What’s Most Important: the Schedule or the People?

27 09 2013

In chapter two of MINISTERING CROSS-CULTURALLY, Lingenfelter and Mayers contrast Time-Orientation with Event-Orientation.

TIME-ORIENTATION

  1. Concern for punctuality and amount of time expected
  2. Careful allocation of time to achieve the maximum within set limits
  3. Tightly scheduled, goal-directed activities
  4. Rewards offered as incentives for efficient use of time
  5. Emphasis on dates and history

EVENT-ORIENTATION

  1. Concern for details of the event, regardless of time required
  2. Exhaustive consideration of a problem until resolved
  3. A “let come what may” outlook not tied to any precise schedule
  4. Stress on completing the event as a reward in itself
  5. Emphasis on present experience rather than the past or future

Like most European-Americans, I am more Time than Event in orientation, and I am surrounded by people and culture pretty much the same. So when I go to plan a meeting, I am blind to the fact that not everyone has the same expectations, especially where that meeting is an intercultural one. I remember many times in rural Kenya where our pastoral training conferences would start anywhere from one to three hours after the stated starting time. But the actual starting time was when a sufficient number of pastors arrived and greetings exchanged. We missionaries would sweat it out, wondering how we would cover all our material in the time remaining (no wonder we expatriates are called “wazungu,” which refers to those who go around in circles!).

What are the implications for ministry settings, be they multi-ethnic churches or mission agencies seeking to “internationalize”? More often than not (I would guess) those convening the gathering are of a Time orientation. We set out the purpose of the meeting and design a schedule to achieve it. We set the ground rules and expect others to adapt to them. As Lingenfelter writes, “Time-oriented persons typically have specific objectives they want to accomplish within a given period. They will set a time within which they must finish a job or carry out a specific activity. People with this orientation often fill their time to its maximum potential. Their lives take on a frantic pace and are so filled with appointments that nothing can be done on the spur of the moment” (p.40). And I would add a Time-oriented leader who seeks to accommodate Event-oriented participants will likely get accused of inefficiency by those oriented to time!

The strength of Event-oriented people is in quality of relationships and decisions. “For them, meetings begin when the last person arrives and end when the last person leaves. Participation and completion are the central goals. For event-oriented people, playing the game is indeed more important than winning. They also differ in their style of managing problems or crises. Whereas time-oriented people will quickly grow weary of discussion and call for a vote, event-oriented people will exhaustively consider a problem, hearing all issues and deliberating until they reach unanimous agreement” (p. 42).

But (we argue), people who have risen to levels of leadership in mission organizations or denominations have adapted to western-style meetings and communications. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in a position to attend. I wonder if that is as true as we assume, and I wonder what we are losing in expecting others to accommodate our blind assumption that our way is the best way.

In an multi-ethnic church setting, it must seem very abrupt to an Event-oriented participant for the worship service to end just when the Spirit was starting totouch hearts. The “event” was in mid-strength when it suddenly ran into the schedule. Commenting on the repetition of choruses which we Anglos often complain about, an African-American explained that in his culture, “We sing a song until we can feel it.”

When there are people with different orientations ministering together in the same group, the object is not to get the minority group to adapt to those in charge. Rather, there is an opportunity to draw on the substance that bridges the gap and draws forth the presence of Jesus more fully. I refer to humility. “An important key to effective cross-cultural ministry is an incarnational attitude toward time and event–we must adapt to the time and event priorities of the people with whom we work. When we Americans enter other cultures, however, we often bring a cultural blindness to this issue. We feel the urgency of time and orient our lives to reflect our own culture. God commands us, however, to do nothing out of self-centeredness but to consider others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3-5) (p.50).

I often hear complaints that a “retreat” was so full of scheduled meetings that there was to sense of retreat. And when we ask each other how we are doing an inevitable answer is “I’m so busy.” This seems to be said in a combination of regret (I’m so tired) and pride (I’m so important). I know that I, a person very time oriented, has much to learn from those more event oriented. Both the schedule and the people are important.


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Categories : Ethnicity & Culture, Uncategorized

The man who smoked his way through the NT one page at a time

14 06 2013

I love stories of how God is moving people around the world that they might find him! I came across this story in the training manual of Culture ConneXions, a ministry of SIM USA.

indexMany immigrants have absolutely astounding testimonies as to how they came to Christ and how God brought them through persecution, and other problems, to arrive where they are at this time in their lives.  The impact can transform people’s thinking about that people group.

