Posted on June 13th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • God • Gospel • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Missions • Northwest • Prayer • Seminary • Theology
Jarrod Haas is a student in the Cross-cultural Leadership Training Program, CLTP @ Northwest, working towards an undergrad level diploma in preparation for cross-cultural ministry among Asians. CLTP is a one year, mentored, experienced based program that prepares the student for Master’s level seminary studies as well as equips them for ministry either internationally [...]
Posted on June 11th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Culture • Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: Culture • Missions
NOTE: A companion workshop to these articles is available to multi-ethnic churches that provides information, exercises and interaction to encourage the implementation of those disciplines that promote healthy intercultural relationships. Please contact Mark at mark.naylor@twu.ca
Whose rules rule?
In the innovative cultural simulation game, Barnga, created by Sivasailam Thiagarajan, groups of people play a simple card game [...]
Posted on June 9th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Church • Cross • Culture • God • Gospel • Jesus • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Missions • Northwest • Seminary
Jarrod Haas is a student in the Cross-cultural Leadership Training Program, CLTP @ Northwest, working towards an undergrad level diploma in preparation for cross-cultural ministry among Asians. CLTP is a one year, mentored, experienced based program that prepares the student for Master’s level seminary studies as well as equips them for ministry either internationally [...]
Posted on June 6th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Church • Cross • Culture • God • Gospel • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Missions • Northwest • Prayer • Scripture • Seminary • Theology
Jarrod Haas is a student in the Cross-cultural Leadership Training Program, CLTP @ Northwest, working towards an undergrad level diploma in preparation for cross-cultural ministry among Asians. CLTP is a one year, mentored, experienced based program that prepares the student for Master’s level seminary studies as well as equips them for ministry either internationally [...]
Posted on June 4th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • God • Jesus • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Missions • New Testament • Northwest • Prayer • Seminary • Theology
Jarrod Haas is a student in the Cross-cultural Leadership Training Program, CLTP @ Northwest, working towards an undergrad level diploma in preparation for cross-cultural ministry among Asians. CLTP is a one year, mentored, experienced based program that prepares the student for Master’s level seminary studies as well as equips them for ministry either internationally [...]
Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: CLTP • Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • God • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Missions • Northwest • Seminary
Jarrod Haas is a student in the Cross-cultural Leadership Training Program, CLTP @ Northwest, working towards an undergrad level diploma in preparation for cross-cultural ministry among Asians. CLTP is a one year, mentored, experienced based program that prepares the student for Master’s level seminary studies as well as equips them for ministry either internationally [...]
Posted on April 10th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Culture • Leadership • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Church • Cross • Culture • Jesus • Leaders • Leadership • Prayer • Seminary
The Power Distance Contrast
In Pakistan there is a strong tradition of "holy men" who are called Pirs. One day I had a visit from a young man who informed me that he was the Pir of his village. I was puzzled by this because he was dressed in modern clothes and did not have the [...]
Posted on March 17th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology • Missions
Tags: Cross • Jesus • Ministry • Theology
The Christ of the Indian Road by E. Stanley Jones, 1925. Abington Press
E. Stanley Jones was a highly influential missionary who worked in India during the time of Gandhi. The principles for cross-cultural ministry presented in this classic are as valid today and in any context as they were when this book was written. His [...]
Posted on February 6th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: God • Gospel • Jesus
The story of Umar and Marvi is a legend of the Sindhi people that expresses a fundamental tribal value of the Sindhi people. A young, beautiful teenage girl (Marvi) is kidnapped from her tribe by a young prince (Umar) who is enamoured by her and wants to make her his wife. She is taken to [...]
Posted on January 17th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: Cross • Culture • God • Gospel • Jesus • Marriage • Seminary
It feels impolite and invasive to challenge someone on a personal level
I am uncomfortable with direct methods of evangelism that early on present the hearer with an invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Part of my unease has to do with my Canadian upbringing. It feels impolite and invasive to challenge someone on [...]
