Can Good Come from Relating to People from other Religions?

A missionary must have a passion for understanding different cultures. As outsiders, we want to influence cultures in ways insiders will consider respectful and helpful. Comparative missiology analyzes how Christianity and other faith traditions have sought to expand and how they justify their efforts (Kim & Fitchett-Climenhaga, 2022, p. 11). 

Questions about Christian mission exist in the general field of religious practices and patterns of diffusion. In a steadily more religiously pluralist world, missiologists can gain insights from other missionary religions like Buddhism and Islam (Kollman, 2022, p. 49). 

Christians can also grow in their understanding of mission by dialogue with non-evangelistic religions like Hinduism, Confucianism, and Judaism (Kollman, 2022, p. 50). Learning how to relate to people from other religions productively should be part of Christian missions (Fitchett-Climenhaga, 2022, p. 10). Have different religions influenced each other in positive ways? As someone engaged in Jewish-Christian relations advocacy, I’m encouraged that Jewish theologians have begun to refer to Christianity and rabbinic Judaism as sister religions. In the first century C.E., these two great faith traditions emerged and developed in mutual influence. And I believe that Christianity and Judaism have much to discover in continued, respectful dialogue (Kedem, 2022). 

Can Good Come from Missionaries Studying the Social Sciences?

The field of missiology emerged as a research-based approach to cross-cultural evangelism which gave special place to the social sciences (Fitchett-Climenhaga, 2022, p. 8). This occurred while theology and biblical studies were becoming scientific studies (Fitchett-Climenhaga, 2022, p. 19). The Anglo-American pragmatic approach to mission studies emphasized the strategic delivery of the gospel. But the German scientific approach to mission emphasized how indigenous peoples were appropriating the gospel in diverse ways (Stanley, 2022, p. 21). As an American Evangelical, I have been steeped in the strategical, project-management orientation to evangelism. But as the baton of Christian leadership passes to the Global South – Latin America, Africa, and Asia – I’m more interested in understanding and encouraging how the gospel is being reinterpreted and reimagined today. And as a student of church history, I’m aware that reinterpretation and reimagination has defined the progress of the gospel as it travelled from culture to culture. 

Missionaries increasingly study diverse fields that are related but not central to evangelism as it has traditionally been understood (Kollman, 2022, p. 51). Some fear that Christian missions will become too fragmented by a multiplicity of terms, theories, and methods (Nagy, 2022, p. 56). The clustering of comparative, historical empirical, and hermeneutical methods across disciplines makes missions studies susceptible to “interdisciplinary miscommunication and misunderstanding” (Nagy, 2022, p. 57). The study of missions mustn’t become so nebulous and vast that it cannot be directed towards practical ends. I find this definition of missiology to be helpful: “the study of the relational, communicative (co)existence between God, humans, fellow human beings and the whole creation across space and time” (Nagy, 2022, p. 60). 

Why Care About Supersessionism?

For the past several years my work has centered on post-supersessionist (PS) advocacy. The Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology describes PS as “a family of theological perspectives that affirms God’s irrevocable covenant with the Jewish people as a central and coherent part of ecclesial teaching” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). PS advocacy is described as seeking “to overcome understandings of the New Covenant that entail the abrogation or obsolescence of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, of the Torah as a demarcator of Jewish communal identity, or of the Jewish people themselves” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). 

What 

I believe Christians need to discover how God’s particular relationship with Israel demonstrates his desire and ability to love Gentile cultures in all their diversity. This perspective can mitigate against approaches to mission that reproduce cultural Christianities – national, ethnic, or tribal (Nagy, 2022, p. 65). PS advocacy recognizes the roots of supersessionist theology in the Age of Exploration when Western Christianity claimed exclusive identity as ‘people of God’ effectively abolishing the notion of the ‘Gentile’ (Jennings, 2010). 

The history of mission studies’ interaction with colonialism is important to my PS advocacy. It is encouraging to note that voices critical of Christian mission’s connection to Western colonialist were not slow to appear. Protesting voices were heard from Spanish Catholic missionaries in the 16th century for the un-Christian way Europeans treated indigenous peoples (Robert, 2022, p. 385). And Protestant voices rose similar self-accusations targeting the West’s notion of being a Christian civilization (Robert, 2022, p. 387). The culmination of the decline of ‘West to-the-rest’ mentality came in the post-World War II era’s growing anti-colonial movements and nationalism (Robert, 2022, p. 388). I do not lament this undermining of the westernizing foundations of the missionary enterprise, but it is helpful to understand the history when it casts its shadow even today. 

Hospitality from Wanderer to Wanderer

I celebrate the freeing of Christianity from its Western captivity and the unprecedented phase of growth in what came to be known as the church of the Global South (Robert, 2022, p. 389). But I lament that even in the Global South the tendency of Christians to be isolated from people of other religions results from ignorance and fear (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). The statistics reveal the work at hand if Christians are to convincingly support the common human good: 87% of Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims don’t know a Christian (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 73). Solidarity with our fellow human beings according to the biblical worldview does not mean renouncing the gospel. The church needs to learn to engage the religious and ideological ‘other’ in a way that shows “love, respect, friendship, and hospitality” (Zurlo et al, 2022, p. 74). 

In a time un unprecedented migration and displacement of peoples, it is crucial to know that these phenomena have been foundational to the global spread of Christianity (Fredericks, 2022, p. 670). The reality of cultural diversity is nothing new, but even the most traditionally homogenous societies now feel the strain of pluralism (Wu, 2022, p. 53). And in metropolitan areas that have some of the largest refugee communities, the ease with which Christians can “isolate and occupy themselves away” must be addressed (Wu, 2022, p. 53). PS advocacy must learn from ecumenicists who have emphasized hospitality as the preferred motif of Christian witness (Frederiks, 2022, p. 678). Missionaries are particularly poised to show hospitality to marginalized members of society because of their shared liminal identity. As aliens and exiles in this world, the people of God have a liminal status similar in some ways to that of refugees and immigrants (Pohl, 2003, p. 5). By self-identifying as diaspora persons, missionaries can find solidarity with members of religions who were displaced from their homelands (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 348). This practice is an effective way of countering the antiquated paternalistic West to-the-rest mission narrative (Sanchez et al, 2021, p. 346). Western scholars have been reminded by Christian leaders from the Global South that evangelization is not the distinct vocation of Westerners, and that even refugees can be seen as missionaries (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 346). PS advocacy can only benefit from a posture of Christian witness that embodies such humility. 

References

Frederiks, Martha T. (2022). Mission Studies and World Christianity. In Robert, Dana L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Kedem (Director). (2022, December 17). Christianity & Judaism – When did they actually separate? Prof. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNFAXLC8qw

Jennings, W. J. (2010). The Christian imagination: Theology and the origins of race. Yale University Press

Kim, Kirsteen & Fitchett-Climenhaga, Alison (2022). Introduction To Mission Studies. In Kim, Kirsteen & Fitchett-Climenhaga, Alison (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Kollman, Paul. (2022). Defining Mission Studies for the Third Millennium of Christianity. In Kollman, Paul (Ed.),The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Nagy, Dorottya. (2022). Theory and Method in Mission Studies / Missiology. In Nagym Dorottya (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Pohl CD (2003) Biblical issues in mission and migration. Missiology: An International Review 31: 3–14.

Robert, Dana L. (2022). Mission Studies and World Christianity. In Robert, Dana L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Sanchez, et al., (2021). Ministry Amidst the Refugee Crisis in Europe: Understanding Missionary- Refugee Relationships. Transformation, Vol. 38(4)

Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations. (n.d.). Spostst. Retrieved July 28, 2024, from https://www.spostst.org

Stanley, Brian (2022). The Changing Face Of Mission Studies Since The Nineteenth Century. In Stanley, Brian (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford. 

Wu, Cindy M. (2022). Refugees and the Mission of the Church. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46(I)

Zurlo, Gina A.; Johnson, Todd M.; Crossing, Peter F. (2022). World Christianity and Religions 2022: A Complicated Relationship. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46(I) 71-80 

Mission as a By-Product of Migration

Missiologist Martha Frederiks (2022) makes the strong claim that “mission as a by-product of migration” may be as significant to the global spread of Christianity as deliberate missions (p. 670). And the effects of migration on mission have been both positive and negative. This is based on an understanding of mission that goes beyond evangelism to include “diakonia, healing, reconciliation, presence, interfaith relations, and advocacy” (Bosch, 1991; Bevans & Schroeder, 2004; Corrie et al., 2007). Migration itself has many different definitions and is central to political debates. 

Thus, a discussion of the relationship of migration to missions is controversial (Frederiks, 2022, p. 672). The term migrant is often used as a form of othering, a “process whereby individuals and groups are treated and marked as different and inferior from the dominant social group” (Griffin, 2017). The information gleaned from interviewing migrants often ignores the probability that they don’t feel safe giving information about their experiences. Evangelism can often be seen as exploiting the vulnerability of displaced peoples. And research into migrants is predominantly done in the West, from a Western perspective. With these considerations in mind, it is undeniable that missions have been promoted through “mercantile networks, settler communities, and other forms of group migration” (Frederiks, 2022, p. 672-673). 

The term refugee has been described as migrants in foreign lands who are “unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion” (Refugees, n.d.). Missiologist Sam George states that although persecution and refugee movements have been “strategic inflection points in the history of Christianity” the current phenomena of displacement will “reshape the future of Christianity” (Adeney, 2018). 

