EMQ » April – June 2024 » Volume 60 Issue 2
Hybridizing Mission: Intercultural Social Dynamics among Christian Workers on Multicultural Teams in North Africa
By Peter T. Lee
American Society of Missiology Monograph Series No. 60
Pickwick Publications, 2022
312 pages
US$42.00
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Reviewed by Mark D. Wood, PhD, director of the Kingdom Leadership Training Center, Darhan, Mongolia.
When I went to the field, I felt prepared for the challenge of ministry in our host culture. What I did not anticipate were the joys and difficulties of working on a multicultural team and how much I would be changed. Experiences such as mine are addressed in Peter T. Lee’s book Hybridizing Mission. Lee, a veteran international worker, currently serves as an affiliate professor of intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and works with Operation Mobilization in missiological research.
Lee’s study focuses on the experiences of international Christian workers and how “intercultural social experiences in their multicultural teams and the local context respectively and collectively influence the social and cultural change processes at a micro, individual level” (3). Lee describes the study as a qualitative study using ethnographic methods. I would classify it also as grounded theory.
The book is organized into six chapters. Chapters 1–3 follow the standard dissertation format of “Introduction,” “Literature Review,” and “Research Methods.” Chapter 4, “Intercultural Social Experiences in a North African Country” explores the social experiences of international workers in their new culture while chapter 5 describes workers’ experiences on multicultural teams. In chapters 6–8 Lee explains “Intercultural Living and Personal Change,” “Further Interpretation and Synthesis,” and “Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations.”
Lee interacts with multiple authors from broad backgrounds and disciplines. This results in a work that sheds new light on the experience of international workers. Central to the book is Lee’s concept of the “Intercultural Social Process” (ISP) or how workers change over time. Lee also uses the term, “Diasporic Habitus,” borrowed from social research on how people form new practices when they are away from home (208–209).
Lee consistently critiques missiology for outdated concepts in areas such as culture while simultaneously calling missiology to interact more vigorously with current fields of study in anthropology and psychology. I appreciate Lee’s sensitive treatment and demonstrated awareness of reflexivity on the part of the researcher.
I recommend this book to mission leaders, member care providers, those working on multicultural teams, and especially those about to embark on serving with multicultural teams. I also recommend it to all international workers to better understand the processes that we go through and how we change over time. This study stands as a definitive work in its multi-disciplinary approach to multicultural teams.
Being very mindful of the restrictions and choices in writing a dissertation, I offer two minor critiques. The literature review did not interact with all the literature concerning multicultural teams which, given the content, would have been helpful to better situate the work in a broader context. I also would have appreciated a more robust theological reflection on the implications of the study. For example, the theme of liminality is a reflection that this world is not our home (Hebrews 13:14–15). I highly recommend this book.
For Further Reading
Leading Multicultural Teams by Evelyn Hibbert and Richard Hibbert (William Carey Publishing, 2014).
EMQ, Volume 60, Issue 2. Copyright © 2024 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.
