{"id":28722,"date":"2022-09-05T08:13:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T15:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28722"},"modified":"2022-09-05T08:13:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T15:13:34","slug":"christianity-and-cross-cultural-competence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/christianity-and-cross-cultural-competence\/","title":{"rendered":"Christianity and Cross-Cultural Competence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) might be a critical success factor if the global church is to effectively engage our multi-ethnic world. Paul illustrates the need for CQ by occasionally leveraging indigenous poetry in his sermons, correcting Peter\u2019s culturally-related hypocrisy, and becoming \u201call things to all men\u201d (Acts 17:28; Galatians 2:11-14; and 1 Corinthains 9:22). In the absence of CQ, people risk falling into any number of the 20 different kinds of bias Kahneman discusses in Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em>[1]<\/a>. <\/em>These biases result in forming stereotypes, falling prey to cultural conflicts, and promoting leadership that negatively impacts the world. Naturally, followers of Jesus who are serious about finishing the task of discipling nations will do all possible to avoid falling into this trap.<\/p>\n

Erin Meyer\u2019s ground-breaking book, The Culture Map,<\/em> helps us avoid cultural landmines. It proposes an eight-point framework on navigating the complex world of inter-cultural relationships. The core elements revolve around communicating, feedback, persuading, hierarchy, deciding, trusting, disagreeing, and time dynamics or scheduling. Based upon Meyer\u2019s own studies, as well as the theoretical foundations of Edward Hall, Richard Nisbett, the Globe Foundation and other researchers, the author points out critical differences between key cultural blocks of the world. For example, she notes that while in the<\/p>\n

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United States and other Anglo-Saxon cultures, people are trained (mostly subconsciously) to communicate as literally and explicitly as possible \u2026 in many Asian [and African] cultures \u2026 messages are often conveyed implicitly, requiring the listener to read between the lines. Good communication is subtle, layered, and may depend on copious subtext, with responsibility for transmission of the message shared between the one sending the message and the one receiving it[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As a follower of Jesus, reading this quote raises the question of how many times well-intentioned presentations of the gospel may have been compromised due to poor understanding of the dynamics of cross-cultural communication. It also has huge implications for training those interested in short-term and long-term foreign missions.<\/p>\n

Within my context in South Africa, cultural diversity cuts across racial, ethnic, geographic and other boundaries. The one I found most subtle to understand is the cultural difference between urban residents (sometimes even within the same racial and ethnic group) and rural dwellers.<\/p>\n

Urban residents, arguably owing to the influence of education, movies, travel and the internet, seem generally more low-context and direct in communication; egalitarian; linear in scheduling and time orientation; and task-orientated. Rural dwellers on the other hand, seem more high-context, hierarchical, and flexible in their time orientation and scheduling. \u00a0Between 2016-2017 while I was a missionary in Zithulele, a rural area not far from Mandela\u2019s hometown, it was not uncommon to attend funeral or worship services of at least<\/em> three hours of singing, prayer, preaching, etc. Not attending was almost synonymous to not building relationships, and by extension, ineffective ministry. On the contrary, on average, many worship services around East London, the urban area where I now live, usually last less than two hours. This difference in duration of religious meetings reflects the strong orientation towards relationships and the flexibility in scheduling in rural areas. My frustration with the long duration of meetings and people coming late<\/em> for appointments was a reflection of my urban<\/em> culture, although I share the same race as the people of Zithulele. To thrive in that context, I had to quickly make peace with the dominant culture.<\/p>\n

Meyer concludes that mapping one\u2019s culture by using the eight scales helps to compare a familiar culture with a foreign one thereby creating understanding and increasing the possibility of harmony[3]<\/a>. There is no doubt that The Culture Map<\/em> is one of those important books I will regularly refer to as I navigate a future that is increasingly defined by cultural diversity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking Fast and Slow.<\/em> (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013) 11.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Meyer, Erin. The Culture Map<\/em>. (New York: PublicAffairs, 2014) 31.<\/p>\n

[3] <\/a>Meyer, 192.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) might be a critical success factor if the global church is to effectively engage our multi-ethnic world. Paul illustrates the need for CQ by occasionally leveraging indigenous poetry in his sermons, correcting Peter\u2019s culturally-related hypocrisy, and becoming \u201call things to all men\u201d (Acts 17:28; Galatians 2:11-14; and 1 Corinthains 9:22). In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2335,721,1429,1434],"class_list":["post-28722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cultural-competence","tag-cultural-intelligence","tag-meyer","tag-the-culture-map","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28723,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28722\/revisions\/28723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}