There is a local pastor, Rev. Sam Om, from Cambodia.  He pastors the only Cambodian church in Charlotte and is a constant challenge to my own commitment to Christ.  Sam came to Christ in the midst of the “killing fields” of Cambodia during the oppression perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime.  Well over a million Cambodians died in that hideous modern day holocaust.  Sam was right in the middle of it.

Sam was among those spared from death so he could work the fields to provide for the regime.  He worked every day from early morning to late in the evening, being fed very little and allowed almost no rest during the day.  At times he thought it would be easier to just be killed and end the suffering.

His one small joy during the day came at the short break time for a small unappetizing lunch.  Sam smoked cigarettes after his meal.  The prisoners made their own cigarettes and there was always a shortage of paper suitable for such “strategic” use.

One day someone gave him a New Testament.  It had smooth, thin yet strong pages.  They were just right for making cigarettes. So Sam began “smoking his way through the New Testament” beginning in Matthew.  He used the pages sparingly so it would last longer.  Finally he decided that for interest’s sake he would read the page before he used it to make another cigarette.

The more he read, the more interested he became.  Because of the horrific circumstances all around him, he was particularly interested in Jesus’ promise of eternal life.  Without the help of other Christians, Sam put his faith in Christ and knew he had become a new creation, bound for heaven!

Through a miraculous journey and deliverance, Sam was able to get to Bangkok, Thailand and obtain a passport and visa to the U.S.  Sam, who is now a graduate of Gordon Conwell Seminary here in Charlotte, not only continues to lead and pastor his church but takes trips with some of his church leaders on frequent trips back to Cambodia to train Cambodian pastors for their ministry there.  I love to hear Sam share his testimony and especially when he is sharing it with a European American audience.  They are on the edge of their chairs!

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New Pope once taught at Lausanne conf

10 04 2013

Pope Francis I, A Past Bible Expositor for Lausanne Global Leadership

Taken from the Mission America Newsletter April 2013

At Lausanne global leadership meetings in Buenos Aires in 2008, one of the Bible expositors was Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, now named Pope Francis I. Doug Birdsall, honorary chair of the Lausanne Movement recalls, “He spoke from John 21:15-19, Jesus’ encounter with Peter, ‘Do you love me? Feed my sheep.’  At the time, I remember thinking to myself what a godly, brilliant and humble servant of Christ this is.”

Birdsall met the archbishop a year before in Argentina. “We had a wonderful meeting as we talked about the Church and about the priority of evangelism….He is brilliant, prayerful, and pastoral, and he also was living a simple lifestyle in a modest office and apartment… In the course of our conversation he said, ‘Fifty years ago, I would have thought of you as an adversary.  Today, I welcome you as my brothers.'”

Birdsall urges evangelicals to pray for Pope Francis I, the most visible Christian leader in the world. “He takes the office at a time…when many in the western world are treating the church and the papacy with contempt….He is aware of the great challenge to re-evangelize Europe….There are fresh winds blowing in the Catholic Church and there is a new pope who I believe represents great promise for the witness of the gospel and the mission of the church in the 21st century.”

In spite of theological differences between evangelicals and Catholic Church, Birdsall says, “I believe that at this time in history when we deal with the challenges of secularism, pluralism and hedonism, our common lot as Trinitarian Christians should provide the occasion for us to pray for this man who came and shared God’s Word and who came to enjoy fellowship with us in Buenos Aires.”

MAC chairman Paul Cedar agrees with Birdsall’s call for prayer. “I have been touched by [the new Pope’s] humble spirit and by his compassion — especially for the poor and the marginalized. We certainly want to be praying for him,” Cedar says. “He could be used of God to bring significant changes to the Catholic Church and beyond in this generation.”


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Preaching in a multicultural city

9 04 2013

If you are ministering in a city, anywhere in the world, you should be aware that you are preaching to an audience that brings many different worldviews. The challenge is, you as a preacher have one worldview. It is your lens through which you view everything. So it is your task to try to understand something of the various worldviews in your audience and attempt to commuPreachernicate clearly to them.

The Scriptures are written exclusively by writers from eastern worldviews. They were Middle Easterners. As such their worldview contrasts significantly from the western worldview. The eastern worldview cannot be generalized for there are many variations within it. Yet, in contrast to a more western worldview, we can say that easterners have a more cyclical than linear perspective. When a preacher or teacher from a western worldview expounds the Bible, he will try to put events in a chronological line-up from beginning to end; he will tend to put things in an outline format. But the eastern mind is more cyclical and holistic. Events come and go in iterations. Everything is in play. This is especially significant in interpretation of prophecy. But that is a huge subject when one talks of hermeneutics as it relates to the worldview of the interpreter versus that of the human author.

