My passions are “Honor, Shame and the Gospel” … cross-cultural partnerships with great leaders in the majority world … adult learning theory and creative communications. I love integrating these passions to contribute my bit in sharing the transforming grace of Jesus Christ among the peoples of the world.
View all posts by Werner Mischke →
Vibrating with life, the tender green needle dives
From blue-sky canopy, atop redwood womb
Abandoning brightness of glory for dust
And beatific worship for earthly gloom
Where great Alexanders follow each another
A circle of death brings piercing pain
Feeding sour bleeding malignancy
And endless rack of travail again, again
Which hovers behind all actions of power
And goblets of wine, fine garments of purple
So the blood-red newborn goes gently to war.
Suddenly, bells jingle abrupt interruption
Dashing through eons of ice, ages of winter
An end to despair? Of selfish consumption?
Has the Just One arrived? The climax begun?
This newborn sparkle still diving through space
Flashing glimmers of purpose and destiny
Through dank moldy air, through dusty grey curtains
Soaring with hope, gliding through tense atmosphere
Give life, speak justice against criminal horror
To oppressor or good enough family man
As the blood-red newborn goes gently to war.
O can it be? a genuine true possibility?
To glimpse the belly-laugh of history?
This lion-lamb blend of divinity
Piercing garbage man hooker of slavery
With transforming comfort, death-killing purpose
Thou thirst-quenching river, nourishing mountain
Touch anyone dead, touch anything broken
Laugh at the wise, the best or worst politician
Leaven of life for all flesh and all cultures
Suffering hero in victory story
The blood-red newborn went gently to war.
Where do we breathe your invasion of kindness?
But in slice and dice, peel-and-cry sing-alongs
Heard in kitchen and hut among all who believe
Touching eyes and lips with seeing and sweetness
In warm stoney mansions, cold smokey shelters.
The hammer of life pounds our hearts and our limbs,
With cosmic surprise, mysterious beauty
Your light, your shadow grows culture of mercy
For eros for cooking for playing for work
Embracing the cosmos of human endeavor
The blood-red newborn went gently to war.
So what must I do, Thou blood-red arrival?
Receive your intentions, make room, just listen?
Ask, ask for grace, seek beauty for trembling
Yearn like the desert wash waits, waits for rain
Seek surprise intervention, the heart’s liberation
From addiction to mirrors and cancerous I,
And I will discover the glorious Other
Is in me for beauty, for fullness, for joy.
And gazing high in tearful truth and pulsing love,
By glory received and returned … I believe
The blood-red newborn went gently to war.
==================== Note: This is a poem I wrote this in 2006.
In my last post, I introduced the idea of Jesus having cultural intelligence (CQ) based on his remarkable conversation with a Samaritan woman, “the woman at the well.”
This conversation—along with its impact on the woman, her Samaritan community, and Jesus’ disciples—is recorded in John 4:1–42.
“Woman at the well” by Martin Howard. Used by permission with Creative Commons license.
In this post I’ll begin exploring one aspect of the cultural intelligence of Jesus, based on this “formula” or definition of CQ, which comes from Brooks Peterson: [1]
“Knowledge about Cultures plus Awareness of Self and Others plus Specific Skills equals Cultural Intelligence.”
Let’s look at the first part of this definition: “Knowledge about Cultures”.
What specific knowledge did Jesus have about the Samaritan woman, and her Samaritan culture? What knowledge would Jesus have had, based simply on his living in his society like any other man of his day?
According to the ESV Study Bible the tensions between Jews and Samaritans were intense, and sometimes led to great conflict and bloodshed:
Tensions often ran high between Jews and Samaritans; thus Josephus recounts fighting between Jews and Samaritans during Claudius’s reign in the first century a.d. being so intense that Roman soldiers were called in to pacify (and to crucify) many of the rebels (Jewish War 2.232–246).
