Read an Excerpt
Christianity Confronts Culture
A Strategy for Crosscultural Evangelism
By Marvin K. Mayers Zondervan
Copyright © 1987 Zondervan
All right reserved. ISBN: 0-310-28901-7
Chapter One
Prior Question of Trust Case Study: Study Program Aborted
Ellen Cooper's family was one of the most respected in her part of the Ozarks. She and her three brothers had attended the state university and returned to the town where their family had lived for generations. She chose teaching and was happy in her work at the county high school.
Ellen's pastor encouraged her to go to a college in the North for several summers where she could get her M.A. in Christian education. With this training she would be a great help to her church. There were few local young people who were qualified to take a leading role in religious instruction, and she seemed perfect for the job.
Ellen looked forward with great enthusiasm to her first trip north and her studies in a Christian college. She was warmly welcomed, and she enjoyed the classes, shrugging off the teasing her classmates and teachers alike gave her about her mountain accent. She kept reminding herself that people tease only those they like.
One evening Ellen entered the reception room with her Bible in her hand on her way to the evening service. "Hi, Ellen," one of the young men called. "What's that you're carrying? Not a Bible! I thought y'all's Bible was the Sears-Roebuck catalog."
Ellen laughed along with the others, but there was a hurt down inside that did not go away, and it seemed to grow as the unrelenting teasing continued.
Entering the dining hall the last morning of school, she was greeted with, "Hey, Ellen, don't tell us you're wearing shoes! You can take them offf now and keep them till next summer."
Next summer didn't come. Much to her pastor's disappointment, Ellen found that in succeeding summers she conveniently had to return to the university to take refresher courses for her high school teaching credentials. She could avoid returning to the other college.
The Trust Bond Defined
A simple place to begin in reversing such a picture is the trust bond. The trust bond is a way of forming good relationships between people. It is a way of dealing with tension in a relationship. It is a way of alerting people to the need for sensitivity to the other person-who that person is, what needs that person is facing, what opportunities there might be to encourage rather than discourage. Sensitivity is the ability to identify the needs and feelings of another person, assess how his own behavior and attitudes conflict with or reinforce those needs, then to adjust his behavior to communicate who he is.
The trust bond is a relationship between two people or two groups that begins to grow, that suffers slights yet continues to grow, and that ultimately forms a close bond of trust and mutual respect between the participants. The trust bond is not something that is guaranteed to grow. It is not something that one can readily put one's finger on. It is not something that is always visible or available for analysis. It is simply there. The participants feel better because something is drawing them closer together. When the bond is broken for some reason or other-because of a death, a geographical separation, or a lack of maintenance of the bord-there is a keen sense of loss and regret.
The trust bond is relatively easy to form when the participants' culture or subculture is similar. It is more difficult to form when such backgrounds are different. Formal training in trust-bond formation (and thus the development of a conscious awareness of the need to follow sound principles of crosscultural communication) is necessary when one is moving cross culturally. It is also tremendously useful when one remains in one's own culture and subculture. In fact, because every encounter is crosscultural in some way, the trust bond becomes a valuable asset in the communication process. The greatest challenge in relationship occurs when the two parties disagree, and differences in culture and cultural perspective almost guarantee disagreement. The trust bond is a valuable tool in negating the adverse effects of disagreement.
The Question of Trust
No trust bond had built between Ellen and her colleagues at the Christian college. She kept fumbling toward it by ignoring the teasing as long as she could and excusing it as something friendly. Her peers, however, never really reached out to her apart from their own stereotype of a "mountain girl." It is quite possible that if they had been taught a concept that could have let them count to ten-that is, think about what they were going to say-before greeting Ellen, the picture might have been totally different. Instead of alienating Ellen-something that affected not only Ellen, but her church and pastor as well-they might have encouraged her. Instead of pointing up a difference, they could have recognized and supported her uniqueness.
The question of trust expressed as the prior question of trust, is a tool that can help one pause a moment before acting or responding. One can take a fresh look at interaction and allow sensitivity to come to the fore-sensitivity to who the other is and what that one is feeling at that moment in time. The response made or action taken can be supportive and encouraging rather than degrading and destructive.
The prior question of trust (PQT) simply asks: Is what I am doing, thinking, or saying, building trust or undermining trust? Is what I am doing, thinking, or saying potential for building trust or potential for undermining trust?
When we ask the prior question of trust, we do not know what the outcome will be. We do know that a trust relationship will develop that will open channels of communication rather than close them. When the question is not asked, there is a greater likelihood that these channels of communication will close, as was obvious in the case of the "mountain girl."
When one approaches the task of mission, these questions naturally arise: How can I win these people to Jesus Christ? What mission board should I serve under? Where should I serve?
In the marriage relationship or the relationship between special friends, the first question that comes to mind on Valentine's Day or at Christmas time is, What should I give my true love-flowers, a card, a gift?
In the home, the husband or wife considers the question of correct division of labor: Who should do the dishes, sweep the floors, change the diapers?
When children have done something wrong, parents' first reaction is to punish immediately so that they will know for sure that they have done wrong. The question of punishment is therefore the first one that comes to mind.
When Sunday morning comes around, the Christian parent asks, "Should we go to Sunday school or just to church?"
When a question of ethnic difference arises, these questions also arise: What are my rights as an American? as a black? as an Anglo? as a Hispanic? What are my privileges in relation to these rights?
In business or pleasure, selling or buying, lecturing or examining, the first questions that are generally considered are questions of action, participation, and response; questions of who, what, when, and why; questions of correctness or appropriateness; questions of rights or privileges.
If one is seeking to build a relationship, none of the above questions is the appropriate first question to ask in an encounter between individuals or groups. The prior question of trust is the more useful question, the one that has the greatest hope for developing the relationship into something that is positive and helpful to the participants. An empathy will develop between the parties and will increase one's sensitivity to who the other is and what can best be done to see that person's life maximally fulfilled.
The point of mission is seeing a relationship established between man and God. To do this one must begin establishing relationships with other people. In the process of establishing such relationships, a trust bond should be developed. That trust can be transferred to God by the leading of his Spirit. The mission one wants to join will be that which permits a trust relationship to grow among members of the mission; between members of the host society and members of the mission team; and as a result, between members of the host society and God himself. The place of service will be wherever one can be fulfilled as a Christian in the ministry of serving others.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Christianity Confronts Culture by Marvin K. Mayers Copyright © 1987 by Zondervan. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
