Tag: Cross-Cultural
Snake in the Chinese Culture and Serpent in the Bible
As the Year of the Snake is approaching, amidst the blessings of the Year of the Snake and the music of the “Dance of the Golden Snake”, Chinese Christians can meditate on the many snake-related verses in the Bible, and come to God in thanksgiving and prayer.
Ministering Cross-Culturally: A 150 Percent Person
We can work toward becoming what Sherwood Lingenfelter described as a 150 percent person, a person who retains 75 percent of their birth culture and adopts 75 percent of their new culture. Such a person becomes more than they used to, able to minister cross-culturally with greater empathy and impact.
Supporting Article
Onesimus, Philemon, and Paul
An Example of Returnee Ministry
Onesimus went back to Colossae as a powerful agent of change, demonstrating the gospel’s power to redeem and break down barriers. May those returning to China from around the world also be used powerfully for God’s kingdom.
Going Deeper with Scripture Memorization
A Book Review of Memorize What Matters
With Memorize What Matters, you’re not only given tools for memory but also an invitation to see Bible memorization as a spiritual discipline that equips you to serve, teach, and grow in your relationship with God.
Crossing Cultures: Enlightenment and the Middle Kingdom
The Lord builds his church, and the church he constructs will look a bit different in each climate and landscape. It is the seed that has power to grow roots down into deeply buried cultural expressions and expectations, roots that will produce fruit fitting the context, fruit that is both beautiful and empowering.
Crossing Cultures: Boundary Events and Paradigm Shifts
In 1973, I left my rural Christian childhood home and became a university student. I experienced the dissonance of a world that was much bigger, more diverse, more troubled, and less predictable than anything I had known before. My questions of who am I, where am I going, and who will go with me were […]
The Double Ninth Festival
Honoring the Elderly and Embracing Spiritual Wisdom
Celebrated annually on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the Double Ninth Festival (重陽節/重阳节) falls on October 11 in 2024. From a Christian perspective on traditional Chinese festivals, it provides an opportunity to reflect on biblical values like wisdom, longevity, and honoring elders, blending cultural heritage with faith.
Crossing Cultures: Perspective and Spiritual Maturity
When our own cultural perspective is extremely limited, our capacity for ministering cross-culturally will likewise be significantly constrained. A perspective growing out of spiritual maturity—more and more of us and fewer and fewer of them—will go a long way toward effective ministering cross-culturally.
Crossing Cultures: Missio Dei and Missionary Formation
The God of mission has a church, a people he shapes and sends in collaboration with missio dei. God himself accomplishes missionary formation through a series of shaping events that unfold over a lifetime.
Ministering to Muslims: The Dialogue between Timothy I and the Caliph Mahdi
Introducing the Arab Christian Heritage to the Chinese Church
In AD 781, during the reign of Mahdi, the third of the Abbasid caliphs at Baghdad and spiritual and temporal head of the Muslim religion, Timothy and the caliph convened for a two-day dialogue in Arabic with portions in Syriac. The fraternal dialogue format with the caliph was in the form of questions and answers.