Although cultural diversity is nothing new, increasingly even the most traditionally homogenous societies are experiencing the pressures of pluralism. In her study of forced migration, missiologist Cindy Wu (2022) studied how the church has responded to forced migration. She found that in Houston, Texas, “one of the top resettlement cities in the country”, most Christians were unaware of neighbor refugee communities. Wu (2022) found that it was easy for Christians to “isolate of occupy themselves away” from peculiar communities in their cities (p. 52-53).

Migration and Mission in Scripture and Church History

Although Christian migrants have historically proven to be effective spreaders of the gospel, this is not a given. In many cases Christian migrant’s disempowered and marginal status neutralized their influence. And the conversion of migrants to Christianity can often be seen as harmful because it enabled colonial oppression (Frederiks, 2022, p. 674). The legacy of mission and migration is ambiguous. The Jewish diaspora formed the network through which the gospel spread from Judea. The gospel spread to Germanic tribes north of the Roman Empire through their invasions and kidnapping of Christian women. And Orthodox Christianity spread as Slavic masses migrated to Central Europe (Frederiks, 2022, p. 675). 

To counter accusation of exploitation, practical forms of mission to migrants emerged that go beyond relief work to include social action and justice advocacy (Frederiks, 2022, p. 676). This aligns with the biblical injunction that the Israelites show impartiality and justice by providing for the material needs of diplaced peoples (Deut. 1:17; 24:14, 17; 27:19; Lev 19:9–10). Ecumenicists dealing with mission and migration have emphasized hospitality as the preferred motif of Christian witness (Frederiks, 2022, p. 678). 

Abraham exemplifies hospitality by hosting the stranger under the oaks of Mamre (Gen. 18). The patriarch’s actions remind us not to ignore opportunities for hospitality to foreigners (Wu, 2022, p. 55). Other biblical examples of hospitality to foreigners include the widow at Zarephath’s welcoming of Elijah (I Kg. 17), and the Gentile woman’s provision for Elisha (II Kg. 4,8). But some have pointed out the social power dynamics involved in the guest/host model of hospitality. The suggested alternative is that Christians treat migrants as neighbors with whom they have much in common (Nagy, 2015). Jesus’ inviting himself to the home of Zacchaeus the tax can also be seen as a form of hospitality. This demonstrates how showing hospitality to refugees is a “two-way Chanel of redemption” in which both giver and receiver “experience the grace of God” (Wu, 2022, p. 56). 

Missionaries are Migrants Themselves

This focus on common ground is found in missiologist Christine Pohl’s (2003) proposal that two biblical motifs should inform Christian thinking related to migration (p. 3-14). The first motif is liminality, present in the biblical image of God’s people as aliens and exiles in this world (Pohl, 2003, p. 5). Sanchez et al. (2021) found that missionaries shared a liminal identity with refugees in foreign countries where they served (p. 347). The missionaries that identified themselves as diaspora persons and were more likely to invite refugees into their homes. This was even a way for missionaries to find solidarity with Muslims who were also displaced from their cultures of origin (Sanchez et al, 2021, p. 348). Members of both communities – the missionaries and the Muslim immigrants – shared their experiences of raising children in a foreign culture. Like refugees, some of these missionaries had been forced to move with their families “five times in five years” and understood how exhausting an experience displacement is (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 348). 

But not all missionaries shared a liminal identity with fellow migrants in the countries where they served. This was clear in the fact that they referred to themselves as missionaries, ignoring any corresponding status as migrants (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 348). These missionaries’ sense of community was back at home with the sending organizations they represented, referring to themselves as “on loan” and “planting” a branch of those foreign entities (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 348).

Pohl’s (2003) speaks of hospitality as the natural reaction of liminal groups meeting each other. As strangers themselves, “the people of God will welcome strangers and will embody hospitality as a way of life (p. 5). Hospitality’s true value is seen when it is offered to those who are “significantly different from ourselves”. Thus, it contrasts with our selfish tendency to be friendly to those who are “interesting, valuable, and important to us” (Pohl, 2003, p. 10). This is the opposite of the fear of refugees as detrimental to the economy and the preservation of demographical status quo (Wu, 2022, p. 55). Such an attitude among Christians is shameful, representing a scarcity mentality that seeks newcomers as a “threat or a burden” (Wu, 2022, p. 55). Often the church is complicit in a system where migrants are welcomed as cheap labor while prohibiting citizenship that would potentially change cultural identity. This is a stark contrast to the biblical mandate against mistreating or oppressing foreigners (24:19; 26:12–15; Jer. 7:5–7; 22:3; Ezek. 22:7, 29; Zech. 7:10; Mal. 3:5). 

Hospitality that Seeks Invitation Versus Giving Invitation

Sanchez et al., (2021) found that missionaries serving Muslim migrant communities overseas worked hard developing relationships and saw being invited to formal or informal events as a breakthrough (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 349). Informal events included “afterschool programs for children and youth, language classes, food and clothing provision, and community center activities designed to help immigrants”. These missionaries participated in language classes to create a relational bridge which could lead to opportunities to share the gospel. These classes were a context where Muslim women could “socialize and connect”, which was superior to their need for language learning. In this way, a formal language class became an “informal, hospitable gathering” offering intercultural learning and relational support (Sanchez et al., 2021, p. 349-350).

Rejecting the “West to the Rest” Paradigm

Theologies of mission and migration developed by immigrants tend to focus on praxis versus theory. A “diaspora missiology” emerges that sees evangelism as something done from every place to every people (Wan, 2010). The most influential mission from migrants’ perspective has been reverse mission which encourages the sending of missionaries from the non-Western world to the former “heartlands of Christianity” in Europe and North America (Frederiks, 2022, p. 679). This last movement is described as a “re-narrativizing” project that counters the typical experiences of immigrants: marginalization, discrimination, racism, and exploitation (Frederiks, 2022, p. 679). This counters the “old paternalistic paradigm of ‘the West to the rest’” (Sanchez et al, 2021, p. 346). Majority World scholars have reminded Western scholars that “sharing the Gospel is not the sole business of Westerners”, and refugees can be seen as missionaries (Sanchez et al, 2021, p. 346). 

Missiologist Cindy Wu (2022) reminds us of the way Christian tradition has “honored the legacy of sojourners and refugees” in the Bible. Abraham was called out of Ur, the patriarchs wandered for generations in Canaan and Egypt, and Moses ultimately led Israel’s exodus in the desert. The factors which cause displacement of peoples are as old as time: “economic opportunity, environmental devastation, war, and persecution”. This has caused the development of unusual religious communities far away from their traditional homelands. Europe has experienced the most drastic demographic shifts because of asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa (Wu, 2022, p. 54). 

References

Adeney, Sam G. & Miriam Adeney, eds., (2018). Refugee Diaspora: Missions amid the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of Our Times. William Carey Publishing, Kindle location 363.

Bosch, David (1990). Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll: Orbis. 

Bevans, Stephan & Schroeder, Roger. (2004). Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today. Maryknoll: Orbit.

Corrie, John, Escobar, Samuel and Shenk, Wilbert R. (2007). Dictionary of Mission Theology: Evangelical Foundations. Nottingham: InterVarsity Press. 

Frederiks, Martha T. (2022). Mission Studies and World Christianity. In Robert, Dana L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Griffin, G. (2017). Othering. In A Dictionary of Gender Studies. Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191834837.001.0001/acref-9780191834837-e-283

Nagy, D. (2015). Minding methodology: Theology-missiology and migration studies. Mission Studies, 32(2), 203–233. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341401

Pohl, Christine D. (2003) Biblical issues in mission and migration. Missiology: An International Review 31: 3–14.

Refugees. (n.d.). UNHCR US. Retrieved July 12, 2024, from https://www.unhcr.org/us/refugees

Sanchez, et al., (2021). Ministry Amidst the Refugee Crisis in Europe: Understanding Missionary- Refugee Relationships. Transformation, Vol. 38(4)

Wan, E. (2010). RETHINKING MISSIOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 21ST CENTURY: GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS AND DIASPORA MISSIOLOGY. Great Commission Research Journal, 2(1), 7–20.

Wu, Cindy M. (2022). Refugees and the Mission of the Church. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46(I)

What Missiologists Think

According to missiologist Craig Ott (2021) postcolonial thought is the critique of attempts by one culture to impose their worldview onto another. But Ott warns against a naive attitude that opposes cultural change in general, contrary to the fact that this is an obvious reality in our modern, globalizing world. He also contends that cross-cultural teachers will inevitably be agents of culture change, so they must seek to do so intentionally and profitably. And since no culture perfectly represents the biblical worldview, part of Christian practice is mutual intercultural exhortation. Ott describes the impetus for worldview change as a person coming to realize that “the way they have understood the world so far can no longer account for their present experience”. And such change is not motivated merely by information, human reasoning is based on emotional narratives imbibed in our upbringing. It is only through alternative narratives that one’s conception of reality can change and cause the reshaping of an individual’s identity and values (Ott, 2021, p. 160-167). 

So people will only be persuaded by the biblical worldview if it is linked to local issues and is a story people can “identify with, remember and which will have a life changing impact” (Bartle, 2005, p. 185). For biblical concepts to influence traditional religious cultures, these concepts must be associated with indigenous symbols. Then these symbols can be used to integrate a traditional culture with the world of Scripture “into a holistic Christian application of faith to life” (Zahniser, 1997, p. 13). 

