Crossing Cultures with the Gospel: Anthropological Wisdom for Effective Christian Witness

by Darrell L. Whiteman, Miriam Adeney (Foreword by)

Overview

Christianity Today 2025 Book Award Finalist (Missions / Global Church)

Outreach 2025 Resource of the Year (Missions and Cross-Cultural)

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2023 Book Award (Honorable Mention, Evangelism / Missions / Global Church)

Drawing on forty years of teaching and mission experience, leading missiological anthropologist Darrell Whiteman brings a wealth of insight to bear on cross-cultural ministry.

After explaining the nature and function of culture and the importance of understanding culture for ministry, Whiteman addresses the most common challenges of ministering across cultures. He then provides practical solutions based on lived experience, helping readers develop healthy patterns so they can communicate the gospel effectively. Issues addressed include negotiating differences in worldview, the problem of nonverbal communication, understanding cultural forms and their meanings, and the challenge of overcoming culture shock.

Professors, students, and anyone ministering cross-culturally will benefit from this informed yet accessible guide. Foreword by Miriam Adeney.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493429547
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/27/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Darrell L. Whiteman (PhD, Southern Illinois University) is founder and director of Global Development, a missiological training and discipleship ministry. After missionary service in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Central Africa, he taught for 21 years at Asbury Theological Seminary, where he also served as dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism. Whiteman is a leader in the professional societies for missiologists (APM/ASM) and has served as editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research and Missiology. He lives in Gig Harbor, Washington.
Darrell L. Whiteman (PhD, Southern Illinois University) is founder and director of Global Development, a missiological training and discipleship ministry. After missionary service in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Central Africa, he taught for twenty-one years at Asbury Theological Seminary, where he also served as dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism. Whiteman edited the journal Missiology for thirteen years and is a past president of the American Society of Missiology and the International Association for Mission Studies. He lives in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Miriam Adeney
1. Conversion of the Missionary
Part 1: The Concept of Culture
2. Understanding Culture in Mission
3. The Functions of Culture
Part 2: Incarnational Ministry
4. The Incarnational Model
5. Incarnational Communication
Part 3: Common Communication Problems
6. Worldview Differences
7. Unintended Paramessages
8. Misusing Cultural Forms and Space
Part 4: Overcoming Culture Shock
9. Understanding Culture Shock
10. The Symptoms and Stages of Culture Shock
11. Cures for Culture Shock
Part 5: Growing into Effective Communicators
12. Discovering Cultural Differences
13. Becoming Aware of Cultural Baggage
14. Strategies for Effectively Crossing Cultural Boundaries
Conclusion
Index