are truly seeking to do mission with others. But if we’re looking for an easier way to do mission, we need to abandon the goal of “mission with” in favor of “mission to.”

But we have at our door the most powerful person who ever lived – our Lord Jesus Christ – who wants to join us on our journey. We are not alone! He has promised that when we obey his word and commit – as members of his global church – to work with one another for his mission of witness, he will never leave us or forsake us (chapter 15).

For Further Reading

Leading Multicultural Teams by Evelyn and Richard Hibbert (William Carey Library, 2014).

Biblical Multicultural Teams: Applying Biblical Truth to Cultural Differences by Sheryl Takagi Silzer (William Carey International University Press, 2011).

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EMQ, Volume 59, Issue 4. Copyright © 2023 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.