Posted on January 10th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Bible • Hermeneutics • Missiology • Translation Issues
Tags: Bible • Cross • New Testament • Scripture • Seminary • Translation
section headings … can be misleading
I like section headings in Bible translation. They are not part of the original text, but added by the translation team to assist the reader in three ways: “1. to help those already familiar with the Bible to find a passage they know; 2. to help those unfamiliar with the [...]
Posted on December 13th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Culture • Evangelism • Hermeneutics • Missiology
Tags: Church • Culture • Gospel • Seminary • Theology
Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends
Edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson, Michael J. Sleasman. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. 285 pages, $29.99, paperback.
Most of our churches in the Fellowship are not missional, but communal in orientation. That is, their primary orientation towards the community in which they are placed [...]
Posted on December 4th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • Jesus • Seminary
The Common hunger of Humanity
What we as human beings search for and value in life is the “meaningful” and the “good.”
With regard to the “meaningful,” we are always trying to make sense of our world. Hopelessness, which is what we seek to avoid, is the antithesis of the “meaningful” and happens when the [...]
Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: CLTP • Church • Cultural Issues • Evangelism • Leadership
Tags: Church • Cross • Gospel • Leaders • Leadership • Ministry • Northwest • Seminary
Joy’s (1) emotional pain was evident as she related her move from her family’s mono-ethnic Chinese church to a multiethnic congregation. She felt guilt as if she had somehow betrayed her home church.
Bob pastored a multi-ethnic congregation but was frustrated by his inability to recruit leadership from certain groups.
Jane enjoyed belonging to a church [...]
Posted on November 14th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Bible • Cultural Issues • Culture • Hermeneutics • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Cross • Culture • God • Jesus • Seminary
Three ways to understand the Bible
My wife, Karen, heard a message by a young woman with no theological training on Jer 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you….” The young woman spoke of the verse as if it was addressed to us today and talked about the plans God has for us. Although [...]
Posted on November 5th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Culture • Missiology • Seminary • Translation Issues
Tags: Bible • Culture • God • Gospel • Missions • New Testament • Old Testament • Translation
I am slow. I have come to the realization – at least a full decade after more perceptive and observant thinkers – that we are no longer in the information age; we are in the networking age. Facebook is not about information, but about connecting. Due to the ease of access and overwhelming quantity of [...]
Posted on October 10th, 2007 by Dr. Kenton Anderson
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Culture • Marriage
Tags: Seminary
Our NBS board recently received a copy of demographic information based on the 2006 Canadian Census. The results are no less interesting for the fact that they are predictable. Some key areas of interest…
-over 5.8 million Canadian taxfilers donated a record $7.9 billion to charities that provide offical tax receipts – almost 1% more donors, [...]
Posted on August 29th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Missiology • Theology
Tags: God • Theology
It was while Karen and I were visiting the Bridal Veil waterfall outside of Hope that we discovered that we had neglected to bring our camera. For some people I know, this would have been reason to travel the 5 hours back home to get it. However, we have always been apathetic (or [...]
Posted on August 9th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Hermeneutics • Missiology • Translation Issues
Tags: Bible • Cross • Culture • God • Seminary
“That’s just NOT right!” exclaimed a woman in a Bible study I was conducting. The object of her disapproval was Naomi’s instructions for Ruth to approach Boaz while he was sleeping (see Ruth 3). She was correct in that she recognized the inappropriateness of such an action within our society. She was incorrect because she failed to recognize [...]
Posted on July 30th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: God • Gospel • Jesus • Ministry • Scripture
Every now and again I hear the phrase “how many people have you led to the Lord?” The meaning of this evangelical lingo is “how many people have committed their lives to Christ under your guidance as you have explained the gospel message?” Although my desire is for people to commit their lives [...]
