Two principles of successful intercultural living, communication, and ministry are belonging and identification. A. Scott Moreau, Gary Corwin, and Gary McGee suggest that the principle of belongingness is difficult for new missionaries.[1] It is difficult to leave old friends, a familiar setting, and a comfortable home and reestablish life in a completely new culture. Elizabeth and E. Thomas Brewster provide several practical steps that missionaries can take to increase belongingness. First, new missionaries can immediately immerse themselves into the new culture, build relationships with the local community, and communicate their desire to learn.[2] Second, the missionary needs to learn the language by living with a local family, utilizing public transportation, and engaging in relationships that require language use.[3] Third, new missionaries need to understand that the stress and risk associated with entering a new culture actually increases the chance for successful belongingness.[4] When new missionaries follow these three steps, the chance for successful intercultural living, communication, and ministry significantly increases.

Encountering Theology of Mission: Biblical Foundations, Historical Developments, and Contemporary Issues (Encountering Mission)
The second principle of successful intercultural living, communication, and ministry is identification. Craig Ott, Stephen Strauss, and Timothy Tennent assert that missionaries should identify with humanity like Jesus did.[5] Just as Jesus identified with the Jewish culture where he lived, missionaries should adopt the new culture where they minister. Darrell Whiteman explains that similar to Jesus, “We must be willing to…speak their language, to adjust our lifestyle to theirs, to understand their worldview and religious values, and to laugh and weep with them.”[6] Whiteman explains that each time humans identify with other cultures and extend the Gospel, it is incarnational – the same process that God used to become human through Jesus Christ.[7] William Reyburn highlights six obstacles that missionaries must overcome to identify with a new culture. The first three obstacles include the power of unconscious habits, the recognition that identification has limits, and the challenge of surrendering held beliefs.[8] Missionaries must recognize their own counter-cultural habits, not become discouraged by issues outside of their control, and hold loosely to cultural beliefs, such as a western view of time and property. The final three obstacles include the problem of food, ideological insulation, and the challenge of sacrifice.[9] Missionaries need to recognize that something as simple as the food they eat may cause difficulty in forging relationships. Furthermore, missionaries should resist morphing people into their own culture and be willing to sacrifice cultural assumptions.[10] By avoiding these six obstacles, the missionary significantly increases the chance of successful intercultural living, communication, and ministry.
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[1] A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee, Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Survey, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015), 199.
[2] Elizabeth S. Brewster and E. Thomas Brewster, “The Difference Bonding Makes,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, ed. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009), 466-67.
[3] Ibid., 467–68.
[4] Ibid., 469.
[5] Craig Ott, Stephen J. Strauss, and Timothy C. Tennent, Encountering Theology of Mission: Biblical Foundations, Historical Developments, and Contemporary Issues, ed. A. Scott Moreau (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 100.
[6] Darrell L. Whiteman, “Anthropology and Mission: The Incarnational Connection,” Missiology 31, no. 4 (October): 408.
[7] Ibid.
[8] William D. Reyburn, “Identification in the Missionary Task,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, ed. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009), 472-74.
[9] Ibid., 472–74.
[10] Ibid., 474–76.
Bibliography
- Brewster, Elizabeth S., and E. Thomas Brewster. “The Difference Bonding Makes.” In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 465–69. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009.
- Moreau, A. Scott, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Survey. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015.
- Ott, Craig, Stephen J. Strauss, and Timothy C. Tennent. Encountering Theology of Mission: Biblical Foundations, Historical Developments, and Contemporary Issues. Edited by A. Scott Moreau. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010.
- Reyburn, William D. “Identification in the Missionary Task.” In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 470–76. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009.
- Whiteman, Darrell L. “Anthropology and Mission: The Incarnational Connection.” Missiology 31, no. 4 (October): 397–415.