For additional insights about the social and cultural distance between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, consider the comments below from Jerome Neyrey, a scholar who has written extensively on the pivotal cultural value of honor and shame in the ancient Mediterranean world. Neyrey writes:
Of what might the Samaritan woman be a “representative”? Looking at 4:6-26, we argue that the narrator has concentrated in this one figure many of the characteristics of marginal persons with whom Jesus regularly deals in the synoptic gospels. She is an amalgam of cultural deviance. In terms of stereotypes, she is a non-Jew, who is ritually unclean; she is a “sinner,” a publicly recognized “shameless” person. … As a shameless woman, she embodies most of the social liabilities which would marginalize her in her society. At a minimum, she represents the gospel axiom that “least is greatest” or “last is first.” Ultimately, she represents inclusivity into the Christian group in a most radical way. The stereotype of gender expectations serves to portray her precisely as the quintessential deviant, the last and least person who would be expected to find favor with God (see 1 Cor 15:8-9). Her status transformation in 4:6-26 is basically that of a person moving from “not in the know” to “in the know” and from outsider to insider.[2]
What are we to conclude about Jesus? From this cultural reading of the passage we learn that Jesus related profoundly to the “quintessential deviant”. Jesus includes the Samaritan woman in his story and mission, despite her social and cultural deviance. It’s a radical kind of inclusivity.
Jesus knew all these things about Samaria and the Samaritan woman. Nevertheless, Jesus was totally intentional in going there. With regards to the verse, “And he had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:4 ESV), the ESV Study Bible says:
Jesus had to pass this way because of geography (it was the shortest route), but the words may also indicate that Jesus’ itinerary was subject to the sovereign and providential plan of God (“had to” translates Gk. dei, “to be necessary,” which always indicates divine necessity or requirement elsewhere in John: 3:7, 14, 30; 9:4; 10:16; 12:34; 20:9).
Indeed, “Jesus’ itinerary was subject to the sovereign and providential plan of God.” Concerning this entire episode of his cross-cultural encounter with the Samaritans, Jesus said to the disciples,
…My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34 ESV)
It was the will of the Father who sent him. Jesus considered his cross-cultural encounter with this Samaritan woman—the “quintessential deviant”—as vital to life as eating. What are the lessons for us?
My next post will explore the things that Jesus knew about the Samaritan woman because of his divine knowledge—and what implications this has for understanding the cultural intelligence of Jesus.
“Woman at the well” by Martin Howard. Used by permission with Creative Commons license.
Jesus was Jewish. He was born into a Jewish family and related to Jewish people. So many of his interactions recorded in the Gospels were with Jewish religious leaders. All of his disciples were Jewish. So it is common for us to think that Jesus did not interact with people from other cultures.
But in John 4:1–42, Jesus had a remarkably effective conversation with a non-Jewish woman—a Samaritan woman.
Does this conversation prove that Jesus has cultural intelligence (CQ)? [1]
One could say that the cultural distance wasn’t that much between Jesus’ Jewish culture and the Samaritan culture; it was much less than, say, the cultural distance between a white middle-class American and a primitive tribe in Africa.
So one might conclude … Jesus and CQ? Not so much.
However, I believe you can attribute supreme cultural intelligence (CQ) to Jesus Christ. In this series of blog posts, I make a case for the cultural intelligence of Jesus Christ based on three things:
Jesus is omniscient.One can attribute cultural intelligence to Jesus Christ by the Scripture-based belief that Jesus is God, and God knows all things. “Great is our Lord … his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5 ESV). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 ESV). Jesus is perfect in every type of intelligence. It follows therefore, that in knowledge, facts and relational skills, Jesus Christ has complete and perfect understanding of everything, including every culture that has ever existed on earth. Jesus knows how to build relationships with anyone and everyone, regardless of tribe, ethnicity, social class, language, religion, or other cultural difference.
Jesus crossed a huge divide between Jews and Samaritans. There were huge social and cultural differences between Jesus and the woman from Samaria. (I will explain this in greater detail in the second post in this series.)
Jesus built this relationship with ease, despite the huge divide. Jesus initiated a conversation with the Samaritan woman—“the woman at the well”—and this conversation was profoundly meaningful. The cross-cultural relationship-building skills of the Savior were demonstrated by the fact that this woman became a follower of Jesus. Moreover, Jesus was introduced by the woman to her larger Samaritan community where Jesus further developed meaningful relationships, again demonstrating his extremely high degree of relational skill. (I will explore this further in the third posting in this series.)