Posted on July 19th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Cross • Culture • Discipleship • God • Jesus • Ministry • Prayer
One of the primary responsibilities of the cross-cultural Christian worker is to discover how God’s revelation of himself in both the written word (the Bible) and the living Word (Jesus) resonates with the cultural group with whom she or he is developing a relationship. In our ministry among the Sindhi people, we discovered that [...]
Posted on July 10th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Evangelism • Missiology
Tags: Culture • God • Gospel • Jesus • Marriage
A number of years ago after delivering a sermon I was rebuked by a young woman. It would be nice to say that this was a unique occurrence, but unfortunately, such is not the case. I had made some disparaging remarks about the “Four Spiritual Laws,†a tract that provides a four step understanding [...]
Posted on June 28th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Bible • Church • Cross • Culture • Ministry
In The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), Joseph R. Myers challenges evangelicals to think creatively about how people belong. He utilizes the work done by Edward Hall explaining that there are four “spaces†or levels of connecting in which people relate and commit: Public, Social, Personal [...]
Posted on June 19th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • Marriage • Seminary
What is the appropriate relationship of a Christian to a local church? How should followers of Christ “belong”? This is an important consideration when ministering cross-culturally, because cultural forms shape the way people understand “belonging”. For example, a helpful, if somewhat simplistic, diagram is provided to demonstrate three levels of relationships in which people experience [...]
Posted on May 21st, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Church • Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • God • Missions • Seminary
Is it just me or has the concept of “belonging†to a church become more fluid lately? I remember growing up in a churched context and it was very obvious who was “in†and who was “outâ€. Membership was an important concept and there was a sense that unless a [...]
Posted on May 10th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Missions • Prayer • Seminary
Just what is a church missions team expected to do? Because of the way church missions has developed in recent years this question has become increasingly important for those who desire to be effective mission mobilizers. In some churches the missions committee’s primary role consists of passing on the prayer letters of missionaries to the [...]
Posted on May 9th, 2007 by Mr. Loren Warkentin
Other Categories: Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • God • Jesus • Ministry • Missions
I said goodbye to my baby girl this week. Becky and I, along with a number of other friends and relatives saw her off from the Seattle airport in the wee hours of Monday morning as she and her team of 7 began their missions odyssey to Thailand. She is only 23 and from this [...]
Posted on May 1st, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues
Tags: Cross • Culture • Gospel • Seminary
What is culture? There is a current debate (National Post, March 2-, 2007) about whether fashion should be classified as culture, with implications for government funding. Canada has policies promoting “multiculturalism.” I have read books and heard sermons concerning the need for Christians to remain separate from “the prevailing culture.” These diverse nuances of the [...]
Posted on April 22nd, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Missiology
Tags: Church • God • Missions • Prayer
I have been spending some time interviewing pastors and key missions committee personnel to discover the areas they would like to improve in the area of missions One frustration that a number of people expressed is in knowing how and when they are to keep mission agencies and missionaries accountable. One pastor provided the following [...]
Posted on April 13th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Missiology
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • God • Gospel • Ministry • Missions • Seminary
People committed to supporting cross-cultural missions, whether locally or globally, recognize the essential role of missionaries who have dedicated years to learn the culture and language of a particular people group. It is through their expertise that bridges for the gospel are discovered and churches planted. However, missions mobilizers serving in churches are often frustrated [...]
Posted on March 28th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues
Tags: Church • Cross • Culture • Jesus
At a recent seminar a pastor posed the question: “What is the difference between multi-ethnic and multi-cultural?” Ethnicity primarily refers to group identity arising from a common history, kinship and language. Culture refers to the way members of a particular ethnic group relate to their environment and each other. This includes legends, laws, priorities, structures, [...]
Posted on March 12th, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor
Other Categories: Cultural Issues • Faith
Tags: Bible • God • Translation
During my last visit to Pakistan for Bible translation I was rechecking the Psalms with our main translator, GMA. A verse that warranted a correction in the translation was Psalm 135:5 that read in part, “I know that God is great.” GMA commented that this was "weak" because a statement of knowledge or information may [...]