Embracing diversity and understanding social nuances is crucial for fostering meaningful connections while spreading the Gospel to new communities. In this cross-cultural ministry resources hub, we’ve collected articles and books that offer insights, strategies, and practical tools for individuals and organizations navigating the diverse landscapes of global ministry.
Helpful Articles: Cross-Cultural Ministry
11 Questions to Ask Before You Take a Mission Trip by April Jurgensen
With healthy policies in place, short-term mission teams can be a tremendous benefit to long-term ministries. They can offer a fresh boost of energy, complete a much-needed project, or become prayer warriors with a passion and commitment they never would have had without visiting the field.
So how do you know if a team you’re considering joining is a good one? Will you make an impact or a mess?
To ensure you’re making the best choice possible, ask these questions before joining a short-term team.
The Gospel as Culture by Steve Saint
Parenting your adopted child can be a heavy job. In this two-part article, Dr. Neufeld explores playful approaches to dealing with some of the root causes of your child’s behavior. In this article (Part 2), he explains how play can be an effective behavior modifier.
Take the Test By James Emery White
Parenting your adopted child can be a heavy job. In this two-part article, Dr. Neufeld explores playful approaches to dealing with some of the root causes of your child’s behavior. In this article (Part 2), he explains how play can be an effective behavior modifier.
Book Recommendations: Cross-Cultural Ministry
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development is a great resource for Christians considering how to best attempt to fulfill the task of the Church in declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both words and deeds without causing more harm than good to others and ourselves.
The book is divided into three sections. The first is a discussion of the problem of poverty from a Biblical perspective.
The second builds on this foundation to address key issues-relief, rehabilitation, and development—which must be considered in designing and following through with helping others over a period of time.
Finally, the third part applies all the concepts to help offer a set of strategies designed to help alleviate material poverty.
All this information is challenging and can be a bit overwhelming, especially for those who aren’t involved in designing strategies for poverty relief here in one’s community or abroad. Yet, for anyone who has been challenged by “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” John 3:17, this book can educate and equip in order to transform one’s good intentions into genuine lasting change for those whom believers have been called to serve.
Successful Mission Teams by Martha VanCise
While this book’s target audience is likely first-time mission trippers, it can be a helpful and thought-provoking read for seasoned short-termers, as well.
With a grandmotherly tone, Martha VanCise walks her readers through every step of a short-term ministry experience. From helping you select a missions organization to coaching you on how to best relay your experiences when you return home, VanCise is your guide!
While each mission trip is unique in destination, purpose, and group dynamics, Van Cise focuses her work on items that most have in common: spiritual preparation, packing, travel tips, food safety, cross-cultural communication, teamwork, and more.
We at The Boaz Project recommend that all of our short-term team members read this book. It is designed for use in groups, with questions and assignments to promote interaction over the material, but an individual willing to give it a thorough read can gain a lot, as well.
Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures by Sarah Lanier
Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier is a fabulous little fast read that paints broad-stroke pictures of cultures around the world. Lanier theorizes that much of a culture is determined by its climate. For example, hot-climate cultures tend to be less time-oriented and more laid-back than cold-climate cultures.
Using this model, Foreign to Familiar examines seven different scales for evaluating a culture, such as relationship vs. task orientation or inclusion vs. privacy. Then it predicts where a culture will land on that scale based on its climate.
Along the way, Lanier offers examples from her many experiences overseas and makes suggestions of how to apply the information in your own travels or with those of a different culture who live nearby.
It’s the best resource we’ve found for explaining all the world’s cultures at once!
A Common Mission: Healthy Patterns in Congregational Mission Partnerships by David Wesley
It’s no secret we’re living in a new era. Technology and information revolutionize nearly every aspect of our daily lives.
Today, travel is quick (think a 14-hour plane ride is bad? Imagine three months on a boat!). Much of the world speaks English or has technology that helps them translate from it. Communications can be sent around the globe nearly instantly.
Naturally, these changes have ushered in new strategies for intercultural missions.
In A Common Mission: Healthy Patterns in Congregational Mission Partnerships, David Wesley examines how these changes can enhance and challenge congregations as they partner with missionaries to reach the lost. Based on interviews with nearly 200 individuals from numerous countries, this book synthesizes the information gathered in hopes of safeguarding healthy partnerships between local churches and mission agencies.
The first four chapters of this resource address the challenges of cross-cultural ministry, from issues of power to financial inequity.
The remainder of the book addresses five themes for best practices that arose from Wesley’s research into missional partnerships. Rather than presenting a perfect model for partnerships, he looks at principles that can be adapted and applied to each unique relationship.
Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
American Church: Beware
Though Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan is written in an autobiographical style, it is full of tough confrontations with the American church. A pioneer in the movement to equip national leaders to reach their own nations for Christ, Yohannan tells the story of his call to ministry, his vision for Asia, and the founding and growth of the Gospel for Asia.
Having come to believe that America, who had led the charge in missions for so many years, had lost its sense of urgency to reach the nations with the gospel, Yohannan came to the conclusion that Asia would be won for Christ by Asians. The least the American church could do is support them.
The author supports this theory by explaining that it requires fewer finances for nationals to reach their own people than to train and move Westerners to the field. This nationally-led movement also prevents the lost from thinking that Christianity is a Western religion. It encourages the Asian church to be financially independent and reduces political, language, and cultural barriers.
On the whole, I believe Yohannan offers the American church some valid confrontation and a sound approach to ministry: the work being led by nationals. I would disagree with him, however, when he takes a stand against social justice ministries. I do believe that—if carefully coupled with the gospel—demonstrating social concern can flesh out the gospel of Jesus Christ and make His love tangible to the lost.
Jesus without Borders: What Planes, Trains and Rickshaws Taught Me about Jesus by Chad Gibbs
Travelogue, editorial, journal entry, comedic script—Jesus without Borders manages to be all of them as it details the author’s journeys through 13 countries in just over two years.
Gibbs, determined to increase his own knowledge of Christianity and the world, set out to visit Christian brothers and sisters living out their faith in cultures drastically different from his own. As a favor, he recorded his thoughts along the way, so we could be challenged, too.
Each chapter (other than the prologue and epilogue) is titled with the name of the country visited and reads much like a humorous diary entry. Gibbs records his activities and conversations: the tourist sights he saw, church services attended, and observations about people and culture. In addition, he records lessons learned as he reflected on what it means to live out Christian faith in the culture he visited.
Though written in a humorous style (with footnotes that induce belly laughs), Gibbs does a great job of challenging typical American Christian thought. He also identifies some real potential pitfalls and challenges in missions. We appreciated the way he encouraged his readers to think and even change.
With over 25 years of experience and a network of like-minded people around the globe, The Boaz Project can help you show Christ’s love to scared and abandoned children.
To learn how you can help save orphaned children from life on the streets—connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or visit our website here.
Learning gives knowledge that produces power.Different culture have different buriers that can be overcomed