Missiologists Lingenfelter & Lingenfelter (2003) also recognize that every culture is a source of bondage and should so be challenged by teachers (p. 88). Although cultural stability and continuity are necessary for individual and community flourishing, social practices that contradict our values should be confronted. Experiential learning is a technique consisting of “doing and reflecting on what happened”, learning begins with concrete experience followed by reflective observations that lead to the formation of abstract generalizations. The motivation and ability to change behavior comes from students’ experience of discomfort or dissonance, whose cause when recognized can be mitigated against. Experiential learning is effective in promoting change because it focuses on “experience and emotional responses” rather than information. But creating powerful simulations that connect abstract concepts and concrete experiences is more challenging than just lecturing. Still, simulations of experience followed by group and personal reflection can affect change like that which long-term mentoring relationships would produce. From a Christian perspective, ultimately no educational method can produce transformation, only trials, repentance, and obedience to biblical teaching can do that (Lingenfelter & Lingenfelter 2003, p. 89-98). 

What Intercultural Education Experts Think

Geneva Gay (2018) of the University of Washington critiques “micro-level changes” made by short-term educational projects with limited influence on the wider learning culture (p. 275). Gay asserts that this approach won’t generate significant change (p. 275). And change is possible only when educators stop advocating for a return to traditions from a past that marginalized many ethnic minorities. Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) will only change the culture when it is a required part of teacher training, rather than an optional approach. Gay also advocates for holistic approaches to change in education that deal with students’ “ethic and cultural particularities, and their individual uniqueness”. Ultimately, the motivation for change through CRT is the development of students who help make society more “equitable, receptive, and reflective of diverse peoples, experiences, perspectives, and contributions”. This formation must begin in early childhood when students’ ideas about race are being shaped. Merely recognizing the value of CRT is not enough, it must be implemented, and field-based training helps knowledge and practice “reinforce and refine each other” (Gay, 2018, p. 277-290). 

In Developing Fundamental Orientations for Teaching, Villegas & Lucas (2002) advocate for teachers seeing themselves as agents of chance who see “schools and society as interconnected” (p. 55). This involves recognizing that the potential education must challenge societal injustice is more often substituted by a tendency to reproduce the thinking and behavior of the dominant cultural group (Villegas & Lucas, 2002, p. 55). 

Dealing with Controversial Issues: Social Studies in Africa

Lewis Asimeng-Boahene (2007) researched strategies for dealing with controversial issues in social studies education in African schools. He argues that the increased approximation and interdependence of nations increases the importance of social studies educators’ role in preparing children to live in “tomorrow’s global village” (p. 232). The African continent is a particular challenge involving the need to navigate controversial issues while community taboos often prevent open discussion. Asimeng-Boahene argues that decisions about what issues should or should not be discussed need to be based on what fulfills the long-term goals of the school in its community. Introducing controversial issues into classroom discussion sparks students’ interest and encourages civic participation. It also teaches students how to face and resolve conflict and controversy in a “rational, thoughtful, and sensitive manner” (Asimeng-Boahene, 2007, p. 232-233). 

I recognize the benefits of a teacher not committing to a particular position about a controversial issue. But I agree with experts that recommend a teacher never introduce a subject they are not willing to comment on personally, i.e., beliefs and values (Hoge et al., 2004; Martorella et al., 2005). 

How to Teach for Cultural Change Ethically

My context of service is primarily ecumenical meetings of Christian leaders from diverse traditions working on issues of reconciliation. Participants come from churches that have different concepts about what type of issues should be discussed publicly and how that should be conducted. This type of work requires a balance of challenging participants to step outside their comfort zones while respecting their convictions. Our gatherings have people from conservative and liberal/progressive church traditions and it is often a challenge to go beyond niceties to get real work done while avoiding unfruitful controversy. Experts in discussing controversial issues in education recommend inviting respected members of the community to participate (Adeyemi, 2000). In an ecumenical reconciliation themed event, I would apply this principle to the need for local hosts to be given a place of honor. In general, this has been the approach of the reconciliation events I have participated in. Local Christian leaders are given a role of host and convener whose presence mitigates against the appearance of indifference to community context. 

Villegas and Lucas (2002) observe the difficulty of teachers having influence outside the classroom due to the hierarchical culture of schools (p. 56). Teachers are so bogged down with teaching and bureaucratic duties that becoming change agents is an unreasonable endeavor. Making things worse is the postmodern critique of peer relations that creates “a sense of despair (…) that all actions are oppressive and that human agency is an illusion”. For this reason, I agree with the assessment that teachers must encourage “both critique and hope in equal measure” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 56-58). 

In the context of my ecumenical reconciliation work, the “teaching” is expressed in the mode of round-table discussions. Leaders representing diverse church traditions interact as equals seeking the healing of historic divisions through prayer, repentance, and advocacy. The central motif of much of our work is the Ephesians 2 vision of one new humanity describing the church as a prophetic image of intercultural reconciliation. The concept of being a teacher as an ethical Christian change agent should find direct application to the work I am involved in. Ecumenism that seeks to fulfill the vision of John 17:21 must not be introverted and concerned only with the benefits of reconciliation to the global communion of Christian faith. Our efforts at reconciliation within the church must have a clear goal to bring the fruits of this work to bear on the injustices that plague our world. 

Experts recommend that teachers as agents of social change seek to do so as part of collaborative projects (Villegas & Lucas, 2002, p. 63). I find application of this principle to the work I am involved in, where reconciliation advocates must avoid the discouragement that comes with trying to work alone. Neither schools, nor ecumenical meetings are sufficient to bring about social justice. What is needed is “collaborative communities working for change” in ways that go beyond the spheres of individual change agents. 

References

Adeyemi, M. B. (2000) Teaching conflict resolution to social studies students in Botswana, The Social Studies, 91(1), 38–41.

Hoge, J. D. et al. (2004) Real-world investigations for social studies (Columbus, OH, Pearson/Merrill/

Prentice Hall).

Ott, C. (2021). Teaching and learning across cultures: A guide to theory and practice. (Lower Level LC1099. O83 2021). Baker Academic

Bartle, Neville. 2005. Death, Witchcraft and the Spirit World in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Goroka, Papua New Guinea: Melanesian Institute.

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. (Lower Level LC1099.3. G393 2018; Third edition.). Teachers College Press

Lewis Asimeng‐Boahene (2007) Creating strategies to deal with problems of teaching controversial issues in social studies education in African schools, Intercultural Education, 18:3, 231-242, DOI: 10.1080/14675980701463588

Lingenfelter, J., & Lingenfelter, S. (2003). Teaching cross culturally: An incarnational model for learning and teaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Martorella, P., Beal, H., Candy, M. & Bolick, C. M (2005) Teaching social studies in middle and

secondary schools (4th edn) (Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson).

Villegas, A. M., & Lucas, T. (2002). Educating culturally responsive teachers: A coherent approach. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Zahniser, A. H. Matthias. 1997. Symbol and Ceremony: Making Disciples across Cultures. Monrovia, CA: MARC.

The Far-reaching Perspective of the Portuguese People

As someone from a minority Christian tradition in the majority Catholic nation of Portugal, I believe that sharing the gospel here should connect with the culture’s sense of values and meaning. The Portuguese are fully engaged in modernity, but they also have a sense of the continuous history of their nation – founded in 1143 C.E., considered by some to be the oldest country in Europe (Historical Development, n.d.; (17 Fun Facts about Portugal You Probably Never Knew, n.d.). Learning activities that spark curiosity to see how class content relates to daily life and individual accomplishment of Portuguese students will be most effective. 

Evangelical missionaries like me serving in Latin Europe – Portugal, Spain, Italy – often complain of the difficulty of their work. But I believe a key is connecting the good news of Jesus’ redemptive kingdom to the felt needs and values of these Catholic, secularized societies. The last description cites a great paradox of those countries of Southern Europe that resisted the effects of modernity longer. Here we experience a culture that wants to exercise the freedoms that come with liberalism while also keeping the Catholic church as a bastion of moral reference. 

Sage on a Stage Versus Guide on the Side

The study of diverse interactive methods of teaching that unlock students’ knowledge is enough for a teacher to spend a lifetime learning. This approach is known as student-based learning (SBL), and those who got into teaching because of the love of study need not feel they will be unfulfilled by using this approach. Two cutting edge SBL methods are problem-based learning (Nurul Fadilah et al., 2024) and jigsaw learning (Usman et al., 2022). Both these approaches have the strength of generating and taking advantage of group discussion. I feel that learning approaches that emphasize group discussion have many benefits for a foreign missionary like me. Problem-based learning should be engaged with soberly by a foreign teacher because it will expose them to the pain and struggles of the culturally “other” they serve. If a missionary expects to not stay in a country a long time, or perhaps indefinitely, they can be protected from the despair inherent to any culture by always keeping their eyes on the horizon expecting to go home one day. 

When we really engage and enmesh ourselves in a local culture – marrying someone from there and raising our native-born children there – the liabilities of that nation will affect us for better or worse. The missionary must have a different perspective – that there is no worse-off person due to intercultural service for Jesus. The call of a missionary is only enriching even if not by human standards. 

Ideas of Power: Comparing our Baggage

Hierarchy and order in the Portuguese learning context are quite different from my home culture of Southern California. In the context of teaching, I find that the Portuguese are less likely to recognize someone’s authority to speak on a subject based on experience and charisma but without formal education. Higher education degrees are highly valued in my home culture, but there are many people who become persons of influence in an area due solely to their accomplishments independent of academic pedigree. 

Attractive body appearance is also a significant status defining criteria in the coastal urban context of Cascais where I live, located in the metro area of Lisbon. Dressing well and multilingual ability is highly respected in this context and even necessary depending on one’s vocation. Size of family is more of status symbol for US-Americans than Europeans who often feel the former are irresponsible and even egotistical for having such large families. This would be viewed in the opposite manner by US-Americans. The main challenge I see in engaging and influencing Portuguese culture relates to hierarchy and material status. For US-Americans like me deference to hierarchical and institutional values are harder to accept, and the Portuguese will likely be turned off if US-Americans ostentatiously demonstrate consumerism as a social elevator. 