According to Brooks Peterson,[2]cultural intelligence may be defined by this ‘equation’:
What I hope to show in this series of posts is that Jesus demonstrated cultural intelligence (CQ) by his:
knowledge about both Jewish and Samaritan culture
awareness of both himself and the Samaritan woman
specific skills and behaviors
Finally, in the fourth posting, I will offer practical suggestions based on my observations—for followers of Jesus Christ who are involved in build cross-cultural relationships and partnerships.
You are invited to share your comments!
=====================================
1. The term, cultural intelligence, or CQ, is a field of study to help people better work together in cross-cultural settings. See Wikipedia for more info. I am using the term, cultural intelligence, to derive insights about the wisdom of Jesus Christ, believing that he is an outstanding example to his followers for building relationships cross-culturally. 2. Brooks Peterson: Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures (Boston: Intercultural Press, 2004, p13).
At the 2011 North American Mission Leaders Conference in Scottsdale on September 29–October 1 (also known as the RESET conference), T.J. Addington gave a presentation: “Critical Shifts From the Black and White to the Color World.” T.J. Addington is Senior Vice President of Reach Global, Evangelical Free Church of America. The primary participants in this conference were members of the North American evangelical Christian missions community. I am grateful for Mr. Addington’s permission to present his points here.
Shift #1:From being primarily doers—to being primarily equippers
Watchwords: Developing, empowering and releasing.
Shift #2:From being in charge—to equal partnerships
Watchwords: Equal partnerships are the coinage of the color world.
Shift #3: From owning and controlling—to “we own nothing, control nothing and count nothing as ours”
Watchwords: Serving with an open hand.
Shift #4:From Western missionaries—to global missionaries
Watchwords: All people reaching all people.
Shift #5: From dependencies—to self–sufficiency
Watchwords: Promoting dignity.
Shift #6: From addition—to multiplication
Watchwords: Equipping others.
Shift #7: From competition—to cooperation
Watchwords: We are better together than alone.
Shift #8: From an emphasis on my brand—to His brand
Watchwords: Jesus died for His bride, not my brand of the church.
Shift #9:From agency based missions—to church/agency synergy
Watchwords: The vision for missions belongs to the local church.
******************************
My comments: The shifts represented by the points above are largely consistent with our philosophy of ministry and practice at Mission ONE. At the risk of sounding self-promotional, below are some brief comments relative to where we stand as a mission organization.
Shift #1:From being primarily doers—to being primarily equippers. Mission ONE is all about equipping and empowering national missionaries—also known as indigenous Christian workers—to reach their own people, as well as nearby unreached peoples—with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Shift #2: From being in charge—to equal partnerships. As Mission ONE President Bob Schindler says, “Healthy partnerships are not father to son—but rather, brother to brother.
Shift #3: From owning and controlling—to “we own nothing, control nothing and count nothing as ours.” Mission ONE does not control the ministries with which we partner. Our attitude is high trust, rather than high control. Our high-trust partnerships are based on years of serving one another, overcoming trials and obstacles together.
From Bryant Myers: Exploring World Mission: Context & Challenges (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2003) p. 53. Based on information from Operation World by Johnstone & Mandryk (Paternoster, 2001)
Shift #4:From Western missionaries—to global missionaries. The center of gravity of Christianity has shifted from the West to the Global South; this is consistent with the rise of the national missionary movement. The national missionary movement does not “need” the support of the West to thrive; however, we believe that so much can be done for the advance of the the Gospel through healthy cross-cultural partnerships. It is our honor to serve one another in unity. Jesus prayed, “…that they may be one even as we are one … so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:21–22). Moreover, the global trend of the migration of peoples, refugees and college students to the West (some of them Christian) have made most of its cities home to dozens, if not hundreds, of nationalities; this has resulted in both vibrant new ethnic churches in the West as well as wonderful opportunities for blessing people from other cultures. The opportunities for cross-cultural relationships are across the street and around the world. It truly is a new world of Christian mission that is largely “from everywhere to everyone.”
