Books on Culture - Part 2

Incarnational ministry - perhaps a quote or two from the books will help shed some light.

From "Transforming Culture":
"Missionaries have succeeded in bringing a biblically informed worldview, but one that is thoroughly contaminated by their culture. Is it possible to bring a truly transforming gospel, or are we always limited to reproducing our own cultural reflection of Christianity wherever we carry the message?"

and from "Ministering Cross-Culturally":
"It is because of cultural blindness that we must become incarnate in the culture and thus in the lives of the people we wish to serve. We must begin as a child and grow in their midst. We must be learners and let them teach us before we can hope to be teachers to them and introduce the Master Teacher to them."

The third book, "Teaching Cross-Culturally", was the most helpful to me. It focused on concepts of the incarnation as applied to the practice of teaching. It offers more practical counsel than the others, so for a teacher hoping to teach in Lima, it was very compelling. The author found that her approach to the classroom, while successful in the white, middle-class context in which she was raised and began her career, was ineffective in an inner-city school, and required even greater adjustment when she went with her husband to serve on a remote island in the western Pacific. Expectations for everything from the role of the teacher and type of assignment to the nature of learning itself are culturally bound. A teacher of any kind in another culture must first recognize their own cultural biases, learn those of their students, and seek to bring all under the Lordship of Christ in order to truly love those they are with. Many teachers or missionaries will mean well but find rejection if they are not careful to understand before seeking to be understood.

I highly recommend these books for anyone working among another culture, or for anyone who simply wants to examine their own cultural lenses in the name of being transformed into the image of our Savior.