Is it Valid to Seek Cultural Change? 

 In closing, diverse challenges exist for a foreign teacher who desires to be an agent of cultural and social change. It is imperative that members of the local community be involved in learning activities that seek to bring positive transformation. And as said at the beginning of this text, foreign agents of cultural change should seek to do so in compliance with the goals and values of their target constituencies. The institutions of Portugal still seem daunting to me after living here for four years. I take comfort in the experience of spending 16 years in Brazil, knowing that the learning curve has spikes and plateaus but continues if a missionary stays the course. Staying isn’t enough; however, many stay for decades without becoming wise navigators of culture. My prayer is that I maintain a teachable spirit before the Lord and leave a legacy of blessing – however small it may be by human estimation – that glorifies the name of Jesus. 

References

Historical development. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2024, from https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/portugal/historical-development#

17 fun facts about Portugal you probably never knew. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2024, from https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/fun-facts-about-portugal/

Usman, M., Degeng, I. N. S., Utaya, S., & Kuswandi, D. (2022). The Influence of JIGSAW Learning Model and Discovery Learning on Learning Discipline and Learning Outcomes. Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction, 12(2), 166–178.

Giving our Life Stories Structure and Coherence

According to Goodson et al. (2010), stories can either give our lives “structure, coherence and meaning” or inversely they can provide “the backdrop against which we experience our lives as complex, fragmented or without meaning” (p. 1). These stories don’t just help us understand ourselves, they constitute who we are(Goodson, 2010, p. 1). We create these stories, finding in them meaning, direction, and support for dealing with circumstances and our identities in them (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). Rather than consisting in learning fromthe stories of our lives and selves, narrative learning happens “in and through the narration” (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). 

We can deliberately engage in constructing narrative through autobiographical work (Goodson, 2010, p. 2). Bateson’s (1994) model for narrative learning involves “recognition of experience, reflection, and reconstruction, which are interrelated as a spiral”. Spiral learning consists of navigating complexity “with partial understanding, allowing for later returns” (Bateson, 1994, p.243). Learning as we move forward, we reflect on experiences and reconstruct them during our lives (Liu, 2015, p. 21). 

Stage theory is a common approach to understanding an individual’s life. But Cohler (1982) states that narrative “may offer a better understanding of the life course than stage theory because it closely parallels the storying process that people use in making meaning of their own lives”. This frees the exercise from constricting models of life progression, as if individual’s lives would always follow one of a set of predictable patterns. 

According to Polkinghorne (1995), narrative discourse “draws together diverse events, happenings, and actions of human lives into thematically unified goal directed purposes” (p. 5). We use narratives to “inform our decisions by constructing imaginative ‘what if’ scenarios” hopefully coming to see that what we have received outweighs what we have lost (Polkinghorne, 1998, p. 14).

Helping Explain Why Our Lives Deviate from “the Norm”

Bruner (1990) describes the function of narratives as specifically “to find an intentional state that mitigates or at least makes comprehensible a deviation from canonical cultural patterns” (p. 49-50). Narrative forms are both “socially patterned” and “personally inscribed”, meaning that understanding the social involves taking personal stories seriously “in their own terms and not just as the expression of something underlying or overarching” (Goodson, 2010, p. 126-7). And as a collaborative creative activity, narrative learning consists in both the way we tell a story and how the receiver interprets it (Liu, 2015, p. 4; Czanniawska, 1997). 

We establish coherence in our narratives by finding connections between the variety of experiences that bombard us with daily (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 62). This coherence is often found in specific cultural narratives, which if identified can be critiqued and countered with alternative narratives (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 62). Indeed, all narratives are situated in culture and tied to it (Clark, 2010, p. 3). However, there is also individual agency in creating narratives, as the speaker connects events into a sequence in order to act on them later and impress meaning upon their listeners (Reissman, 2008, p. 3). Events perceived by the speaker are selected, organized, connected, and evaluated as meaningful for a particular audience” (p. 3). Important to notice is that narrative is always social, i.e. “there is always an audience (real or imagined, the other or even the self) and that fact shapes the structure and determines the purpose of the narrative” (Clark, 2010, p. 4). 

Sarbin (1993) describes our world as “story-shaped” (p. 63), full of “folklore, myth, popular culture (carried by modalities such as movies, television, YouTube, music, and the like), social scripts, religious traditions and parables, political discourses, history, literature”, and so on (Clark, 2010, p. 4). All these forms embody cultural values providing “libraries of plots. . .[that] help us interpret our own and other people’s experience” (Sarbin, 1993, p. 59). These narratives “establish what constitutes normalcy by defining reasonable causality and plausibility” (Linde, 1993). 

Personal Narrative Exercises

Some educators have used imaginative role-playing to help learners encounter a tangible experience, by pretending they were someone else in a different context (Marunda-Piki, 2018, p. 109). Research indicates the effectiveness of narrative exercises where adult learners tell stories “using plenty of gestures, facial expressions, and a degree of dramatization using tone of voice and mime (Sawyer, 1965; Colwell, 1980; Grainger, 1997). 

Christian educators have used narrative learning to help students understand the stories they believed about themselves considering Christ’s work on the cross” (Foote, 2015, p. 118). The call to a new life of faith is seen as “a call for Christians to rethink their thinking”, citing Scripture attesting to how the world has blinded the unbeliever from the light of the gospel (II Cor. 4:4). Emphasis is placed on the believer’s new life in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), and their call to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2) (Foote, 2015, p. 118). 

Asking adult learners to write narrative essays about their lives is a means of “connecting what they have learned from current experiences to those in the past as well to possible future situations” (Foote, 2015, p. 120). According to Kolb’s experiential learning model, “concrete experiences can lead to personal reflection on the experience. This reflection then leads to abstract conceptualization, which might manifest itself in a set of conclusions or rules of thumb derived from the experience as well as insight into applicable theories or other concepts” (Colvin, 2012, p. 94). Since adults form their identities through their experiences, by critically reflecting upon prior learning through written narratives students can “reshape and renew their identities” (Foote, 2015, p. 121). 

Psychologists use therapeutic interventions that involve “the co-construction of healing narratives in the face of personal, moral, and social adversity” (Lieblich, McAdams, and Josselson , 2004). In White and Epston’s (1990) narrative therapy process clients are helped to re-story their lives, editing the plot to better serve them. This helps the client distinguish different stories to the problem narrative that led them into therapy. Frank (1995) identifies three types of illness narratives: “restitution narrative centers around the (hoped for) return of good health; the chaos narrative has no center—it is disturbingly lacking in coherence and therefore in sense making; and the quest narrative seeks to use the illness to gain something of value”. 

Clark and Rossiter (2008) argue that the nature of experience is always prelinguistic, “it is ‘languaged’ after the fact, and the process of narrating it is how learners give meaning to the experience” (p. 64). Therefore, it is via the construction of narrative that experience becomes accessible, and the way it is constructed determines the meaning it will have for the individual or group. (Clark and Rossiter, 2008, p. 64).

Clark and Rossiter (2008) developed three modes of narrative learning. In the learning journalassignment, participants articulate what they are learning “in a sustained, regular way” by journaling (p. 67). Participants enter a conversation between themselves and the learning material in focus, connecting prior experiences with new ones, comparing prior assumptions with new ideas. In concept-focused autobiographical writing, students write a paper with their life story as the subject, to “construct a narrative of their life experience, which must cohere in terms of a given concept and illuminate that concept” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). In instructional case studies, a problem is presented that must be solved or an issue to be addressed, “and this is the location of the learning because the problem or issue is complex, reflecting real-world practice” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). The point is less finding the solution to the problem than discovering “how to decide what to do” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68). They are “learning to think like practitioners, which involves putting theoretical concepts in conversation with prior experience to come up with new insights and interpretations” (Clark and Rossiter, 2008. P. 68).

Conclusion

            The most compelling idea in my study of narrative learning is that people either see their lives as coherent and meaningful or chaotic and absurd. What a tragedy for people who find themselves in a story whose beginning, middle, and end don’t make any sese or have purpose. The Bible states that everyone was created for a purpose (Eph. 2:10; Ps. 139:14-16), a simple message but one that so many distraught and alienated people need to know. 

            Unfortunately, the Bible is full of stories of people who knew God whose stories began so promisingly but ended up in tragedy. These were the followers of God, the heroes of the faith. If we can learn to see our lives in the perspective of the God who shapes and forms, forgives and redeems, we should always be able to find hope. 

References

Bateson, M.C. (1994). Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way. New York: Harper Collins. 

Bruner, Jerome S. (1990) Acts of Meaning (the Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Clark, M. C., & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 2008(119), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.306 

Clark, M. C. (2010). Narrative Learning: Its Contours and Its Possibilities. Part of a Special Issue: Narrative Perspectives on Adult Education, (126), 3–11. https:// doi.org/10.1002/ace.367 

Cohler, B. J. “Personal Narrative and the Life Course.” In P. B. Baltes and O. G. Brim, Jr. (eds.), Life-span Development and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, 1982. 

Colwell, E. (1980) Storytelling (London, The Bodley Head).

Colvin, J. (2012). Earn college credit for what you know (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: Kendall Hunt.

Czanniawska, B (1997). Narrating the Organization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

Foote, L. S. (2015). Re-Storying Life as a Means of Critical Reflection: The Power of Narrative Learning. Christian Higher Education, 14(3), 116–126. Academic Search Premier.

Frank, A. W. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. Chicago: University of 

Chicago Press, 1995.