Shift #5:From dependencies—to self–sufficiency. At Mission ONE, we believe that healthy interdependence is the biblical ideal. Some of our partnerships are healthier than others from the standpoint of healthy interdependence versus unhealthy dependency. We believe that the large majority of our partnerships are on the healthy side of the continuum.
Shift #6:From addition—to multiplication. Mission ONE has invested very significant resources in “multiplication.” That’s what Mission ONE Training Ministries is all about. Operation WorldView and The Beauty of Partnership were created to equip churches, individuals, and mission teams for cross-cultural ministry and healthy cross-cultural partnerships—thus multiplying our impact. This is my passion as Director of Training Ministries for Mission ONE.
Shift #7:From competition—to cooperation. The very nature of healthy cross-cultural partnership is cooperation, so naturally, cooperation is part of the DNA of Mission ONE. Moreover, in the development of both Operation WorldView and The Beauty of Partnership, our attitude has been to cooperate with whomever we can—with several different ministries—sometimes paying significant royalties to do so.
Shift #8: From an emphasis on my brand—to His brand. Ever since Bob Schindler founded Mission ONE, we have never sought to “put our name” on the ministries with which we partner. We insist on organization to organization partnerships by which local accountabilities and indigenous identities remain intact.
Shift 9: From agency based missions—to church/agency synergy. Mission ONE has a high view of the centrality of the local church in the Great Commission. Our current Strategic Mission Partnership with Biltmore Baptist Church and Mission ONE’s partner—National Evangelical Outreach Kenya—is one such example. It is our intention to be “the bridge” for many more such strategic mission partnerships between local churches and indigenous ministries.
How did believers in the early church describe their motivation for being a follower of Jesus? Could it be they followed Jesus because their sins were forgiven? Yes, that is part of it. But considering that the pivotal cultural value in the Mediterranean world and Middle East was—and still is—honor and shame, could their motivation also have been this? That in knowing Christ their shame before God was eliminated—and that it gave them a greater honor—a truer, eternal source of honor—that source being Christ himself.
Before the court of God, what gives the believer honor? How does John use the promise of honor to motivate specific behaviors? Believing in Jesus itself brings an extraordinary grant of honor as the believer joins the family of God: “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (1:12–13 RSV). Their honor rating is no longer determined by their natural birth, but has become incomparably higher through birth into God’s family and thus a share in the honor of the Almighty. …
This devaluation of criteria used among people to weigh relative honor appears again in John 8:34-36: “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house forever; the Son continues forever. So if the Son makes you free you will be free indeed” (RSV). What is decisive for one’s status is not a matter of wealth, noble birth, or fame, but whether one has committed sin. Servile status is shameful, and only the Son can bestow honor on the individual, granting freedom to the slave (the one who is a slave of sin). True honor, then, is a gift from the Son, and the believer derives honor from his or her embeddedness in the honor of Jesus, which is itself embedded in the honor of God. Indeed, Jesus has ascribed to the believers the same “glory” God has given Jesus (17:22). Jesus, introduced as the sole mediator of God’s favor, has also extended to the disciples the honor of being mediators of Jesus’ favor (13:20), and has even named them “friends” (a term of social equality and reciprocity) rather than “servants” (a term of social inequality.)
What if, we, as followers of Jesus Christ, could speak of our motivation in being a follower of Jesus, not just in the terms of innocence and guilt, but also, in the terms of honor and shame? What would that sound like?
It might sound like this:
“In pursuit of my highest honor, I have become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of my shameful sins before God have been covered by the most glorious death of Jesus Christ, whose body was broken, and whose blood was shed, for my sin. I do not deserve it, but in the glorious plan of God Almighty, the sacrificial death of the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ, made it possible for my sins to be punished and paid for on His body. Yes, it is hard to believe, but it is true!
Some say that God would never allow the shame of the Cross to be placed on His Son. However, the Bible says God purposed the crucifixion of His Son for the display of his glory—and for the gaining of infinite honor for His Son, Jesus Christ! Therefore, this death of Christ has given me the ability to be fully accepted into the finest, most honorable family in all the earth.
Yes, it is amazing! It speaks of the immense glory, compassion and condescending love of God—that I can now come before Him in prayer without shame. Yes, not one ounce of shame, only honor, only acceptance, only dignity before the Holy Most High God. Why? Because, mystically, I am now in Christ. The spirit of Jesus now lives in me, and I now live in Him.