Goodson, I. F., Biesta, Gert., Tedder, M., & Adair, N. (2010). Narrative Learning. Taylor & Francis Group. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/biola-ebooks/detail.action?docID=487967

Grainger, T. (1997) Traditional storytelling in the primary classroom (Leamington Spa, Scholastic. 

Lieblich, A., McAdams, D. P., and Josselson, R. (eds.). Healing Plots: The Narrative Basis of Psychotherapy. Washington, D.C.: APA, 2004.

Linde, C. Life Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Liu, X. (2015). Narrative Generates a Learning Spiral in Education: Recognition, Reflection, and Reconstruction. International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 1(3). ERIC. 

Polkinghorne, D. (1995) ‘Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis’, in J. A. Hatch and R. Wisniewski (eds) Life History and Narrative , London: Falmer.

Polkinghorne, D. (1998). Narrative Knowing and the Human Science. Albany: SUNY

Press.

Riessman, C. K. Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2008.

Sarbin, T. R. “The Narrative as the Root Metaphor for Contextualism.” In S. C. Hayes, 

C. J. Hayes, H. W. Reese, and T. R. Sarbin (eds.), Varieties of Scientific Contextualism. 

Reno, Nev.: Context Press, 1993.

Sawyer, R. (1965) The way of the storyteller (New York, The Viking Press); original work published 1942. 

White, M., and Epston, D. Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. New York: Norton, 

1990.

 [DD1]Considering how personal narratives explain deviations from cultural patterns. In their personal narratives, participants could explore how they explain their involvement in Jewish-Christian reconciliation initiatives. (ONM)

 [DD2]Important albeit obvious point: our personal narratives are the result of the interaction of our own experiences and thoughts about them and the mutuality of these experiences and reflections within our cultures. 

 [DD3]Participants can be asked who are the most important “receivers” to their self narrative and narrative of Jewish-Christian relations (ONM), as well as as how this audience affects the narrative? 

Challenges and Recommendations for Teaching Online

A large portion of my students are Brazilians who I teach mostly online. One positive aspect of teaching Brazilians is that large amounts of theological and missiological literature is available in Portuguese. There are excellent online social science research sources such as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Brazilian Institute of Research and Data Analysis (IBPAD). When some subjects are more difficult for students to source, experts recommend providing electronic files through a platform such as Moodle or Canvas (Ott, 2021, p. 235). Research indicates that many Majority World contexts primarily emphasize learning by memorization versus critical thought (Ott, 2021, p. 236). Therefore, a Western teacher like me must take care not to take for granted that students will engage texts critically. 

One of the most prevalent cognitive concepts is field articulation in which field-dependent learners perceive holistically and field-independent learners tend to isolate items from context (Ott, 2021, p. 115). Majority World learners tend to be more holistic/(FD), and Westerners more analytic/(FI) (Ott, 2021, p. 122). Research indicates that online learning favors (FI) learners, so it is helpful to provide (FD) learners clear lecture outlines and instructions on note taking (Ott, 2021, p. 238-9). Consequently, as a US-American I need to be sensitive while teaching online courses to my Brazilian students. 

No matter what the demographic of my students, certain limitations of online learning must be faced. These include the lack of empathy and human touch that today’s “cyber youth” experience. Thus, teachers face the challenge of providing what experts call “high-touch learning environments” (Goodwin, 2016, p. 81-83). Though the purpose of the internet is to connect people across the globe, it often perpetuates prejudice and superficial cultural caricatures (Levmore and Nussbaum, 2010). Analysts describe contemporary learners as “lonely but fearful of intimacy” whose digital connections offer “the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship” (Turkle, 2011, pp. xiv, 1, 3). As an online teacher, I face the task of finding texts that “deal with more authentic and substantial human experiences and contextualize specific subject-matter skills” in multiculturally meaningful ways (Gay, 2018, p. 152). 

Lessons from Western Professors in Saudi Arabia

I have lived outside my native US-American culture for most of the past 30 years. Often, I notice my fellow US-Americans overseas illustrating points with irrelevant cultural references. Sports examples are the most blatant, for example when US-Americans refer to baseball or football, aka gridiron elsewhere. For all nationalities, there is an art to teaching with a translator, which entails avoiding plays on words, culturally unique expressions, and many jokes. 

Western university teachers who sought to apply culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in Saudia Arabia found it difficult to link students’ motivation to learn with personal ambition. Students didn’t feel that a college education would significantly impact dreams linked to profession, therefore Western teachers had to engage different aspirations (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 212-213). 

Western teachers were able to capitalize on Saudi culture’s respect for teachers. Students showed genuine excitement to learn from teachers who them esteemed as sources of valuable knowledge (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 214). One challenge, however, was the fact that over 5 years of higher education Saudi students became “disengaged from their environment”, “disconnected from the traditions of their elders”, and “adrift in uncertainty” (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 214). The primary reason Western teachers have been sought out by Saudi universities is to prepare students to engage in a knowledge-based economy. Therefore, I would recommend that Western teachers work to identify Saudi mentors who have successfully engaged in knowledge-based work locally and globally. These mentors may be few but invaluable as a resource to build upon as examples for Saudi students. 

Western teachers faced the challenge that the modernist view of knowledge contrasts with the Saudi “traditional absolutist view of knowledge” (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 216). The focus on memorization in Islamic culture conflicted with the Western curriculum aiming to teach students to view knowledge “critically and not passively” (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 216). Saudi students believed that the aim of a university degree is to “graduate and obtain jobs regardless of their knowledge content and changes in ways of thinking” (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 216). 

I agree with the position that (CRP) should aim to develop people who fully participate in their native societies producing life-enhancing knowledge and technology (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 220). I agree with the assessment that Western teachers in Majority World setting should be “exploring the communities in which their students live, connecting learning to students’ everyday lives, participating in community events, and collaborating with community members on projects both within and outside the school” (Alghamdi, 2014, p. 220). 

Culturally Relevant Teaching – Biblical Basis and Challenges

Christian advocates of culturally relevant teaching (CRT) describe the approach as a: “Pedagogy of opposition that is committed to collective empowerment” grounded on students’ academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness of the social order (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 159-165). James 2:1-7 on favoritism is cited as a biblical basis for opposing a pedagogy that extends favor to individuals or groups for self-serving aims (Stulac, 2003, para. 5). Christian educators rightly apply (CRT) to factors such as “race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation” (Swenson, 2016, p. 2). These teachers also give the Good Samaritan parable as convincing evidence that Christian educators should show love and mercy as they relate to students and design curriculum (Swenson, 2016, p. 3). The prophetic themes against injustice are also argued to be relevant to Christians’ call to live in contrast to “worldly standards” and “confront the injustices in their institutions” (Gilliard, 2013).

One of the weaknesses of (CRT) is the possibility of buckling under the weight of the project of collecting materials that present “diverse perspectives based on factors such as race, culture, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and profession” (Swenson, 2016, p. 6). If imagining the diverse subjects of academia, one confronts the significant additional pressure (CRT) places on Christian teachers. Then there is the question of evaluation regarding (CRT)’s goal of creating “cultural competence” in students (Swenson, 2016, p. 6). This includes the goal of leading students to recognize the liabilities of their cultural backgrounds, such as white privilege and historical injustices committed between ethnic groups present in modern nation-states (Swenson, 2016, p. 6). These are controversial issues that touch on the idea of identity and guilt, which must be treated delicately. Perhaps a dialogical approach is preferable to a didactive, prescriptive one to free teachers from the liability of imposing their perspectives on students. 

Micah 6 is cited as biblical basis for teaching students “critical consciousness of societal injustices” and calling students to be agents of change (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Visible Thinking Routines (Ritchhart et al., 2011) using various media to engage students in discussion is an excellent strategy, but one that can lead to destructive controversy if nor conducted with sensitivity. A helpful suggestion is that students interact with discussion points regarding social justice in online chat rooms prior to class (Swenson, 2016, p. 8). Also, if (CRT) only generates discussion without practical impact this is unfortunate. The suggestion that students use (CRT) to work on a “specific classroom management issue” has the potential to provide an empirical experience of what it is like to engage social justice issues in real life (Swenson, 2016). 

Helpful Insights from (CRT) for my Context

Research indicates the effectiveness of song, drama, and role playing, which is something that I feel I could employ more in my teaching (Ott, 2021, p. 248). Role-playing is something that I would like to employ more, including “improvisation around a real-life situation” or giving students a “situation (case) that they must act out” (Ott, 2021, p. 253). 

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been praised as “means of democratizing education, overcoming the elitism of higher education, and making it more universally accessible and affordable”, but dropout rates are 90 to 94 percent and nearly 80 percent are from affluent countries (Reich and Ruipérez-Valiente, 2019). In teaching Majority World students, I have observed the value placed on courses that can count toward a degree. Therefore, I would prioritize teaching MOOC courses for credit. Findings show that “students from all cultures preferred asynchronous elements over synchronous ones” (Ott, 2021, p. 276), given factors such as time zone, internet quality, and language difficulties. This runs counter to my presumption regarding Majority World learners such as Brazilians, who I would have thought preferred live online classes. But universally relevant factors leading to the asynchronous preference include “technical difficulties, low audio quality, necessity to be online at certain times, lack of opportunities to interact in live meetings, and their language abilities” (Wang, 2007, 302–3). 

Most of my teaching involves mission studies, for which establishing performance standards of culturally diverse students is a challenge. Experts suggest one way of leveling the playing field is to have students read texts from diverse cultures. I’m inspired by the method of asking students to decipher “culturally encoded messages, and convert them from one expressive form to another, such as from poetry to explanatory essays, and from narrative autobiography to conversational dialogue” (Gay, 2018, p. 158). The prospect of finding teaching materials, techniques, and assessment criteria that are responsive to the “cultural heritages and personal experiences” of students (Gay, 2018, p. 160) is an inspiring challenge for me. 