I have received the right to be a child of God. What an immense honor—being a part of the family of God! I have been born again into the most honored family, the most glorious community in all creation.
By God’s grace, I have been favored to receive this great honor—to know and follow Jesus. Yes, it is my highest honor to know Him, to serve Him, and not only that … I also share in the glory of extending this honorable blessing, this beautiful grace, to other people. What a blessed life I now live!
This is why I love Jesus. He is my most honored, great Treasure. To Jesus I owe all that I am. In communion with all followers of Jesus, I share in the very glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Yes, I have a friendship with the King of Kings whose name is Jesus, the Son of God.
So I say with the prophet David, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head” (Psalm 3:3).
Of course, there are extensive Bible verses that I could reference for every sentence and idea presented above. I suggest reading the Gospel of John, chapters 1, 5, 12, 17. And Paul’s letter to the Ephesians chapter 1 thru 3. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapters 1 thru 3 also contains many verses which are foundational to these glorious truths.
Mission ONE President Bob Schindler with one of graduates of the Kijabe Town sewing class. “She gave a stirring testimony of how she got saved and learned the vocational skill of tailoring through the class.”
Mission ONE president Bob Schindler just returned Monday from Kenya. One of the major reasons for going was to visit with Mission ONE’s long-time ministry partner, National Evangelical Outreach (NEO Kenya), led by Pastor Wilfred Githongo Kabiru and his wife Rahab. (Also, a major strategic mission partnership with NEO Kenya is in the works, and Bob was there to navigate the process.)
One of NEO’s newest and most successful projects has been a tailoring school for women, located in Kijabe Town. While Bob was there, the tailoring school celebrated it’s second graduating class. (See other pictures below.)
This tailoring school ministry has been rescuing women from the sex trade. These women are receiving hopefor eternity through faith in Jesus Christ—as well as hope for today—through learning the trade of tailoring. The tailoring trade enables the women to earn a living honorably in order to avoid the sin, shame, and life-threatening hazards of living “on the street.”
Funding for this tailoring school came from a Baptist church in North Carolina. We praise the Lord that this three-way strategic mission partnership—between NEO Kenya, a generous local church, and Mission ONE—is resulting in a beautiful collaboration through Jesus Christ to bring hope to the hopeless. Praise the Lord!
The second graduating class of the Kijabe Town sewing class, National Evangelical Outreach, Kenya
What does this have to do with cross-cultural partnership? Simply this: Accurate geography can help us with our humility.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment… –Romans 12:3 ESV
“Africa, the fertile continent”
The current news about Africa is focused on the liberation of Libya and the famine in the Horn of Africa. But it could it be—that God’s long-term purpose for Africa might be strategic and important to our collective global welfare?
With one billion people already going hungry and the world’s population rising, global food production must urgently be increased. The countries that managed such surges in the past — Brazil, China, India, the United States — cannot do so again. But Africa can — if it finally uses the seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation methods common everywhere else.
Further on in the article Thurow states,
Likewise, future productivity gains in the grain-belt fields of the former Soviet states and in Brazil, China, and India — once hungry countries that turned into agricultural powerhouses thanks to advances made in the 1960s and 1970s, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty — depend on continued investment in infrastructure and research. Under some scenarios, water scarcity in China and India could cut wheat and rice production in these countries by 30-50 percent by 2050, even as demand for these grains there is expected to rise by as much over the same period.
Thus, more and more eyes are turning to Africa, agriculture’s final frontier. Africa was largely left out of the green revolution, the postwar movement to push up crop yields in the hungriest parts of the world by promoting the use of new seeds and new farming technology. And so agricultural production on the continent could jump quickly if farmers there simply used existing seed, fertilizer, and irrigation technology. And if more efficient networks were developed to distribute and sell the harvests, boosting agricultural yields in Africa could be a major step toward feeding not just the continent but also the rest of the world.
It seems counter-intuitive, but one day we could be depending on Africa for the world’s food. It is the continent with the greatest upside for food production on the planet. Is this one aspect of what God has in mind as his kingdom transforms Africa’s tribes and nations through the gospel?
Timothy Tennent’s book—Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How The Global Church is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology—is a tremendously valuable resource for cross-cultural workers
I love the perspective he gives in the preface (page xviii).
We still see the West as the ecclesiastical center of the world, even though the vast majority of Christians in the world today are located elsewhere. What African or Asian Christians are doing and writing seems so marginal to us, and it penetrates our own theological discussions only in a vague, ephemeral way.
We as Westerners continue to vastly overestimate the role of our trained theologians, missionaries, denominations, and mission agencies in the actual task of global evangelism and church planting. We continue to talk about church history in a way that puts Europe in the center, and church history outside the West is reserved for those preparing for the mission field or church historians pursuing specialist studies. We continue to think that our own theological reflections are normative and universally applicable to all people from all cultures. In short, the Western church has not yet fully absorbed how the dramatic shifts in global Christianity are influencing what constitutes normative Christianity. … We must learn to think bigger, listen more, and look at the church from a wider vista.
Dr. Tennent is asking Christian leaders, missionaries, and lay persons from the West to … develop better listening skills … adjust their attitude from assuming a leadership role to a servant-oriented “team player” role … and to broaden their understanding of what God is doing in the world. It’s all very fitting for Christians in the West who are pursuing healthy cross-cultural partnerships.
Could it be that cross-cultural partnerships give us the opportunity to deepen our theology … that is, to deepen our knowledge of God, our ability to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and our maturity as followers of Christ? Could the pursuit of healthy cross-cultural partnerships be that important?
A good friend sent me an email asking if we had some tools for evaluating a cross-cultural partnership. Her friend—another Christian leader—had asked…
“Have you seen any organization attempt to quantify or describe the quality of a cross-cultural relationship? The [name of organization] Board of Directors is big on metrics.”
I sent my friend two documents I had created for Mission ONE in 2003. The first document is a tool to evaluate the cross-cultural partnership from the side of Mission ONE. The second tool is one that our partners in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East can use to evaluate Mission ONE. I mentioned to her in my email that we have not used these evaluation tools in a long time, but that perhaps these documents could be helpful to the person making the inquiry.
Then I began musing on the concept of “metrics” in evaluating a cross-cultural partnership. Below are my thoughts.
If we measure the effectiveness of the partnership from our side, we ought to make sure that our partners can “measure” us and our effectiveness from their side as well. But would our indigenous partners ever initiate such a thing? No way. I have never heard of that happening. Why? I think they likely would consider this a dishonor to the relationship.
Isn’t it true that the people doing the measuring are usually the ones with the financial power? Ironically, the ones being “measured” are often actually the ones who have a lot more at stake (their very lives, families, ministries, reputation in the community, etc.).
What if an indigenous ministry partner from the majority world asked their wealthy American financial supporters to measure, not just amount of money or time invested, but also …
the actual amount of prayer devoted to a ministry partner, and then report on that?
the amount of personal sacrifice quantified as percent of personal income devoted to the partnership or world missions?
or the amount of time they listen, compared to the amount of time they talk — in the partnership dialog between leaders?
The very use of the word “metrics” sounds cold. What if your spouse said, “I need some metrics on the effectiveness of our marriage”? Of course, a partnership is not a marriage, but a healthy cross-cultural partnership is deeply relational, built on trust over a period of time with common vision and values. And Christian cross-cultural partners do have a relational closeness in Jesus Christ, which, from heaven’s perspective anyway, is intimate and eternal. Why else would Jesus pray, “that they would be one…” (John 17:21)? Isn’t this our hope?
The use of the word “metrics” in Christian ministry also implies that everything important can be quantified. But fruitfulness is both quantitative and qualitative. On the one hand, “fruit” can be understood as the number of people professing Christ, or the number of churches planted; that’s quantitative.
But then there’s Galatians 5, describing the fruit of the Spirit. How do you quantify the fruit of agape love, or patience, or meekness, gentleness, or self-control? These are qualitative things that are very important to God and very difficult, if not impossible, to measure.