A significant discovery for me was the coping strategy described as code shifting – “altering expectations, ways of thinking, outward appearances, speech, and behaviors to accommodate situations and audiences” dominated by privileged European Americans in the U.S. (Jones and Shorter-Gooden, 2003). I was inspired by the example of teachers who “translated cues” derived from a culture’s “values, communication and social interaction patterns, and performance styles” (Gay, 2018, p. 215). In these cues, teachers found instructional methods that improved their students writing skills. I want to follow the example of teachers who used these methods to expand their students horizons with code shifting, elaborated as follows:

to learn the writing and speaking conventions of mainstream society and schools; connecting their oral creative strengths to the demands of academic reading and writing; and using their skills in storytelling, oral interpretation, role-playing, improvisation, script-reading, and call–response to improve performance in school-based reading and writing (Gay, 2018, p. 216). 

The paradigm of cooperative learning is also relevant to teaching missions studies to culturally diverse students. I often teach Latin-Americans, who research finds benefit from “working collaboratively with one another in small groups” and from feeling like they belong to a “classroom community” (Gay, 2018, p. 217). I’m encouraged by findings regarding the social benefits of cooperative learning: “improved understanding of diversity, and better helping, caring, and supportive relationships with peers” (Gay, 2018, p. 219). Studies indicating the value of “social scaffolding” that is a “network of personal supports” (Mehan et al., 1996) motivates me to encourage students to find ways of connecting their learning to their families, local communities, and faith traditions. 

References

Alghamdi, Amani K.H. (2014). “The Road to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Expatriate teachers’ pedagogical practices in the cultural context of Saudi Arabian higher education”. McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l’éducation de McGill, vol. 49, n° 1

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. (Lower Level LC1099.3 .G393 2018; Third edition.). Teachers College Press; Biola Library Catalog. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat09700a&AN=blc.oai.edge.biola.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001149.5fa32307.b7c3.5027.b081.5fe7ee113c2a&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893

Gilliard, D. (2013, March 23). What does Micah 6:8 really mean? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.redletterchrisians.org/what-does-micah-68-really-mean/

Goodwin, B. (2016). “High touch” is crucial for “high tech” students. Educational Leadership, 74(1), 81–83.

Jones, C., & Shorter-Gooden, K. (2003). Shifting: The double lives of Black women in America. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Ladson‐Billings, G. (1995). But that’s just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 159‐165.

Levmore, S., & Nussbaum, M. (Eds.). (2010). Offensive Internet: Speech, privacy, and reputation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mehan, H., Hubbard, L., Villanueva, I., & Lintz, A. (1996). Constructing school success: The consequences of untracking low-achieving students. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Ott, C. (2021). Teaching and learning across cultures: A guide to theory and practice. (Lower Level LC1099 .O83 2021). Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group; Biola Library Catalog. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat09700a&AN=blc.oai.edge.biola.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001149.eca6bcdd.ba4a.5f1a.a161.26d8b7e3511a&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893

Reich, Justin, and José A. Ruipérez-Valiente. 2019. “The MOOC Pivot.” Science 363 (6423): 130–31.

Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Stulac, George M. (2003). IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Vol. 16). Leicester, England: IVP Academic. 

Swensen, Danny R. (2016). A Faith­Based Context for Culturally­Relevant Instruction. The ICCTE Journal. Vol. 11 (il). 

Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wang, Minjuan. 2007. “Designing Online Courses That Effectively Engage Learners from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds.” British Journal of Educational Technology 38 (2).

Mission Studies and World Christianity

The church has always been challenged to fulfill its calling to be a local community and to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Robert, 2022, p. 384). The cultural diversity that existed at the church’s inception was a key reason they sought “organizational and theological unity” (Robert, 2022, p. 384). Classic texts by saints Augustine, saint Patrick, Gregory the Great, and John Chrisostom were “missiological reflections” on the relationship of churches with the universal scope of the faith (Robert, 2022, p. 384). It was during the Era of Exploration that followed the Protestant Reformation that Catholic mission first developed. Then with the rise of mercantile capitalism in the 1700s, Evangelical Protestants who believed religion was an individual choice began to seriously engage a world that was more connected than ever (Robert, 2022, p. 385). Thus, at its core mission studies is Christian reflection on how the gospel becomes incarnate in the diverse cultures. 

Unfortunately, the church’s relationship with political power has distorted understanding of Christian mission within and outside the church. Voices critical of Christian mission’s connection to Western colonialism soon arose. Voices of Spanish Catholic missionaries began to be heard in the 16th century rebuking the barbaric treatment of Indigenous peoples (Robert, 2022, p. 385). Eventually voices in Protestantism also began to denounce racism and to recognize that the West was not Christian. The church came to be seen as a universal fraternal network that transcended political entities (Robert, 2022, p. 387). And in the postcolonial era that followed World War II “anti-colonial movements, nationalism, and the Cold War challenged the westernizing foundations of the missionary enterprise” (Robert, 2022, p. 388). These dissonant Catholic and Protestant voices show that missions studies must address the relationship between Christ’s kingdom and political power. 

Thankfully, Christianity would be freed from Western captivity. A new era of massive Christian growth began in what would become known as the Global South (Robert, 2022, p. 389). Catholic and Protestant scholars foresaw the emergence of a largely non-Western Christianity. Thus, a vision of the church as a “worldwide community that would transcend denominational divisions” gained influence (Robert, 2022, p. 390). The globalization of the church resulted in missions scholars stepping into a role as “the brokers of broader discussions” regarding the worldwide growth of Christianity (Roberts, 2022, p. 391). Towards the end of the 20th century, missions were reimagined as “the starting point of indigenous Christianity and social transformation” (Robert, 2022, p. 391). This new perspective contradicted the reductive critique of missions as handmaiden to Western imperialism. And so, the concept of world Christianity came into its own (Robert, 2022, p. 391), engaging the secular academic fields of “religious studies, area studies, social sciences, and history” (Robert, 2022, p. 391,4). This integration with social concern allows missions studies to be seen as advocating for the fulfillment of a biblical vision of human dignity (Robert, 2022, p. 396). 

Women in Mission

The prevalence of mission studies on the lack of gender perspective (Cruz, 2022, p. 652) is a positive sign that the underrepresentation of women is being addressed. But more awareness is needed of the historic contribution of women in Christian mission. One compelling account is that of indigenous bible women in the 19th century who became “cultural, linguistic, and social ‘brokers’ of evangelism” (Cruz, 2022, p. 654). Another significant phenomenon was the holiness movement in the 20th century whose female missionaries set out on their own founding and leading migrant communities (Cruz, 2022, p. 655). The most dominant category of women’s work in mission is social service, with education and health being primary (Cruz, 2022, p. 655). Missions studies should raise awareness that despite paternalism, women missionaries made women-related social issues central (Cruz, 2022, p. 656). Women missionaries have contributed significantly to research and study on “gender sensitivity, inclusivity, and female leadership” (Cruz, 2022, p. 656-7). This example of successful advocacy for change from subjugated groups should serve as a model for others who seek change “from below”. Women have slowly but surely made their way into higher levels of leadership across many denominations, although ordination in the Catholic Church remains prohibited (Cruz, 2022, p. 657). Opinions vary across denominations and cultures regarding these subjects, and missions studies will be challenged to address both progressive and conservative streams with humility and comprehension.

For better or worse, women’s experience of mission has been connected to cultural concepts of gender. In the 19th century, women missionaries were generally expected to do “women’s work”, consisting mainly of evangelizing women. The underlying thinking was that “non-Christian religions degraded women while Christianity provided social liberation” (Cruz, 2022, p. 658). Feminist studies of mission emerged in the 20th century highlighting women’s missionary work. This approach identified women’s missions as characterized by “strong roots in the community, bold ideas, and bold action, (…) the ability to connect across lines that divide”, and “relationality” (Cruz, 2022, p. 663). Some have declared World Christianity to be “a women’s movement”, estimating that “around two-thirds of Christians worldwide were female” at the turn of the millennium (Robert, 2006, p. 180-8).

Some feminists attribute the subordination of women in society to “the traditional Christian image of God as male” (Wong, 2022, p. 39). Second-wave feminists affirm that “If God is male, then the male is God” (Daly, 1973, p. 19). Unfortunately for the image of Christian mission, these arguments can be persuasive. In the West, women’s issues in the church center on moral teachings related to abortion and inclusive ordination, while in the Global South Christian women suffer even greater gender inequalities (Wong, 2022, p. 39). One point of potential conflict related to women’s missions work exists with Christian ecumenical organizations and NGOs on one side. On the other side are Pentecostals and Charismatics who make up most of the African church. Here, male leadership is promoted in the congregation and in the home (Wong, 2022, p. 40). Missions studies must be aware that Christianity is not generally seen in the world as offering an egalitarian, individualistic vision to a modern audience (Martin, 2001, p. 55). Rather, the Christian witness is abundant in “dualities of subordination and liberation, equality and difference, sacrifice and virtue, creation and redemption” (Green, 2010, p. 313-317)

World Christianity and Religions  

Missions studies must address the fact that although we live in an increasingly religious and religiously diverse world, most Christians have too little contact with people of other faiths (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 71). Of key importance is “improving global and local Christian-Muslim relations” as both faiths growth towards a projected 63% of world population by 2050 (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 72). Asia has historically had the most religious diversity but some of the most intense growth in religious diversity from 1900 to 2022 has been in Germany and the United States (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 73). Some level of religious diversity is present almost everywhere on the planet, but some the experience of some Christians and churches will be as majority, others minority, and some as one among equals. Missions studies must adjust their research and prescriptions according to these social power dynamics. 