The practice of cross-cultural partnership, therefore, which over-emphasizes “metrics” will invariably lead to outcomes that focus on those externals. A truism of business management is that “you can only manage what you can measure.” When applied to Christian ministry, wouldn’t this lead to a focus on quantitative external expressions of the faith, while qualitative expressions of the faith would be marginalized? It is no wonder legalism can be so inimical to the gospel.
Another thing about the word “metrics” is the cultural baggage that comes with it. As stated above, the word “metrics” implies the idea that everything important can be quantified and categorized. Isn’t that a Western construct, a part of modernity? The biblical principle of stewardship notwithstanding, it really fits the American Christian consumer mentality of “more souls per dollar invested,” or “best bang for the buck.” It is part of the empire of globalization that prizes efficiency above all else. Isn’t there is a kind of Western cultural imperialism implicit in the term, “metrics”?
Having said all this, I recognize that accountability and outcomes are important. God is interested in outcomes. He wants the nations to be discipled, not only that people have the opportunity to be saved. Stewardship is important. Evaluation is important.
And if you are evaluating a cross-cultural partnership with “metrics”—be careful. Make sure the evaluation is mutual.
The world economy seems fragile. Some so-called “rich” Western nations are teetering with default. Leaders are trying to avoid another global recession. Presidents are treading a delicate balance between satisfying the demands of the voting public—with the interdependency of globalized economies.
Will the global Church show the way forward? Will globally-minded followers of Jesus Christ embrace their interdependence—while acknowledging the unique God-ordained dignity and honor of every national and ethnic identity?
The Lausanne Movement speaks to these questions. This is from the Foreward of “The Cape Town Commmitment: A Confession of Faith and Action”:
The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Cape Town, 16-25 October 2010) brought together 4,200 evangelical leaders from 198 countries, and extended to hundreds of thousands more, participating in meetings around the world, and online. Its goal? To bring a fresh challenge to the global Church to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching – in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas.
The Cape Town Commitment is the fruit of this endeavour. It stands in an historic line, building on both The Lausanne Covenant and The Manila Manifesto. It is in two parts. Part l sets out biblical convictions, passed down to us in the scriptures, and Part ll sounds the call to action.
The very last part of the document—the final section of the Call to Action—deals with partnership in the Body of Christ.
Here is an excerpt under the title, “Partnership in global mission”:
Partnership in mission is not only about efficiency. It is the strategic and practical outworking of our shared submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. Too often we have engaged in mission in ways that prioritize and preserve our own identities (ethnic, denominational, theological, etc), and have failed to submit our passions and preferences to our one Lord and Master. The supremacy and centrality of Christ in our mission must be more than a confession of faith; it must also govern our strategy, practice and unity.
We rejoice in the growth and strength of emerging mission movements in the majority world and the ending of the old pattern of ‘from the West to the Rest’. But we do not accept the idea that the baton of mission responsibility has passed from one part of the world Church to another. There is no sense in rejecting the past triumphalism of the West, only to relocate the same ungodly spirit in Asia, Africa, or Latin America. No one ethnic group, nation, or continent can claim the exclusive privilege of being the ones to complete the Great Commission. Only God is sovereign.
a. We stand together as church and mission leaders in all parts of the world, called to recognize and accept one another, with equality of opportunities to contribute together to world mission. Let us, in submission to Christ, lay aside suspicion, competition and pride and be willing to learn from those whom God is using, even when they are not from our continent, nor of our particular theology, nor of our organization, nor of our circle of friends.
b. Partnership is about more than money, and unwise injection of money frequently corrupts and divides the Church. Let us finally prove that the Church does not operate on the principle that those who have the most money have all the decision-making power. Let us no longer impose our own preferred names, slogans, programmes, systems and methods on other parts of the Church. Let us instead work for true mutuality of North and South, East and West, for interdependence in giving and receiving, for the respect and dignity that characterizes genuine friends and true partners in mission.
How encouraging! It is very much the spirit in which our missional learning journey, The Beauty of Partnership, was developed. In a globalized world with fragile economies, the last thing we need are the Christians who “hunker down” with the attitude that happiness is a small circle.
If ever there was a need for training in intercultural understanding and healthy cross-cultural partnerships, that time is now.