The problem of inadequate contact between Christians and people of other religions is most acute in Asia, contributing to the fact that 87% of Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims don’t know a Christian (Zurlo et al. 2022, p. 73). Singapore is an exceptional example of harmony in the most religiously diverse country on the planet, where research found that 90% believed it was “unacceptable or very unacceptable for religious leaders to hinder religious harmony” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). The fact that Christians are isolated from the religious other can be attributed to ignorance and fear which leads to a “ghettoization of religious and ethnic communities” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). To remedy this situation, Christians must grow in ecumenical and interfaith relations, as well as learning to prioritize the common good of “our global human family” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). The type of solidarity the church must embrace does not require renunciation of the gospel, but an approach to others that demonstrates “love, respect, friendship, and hospitality” (Zurlo et al, 2022, p. 74). 

References

Cruz, Gemma T. (2022). Women in Mission. In Cruz, Gemma T. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Daly, Mary. (1973). Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation. Beacon.

Martin, Bernice. (2001). “The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for the Sociology of Religion,” in The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion, ed. Richard K. Fenn. Blackwell, 2001). 

Dana L. Robert, “World Christianity as a Women’s Movement,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research30, no. 4 (2006): 180–88.

Green, M. Christian. (2010). “Christianity and the Rights of Women,” in Christianity and Human Rights: An Introduction, ed. John Witte and Frank S. Alexander. Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Robert, Dana L. (2022). Mission Studies and World Christianity. In Robert, Dana L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Wong, Wai-Yin C. (2022). Women Worldwide: Interplay between Church and Society and the Gender Paradox. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46

Zurlo, et al. (2022). World Christianity and Religions 2022: A Complicated Relationship. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46

Christian Mission and International Development

The debate about religions and global development is something that affects the image and impact of Christianity. It is troubling that social science research questions whether religion should be viewed as something that adds value to development projects at all (Dronen, 2014). Missions scholars and practitioners need to take a serious look at how we fit within developmental frameworks, whether we agree with them or not. 

Norwegian missions to Africa provide an interesting example of “movement from the margin to the margins” in the form of rural farmers who worked among the Zulu population of rural South Africa (Dronen, 2022, p. 258). It is telling that the same foreign missions intervention was less effective among “more developed” communities such as the Muslim Fulbe and Mboum communities of Cameroon. Then there are the Dii people of Cameroon who saw the Norwegian mission as “a helpful tool” because they could teach them French, the primary trade language. In the Dii case, the developmental part of mission resulted from “a joint venture between the missionaries and the local population” (Dronen, 2022, p. 258-260). Both missionary and local community brought distinct ideas of development to the table and the result was a hybrid neither group would have formed on their own. General analysis of the developmental results of these Norwegian missions in Africa are ambiguous. Some praise the Norwegians’ contribution to progress while others critique the harmful effects of importing Western, colonial socio-economic values (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1991, p. 199). 

The NGO-ification of development in the Global South refers to when the biblical vision of redemption is superseded by a secular vision of development (Gifford, 2007). If the developmental projects of Global South churches cannot be discerned as distinct from other charity organizations (Swart, 2003), this represents a loss of prophetic witness. A reorientation mode that focuses on the “relational element” of partnership seems profitable, seeing development as a “dynamic relationship between donor and receiver” (Swart, 2004, p. 410-412). I think this approach aligns wisely with Paulo Freire’s (1970) concept of development beginning with an awareness in which marginalized communities take full responsibility for their own empowerment. 

The idea that development should be seen as a “never-ending process” where individuals contribute to personal and societal transformation is a needed counterpoint to individualistic Western conceptions (Myers, 1999, p. 17). Cases in Cameroon where young converts to Christianity revolted against their families to live with missionaries can be articulates as positive examples of radical conversion. However, a message encouraging young people to abandon their kin and culture can also be judged as one more form of Western imperialism (Dronen, 2022, p. 265). This missions approach can be described as descending from Descartes’ vision of the individual’s quest for personal freedom (Klassen, 2015, p. 33). Or perhaps this thinking influenced by Weber’s concept of individual economic emancipation. Weber emphasized the individual’s right to the surplus they produced, idealizing a person’s entrepreneurial self-reliance. These Western ideas contrast starkly with African philosophies where the individual is defined by their “relationship with the other”. Instead of enthroning individual rights to freedom and property, much African philosophical tradition proposes that personhood and vulnerability are interconnected” (Dronen, 2022, p. 267). 

In contrast to the NGO-ification dilemma, some networks connect the Global North and the Global South in ways which preserve distinctly biblical principles of development. These networks foster economic security for their members by connecting associations of congregations with transnational business opportunities. This represents an effective combination of the African extended family network model with “individualist, capitalist, and marketplace markers” belonging to the Pentecostal-Charismatic discourse (Dronen, 2022, p. 269). 

Christian Mission and Social Action

Lap Yan Kung (2022) argues that advocacy is a key aspect of social action that can enrich Christian mission praxis. This working definition of social action is helpful: “a self-conscious human practice intended to transform social relationships, as well as a social structure to enhance human flourishing, where the agents experience self-realization”. And Kung (2022) describes three major components to social action: “intention, form, and consequence” (p. 276). Foucault rightly states that evaluating social action must recognize that power “circulates” and “functions in the form of a chain” never fully situated in one person’s hands (Gordon, 1980, p. 505). Kung (2022) rightly describes social action as an expression of “participatory citizenship which leads to the emergence of civil society” (p. 277). And social action is voluntary by nature, “a constructive force for building community, social cohesion, and social capital”. But the role of advocacy in God’s mission, the church’s participation in advocacy, and how this shapes it as a community divides opinion among Ecumenical Protestants and Evangelicals (Kung, 2022, p. 277, 274, 278). 

The relationship of creation and salvation to God’s mission is also relevant to social action. Robert Jenson (1999) describes creation and salvation as united in God’s mission: “God the Father is the sheer given of creation; God the Spirit is the perfecting freedom that animates creation; God the Son is the mediator of creation” (p. 25). But Kung (2022) rightly argues that “the unity of creation and salvation must be eschatological”. This does not amount to a denial of human enterprise and accomplishment but refers to the coming of God’s kingdom in the world (Kung, 2022 p. 279). Bevans and Schroeder (2011) are concerned with how the coming of the kingdom is articulated, presenting the concept of prophetic dialogue. Here justice is done in conversation rather than through one-way proclamations of judgment. 

I believe Gutierrez (1973) makes a helpful observation regarding how we articulate the kingdom message. Although socio-political liberation is distinct from liberation from sin, no hierarchy exists between the two (p. 176,177), no false dichotomy should be implied that is not found in Scripture. 

Unruh & Sider (2005) analyze different ways the relationship between Christian mission and social action has been understood. On the extreme social justice side, “the world is placed at the center of God’s activity, not the church”, while on the extreme culture wars side the church’s duty is to “identify and change those ungodly aspects of culture so that God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven” Kung, 2022, p. 282). I find Unruh & Sider’s (2005) holistic model most attractive, in which “evangelism and social ministry are dynamically interconnected” (p. 134-146). I can agree with the Third Lausanne Congress affirmation of integral mission, which recognizes the brokenness of individuals, society, and creation, all of which lie within the scope of God’s love and mission (Kung, 2022, p. 281). I also identify with the Evangelical concept of transformational advocacy that promotes challenging “injustice and obstacles to human flourishing”. But this is done by “humbly engaging with people who can address the wrong” and trusting the Spirit of God to transform individuals and institutions. Religious liberty is an aspect of advocacy that the church cannot ignore because it a defense of human dignity. The Catholic principle of subsidiarity is also helpful, which suggests that “tasks and goals should be handled at the lowest, most local level capable of accomplishing them effectively”. This leads to a recognition and promotion of social action “so that people can exercise their freedom and learn to be responsible for managing and improving their lives”. This Catholic contribution to the discussion of civil rights and civil society represents helps form a Christian vision that promotes individual freedom and responsibility (Kung, 2022, p. 281, 285). 

Mission and Healing

Lakawa & Fitchett-Climenhaga (2022) observe that “the unnarratability and the unspeakability of trauma fundamentally disrupt our understanding of witness and its relationship with healing” (p. 293). As someone working in Christian reconciliation, I’m encouraged that this field has emerged as “one particularly prominent” area of thinking about healing. Lakawa & Fitchett-Climenhaga (2022) categorize three dimensions of reconciliation in mission studies, helping me situate my own research and service. This typology includes reconciliation as focused on “restoring fractured relationships”, reconciliation as “holistic (…) linking physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being”, and reconciliation as necessarily tangible and rooted in specific contexts. Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga (2022) give an encouraging description of how women in the Global South engage in healing mission. These women acted as “cultural brokers” who demonstrated respect for local concepts of the spirit world while using Christian healing practices. This is an example of healing mission that is “holistic, integrated, embodied, incarnated, and creatively transformative”. Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga (2022) describe a holistic non-Christian religious approach to life and death, “understood as wholeness and being in the right relationship with human and divine persons”. These women have attempted to take Christian teachings and practices and make them coherent to other worldviews, an inspiring and hopeful example (Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga, 2022, p. 294-8). 

Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga (2022) also explore the “belatedness of truth and the incomprehensibility of trauma” (p. 298), which challenges my concept of mission. Three problems related to trauma – temporality, memory, and difficulty of speech in the aftermath – demonstrate the need for alternative ways of engagement. Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is bodily, involving physical touch. Understanding between Jesus and the woman arriving belatedly, she “touches rather than talks”, “talking comes after touching”. The woman is a resilient witnesses because she breaks through the sickness that had isolated her. Jesus is a resilient witness because he responds “to the voice of her wound that speaks through her touch”. In this encounter, “speech is embodied and the truth is witnessed in its enigmatic wholeness – it is told yet remains a mystery”. The voice of the woman can inform the language and practice of mission, healing, and witness in its portrayal of the “complexity of healing in the context of trauma and its aftermath” (Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga, 2022, p. 299-303).

Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga (2022) promote the practice of poetic witnessing as a means for healing and reconciliation (p. 306). This model inspires me to reengage with my love of the arts and their possible usefulness for healing. The proposal that dance and other forms of art can be used to “decipher and encode the unspeakability of loss and wounds” and become a “symbolic rendering that reimagines the future and the promise of healing in the aftermath” is something that I want to experiment with. I can see how the arts may offer “ways to communicate woundedness and healing when trauma undermines speech and veils truth”. Seeing healing as a continuous, multifaceted process “mutually witnessed through embodied experience” via the poetic witnessing model represents an innovative form of healing mission aimed at addressing trauma (Lakawa & Fitchett-Clemenhaga, 2022, p. 306-7). 

References

Bevans, Stephen B. & Schroeder, Roger P. (2011). Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today. Orbis. 

Comaroff, Jean & Comaroff, John. (1991). Of Revalation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, Vol. 1. University of Chicago Press. 

Dronen, Tomas S. (2014). Nordic Perspectives on Involvement in Africa. In Dronen, Tomas S. (Ed.), Religion and Development. Peter Lang. 

Dronen, Tomas S. (2022). Christian Mission and International Development. In Dronen, Tomas S. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Freire, Paulo. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum. 

Gifford, Paul. (2007). “The Future of Christianity”, Inaugural Lecture, SOAS, London, June 4th. 

Gordon, Colin. (1980). Power / Knowledge. In Gordon, Colin (Ed.), Harvester. 

Gutierrez, Gustavo. (1973). A Theology of Liberation. Orbis. 

Jenson, Robert W. (1999). Systematic Theology, vol. 2, Oxford University Press. 

Klassen, John. (2015). “The Ecumenical Movement and Development. The Role of Personhood”, Missionalia 1

Kung, Lap Y. (2022). Christian Mission and Social Action. In Kung, Lap Y. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Lakawa, Septemmy E. & Fitchett-Climenhaga, Alison. (2022). Mission and Healing. In Lakawa, Septemmy E. & Fitchett-Climenhaga, Alison. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Myers, Bryant L. (1999). Walking With the Poor. (Publisher?)

Swart, Igntius. (2003). Church, Mission, and Development: Revisiting the Pragmatic Debate, Missionalia 3, p. 406

Unrue, Heidi R. & Sider, Ronald J. (2005). Saving Souls, Serving Society: Understanding the Faith Factor in Church-based Social Ministry. Oxford University Press.

In their chapter Communication for Learning Across Cultures, Martin Cortazzi and Lixian Jin (1997) engage how presuppositions about culture influence communication and learning. Their research elaborates upon academic cultures, cultures of communication, and cultures of learning. Students not only bring cultural practice and theory into the classroom, they use their system to interpret the practice and theory of others . Teachers and students must be conscious of how these differences affect how we interpret each other. They promote cultural synergy, “the mutual effort of both teachers and students to understand” each other (Cortazzi and Jin, 1997).

The concept of cultural synergy can be explored in analysis of the ministry of Jesus and the apostle Paul. Jesus adjusted his approach to teaching as he encountered individuals and groups of differing social profiles. When speaking to Nicodemus the pharisee, Jesus provoked his religious sensitivities by giving a scandalous proposal (Jn. 3:3). When speaking to fishermen, Jesus challenged their paradigms by asking them to go against the conventional wisdom of their vocational (Lk. 5:1-11). Paul appealed to the philosophical-religious culture of debate in Athens when he addressed the Areopagus (Act. 17:16-34). In Jerusalem, Paul spoke in Aramaic and referred to his Pharisaical belief in the ressurrection (Act. 22:1-21). 

Cortazzi and Jin (1997) identify academic cultures such as “Saxonic, Teutonic, Gallic, and Nipponic”. British academic culture is oriented towards the individual in comparison to Chinese emphasis on relationships, collective consciousness, and hierarchy (Cortazzi and Jin, 1997, p. 78). According to Cortazzi and Jin, differences in cultures of communications frequently contribute to faulty assessments of the cultural other. Some cultures express solidarity by continuous dialogue without pause while other cultures pause as a sign of respect. The British deductive approach introduces the idea first, followed by contextual and auxiliary information, while the Chinese inductive approach does just the opposite. Culture of learning consists of the “norms, values, and expectations of teachers and learners relative to classroom activity” (Cortazzi and Jin, 1997, p. 79, 80, 81, 83). 

Missiologist Craig Ott (2021) elaborates five dimensions of culture’s influence on teaching and learning: the cognitive, worldview dimension, social, media, and environmental. Whereas British teachers expect students to be proactive in seeking help if needed, Chinese students expect teachers to ack like caring parents, being attentive to students needs without being asked (Ott, 2021). I have experienced the importance of Ott’s environmental dimension: “the physical, institutional, and sociopolitical context of teaching in another culture” (Ott, 2021). For example, in the 1990s I was involved in after school programs in downtown Los Angeles. I witnessed the chaotic physical environment that many students were expected to learn in. On the other hand, during my time in Brazil I was surprised to perceive that what I considered a chaotic leaning environment – with lots of distractions, interruptions, and talking over each other – was though of as dynamic and collaborative by many Brazilians (albeit not all). 

According to Ott (2021), decontextualizing is the primary difference between Western thinking versus contextualized 

non-Western thinking. Decontextualization is the primary thought form produced by literacy, which creates a barrier in relation to oral cultures. The primary differentiating factor in the use of reason is the relationship to context, some cultures emphasize theory and others experience (Ott, 2021). 

My ecumenical work in Europe involves wooing church leaders from diverse Christian traditions towards models for reconciliation and partnership. Abstract thinking is fundamental for technical aspects of biblical studies, hermeneutics, and contextualization, but oral and concrete approaches are increasingly becoming recognized “increasingly recognized”. If the art of verbal storytelling has declined in the West, I must take inventory of my own deficiency in this essential form of communication. I fear that the description of non-narrative teaching as “cool, disembodied, rational arguments (…) rhetorical” may describe my primary form of teaching (Ott, 2021, p. 87, 91, 93). 

Understanding analytic and holistic cognitive styles helps me appreciate my wife, who perceives and processes information “more as an integrated whole” versus my preference for “clear-cut conceptual groupings” (Ott, 2021, p. 111). It makes perfect sense to me that the tendency to “frame everything in either-or terms and airtight categories” results in the loss of “the integrated whole” (Ott, 2021, p. 132). 

If biblical interpretation will require a more intuitive, holistic approach versus solely relying upon grammatical, 

historical analysis (Ott, 2021), then this will require a slower pace and a reduced scope of engagement. In my own ecumenical work, I will need to be realistic regarding how many individuals, groups, and contexts I can meaningfully interact with. Geneva Gay’s (2018) contrast between “caring about” and “caring for” as the difference between “emotionality without intentionality” and “deliberate and purposeful action plus emotionality” helps inform my teaching approach. 

The idea that teachers must seek the “insider perspective” of those they are teaching, to understand “what they are striving to be” (Gay, 2018) is a challenge. Besides being Western in a general sense, my family upbringing highly emphasized putting off gratification in the present to build towards future goals. It has been a challenge for me at times to relate to students who have little long-term focus. If caring for consist in helping a student be better “in who and what they currently are” (Gay, 2018), then I need to grow in accepting students and overcoming my negative biases. But as Gay (2018) states, really caring for students is to “hold them in high esteem” and “expect high performance from them”. To a degree I recognize myself as a “cultural hegemonist” – consciously or not – expecting all students to behave according to my cultural standards of normality”. The distinction between aesthetic and authentic caring (Gay, 2018) is a disturbing one in my self-analysis. A key to my ecumenical work is championing some Christian groups who occupy marginal status or whose theology and practice is considered obscure. But I must ask myself whether my caring for the inclusion of marginal groups is authentic or merely aesthetic. Unity in the body of Christ is, unfortunately, a beautiful vision that can be used to justify one’s own participation, turning into a form of self-glorification. 

My teaching would be most effective using a learning strategy that engages effectively in the social relations aspect of Ott’s (2021) five dimensions. I have content and the tools to build content for the rest of my life, but I need to discern the open doors of relationship with individuals and groups the Spirit wants me to enter. And to these people I must have the courage and dedication to commit myself. For only as Ruth covenanted with Naomi would the Lord’s plan for their lives come about. 

References

Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (1997). Communication for Learning Across Cultures. In R. Harris, D. McNamara, & P. D. McNamara (Eds.), Overseas Students in Higher Education: Issues in Teaching and Learning (pp. 76-90). London; New York: Routledge. 

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. (Lower Level LC1099.3 .G393 2018; Third edition.). Teachers College Press; Biola Library Catalog. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat09700a&AN=blc.oai.edge.biola.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001149.5fa32307.b7c3.5027.b081.5fe7ee113c2a&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893

Ott, C. (2021). Teaching and learning across cultures: A guide to theory and practice. (Lower Level LC1099 .O83 2021). Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group; Biola Library Catalog. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat09700a&AN=blc.oai.edge.biola.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001149.eca6bcdd.ba4a.5f1a.a161.26d8b7e3511a&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893