A practical consideration regarding preaching is that of methodology. Some of your listeners (in a multicultural context) are oral learners while you may be of a literate/reading culture. If you are seminary trained you most certainly received a literate education and learned a literate preaching style using an outline. You tend to lead with the main point and then develop it with textual material and illustrations. This is the method I learned and as a westerner find most convenient.

However, some of your audience is oral, i.e. they learn better through stories and concrete examples or objects. They do not find it easy to think in the abstract. The preacher who wants to communicate clearly to them will seek to use story often. When he gives illustrations, they will not be abstract but concrete. For example, the oral/concrete learner envisions a round shape and thinks of its practical use, such as a pot or a floor mat. If an abstract-think describes a circle as representative of all humanity, or of the sphere of influence, he will not be connecting with the oral learners in his audience.

The best way to proceed is to have some conversations with attenders from African, Middle Eastern, and some (south) Asian countries and ask what aspects of your preaching they find most helpful. You could be brave and ask what aspects of your preaching do not communicate so clearly.


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Categories : Ethnicity & Culture, New Community, Uncategorized

First Time Visitor

22 03 2013

I’ve often been a guest speaker at a new church. It can be a little awkward at first, until someone realizes who you are. Then they bring you to the host or pastor, put a lapel mic on your collar, and the dynamic changes in the room; now you are a special guest, a person of influence. But visiting a congregation as a stranger, a regular guy, is altogether different. It’s terrible. In fact, if you want to make your congregation more inviting, try visiting a different church and be reminded how difficult it is to be the stranger. Awhile ago I did just that, and the experience helped me fully understand why most people don’t even attempt it, and admiring of any who try.

It was Sunday morning and we were determined to try out a church in the new little town we had moved to. The Yellow Pages are a terrible way to select a church, but when first entering a town, it is the ready alternative. Only one of the churches that sounded “like us” gave the time of their worship service, so we decided to give it a try. We looked at the map in front of the phone book, located the street, and launched out, driving through a light rain shower. Wouldn’t you know it, when we arrived at the address, the church was nowhere to be found. Another church closure? Wrong address?

Fortunately I had the phone book in the car, so we looked up another church we had circled as a possibility, Northwest Community Church. We found the building easily, but honestly it looked very unwelcoming. There was no way to look through glass doors to see what it was like inside; no way to step inside and change your mind if you didn’t like the feel or smell—just  a cold, hard door beyond which we did not have any idea what awaited us. In our insecurity, it seemed as if there might be tigers inside, waiting to devour us.

Because this was our second attempt to find a church that morning, we were now late. We opened the door and saw the tigers, all 16 of them, craning their heads to look at us as we opened the creaky door. We slipped into the back row, feeling we had made a huge mistake. The man sitting at the piano had one of those hairstyles where a bald spot is covered by a swooping comb-over, glued down with Brylcreem. Turns out he was the pastor, a veritable one-man show, who led the hymns, read the Scripture, and preached the sermon—everything  but passing the offering plate.

Speaking of hymns, it was “Favorites Sunday,” the day when anyone could suggest a favorite song they wanted the group to sing. Some of the ancient selections were known by no one, including the person suggesting it.

The sanctuary would have seated 100 people, so the 18 of us rattled around, conspicuously few. There were tie rods across the whole ceiling, holding together a frail building that might have cracked if the nearby train rumbled by too heavily.  There were large oak doors that could be folded back to expose overflow seating. It reminded me so much of my first pastorate in Coalinga—a  few people unable to use the full potential of their facility.

I wondered to myself, Why does such a church exist? What is it accomplishing in the grand scheme of the kingdom?

I mean, when pastor Al opened up the service for prayer requests, there was silence. Finally, a portly lady in the front stood, not to share a prayer need but to announce an upcoming baby shower.

I could tell during the sermon that the pastor was frequently scanning the congregants, making sure to make a quick visual check of how we, the only visitors, were taking the experience. I know we were the only visitors because when the usher passed the plate for the offering he put it in front of everyone but us.

Being a church consultant I had reached the judgment that such a church should close its doors and give the real estate over for some useful purpose.

Except for one thing.

She was maybe in her teens, and socially awkward. Everyone knew her. She was uninhibited about adding an “amen” after a prayer, not shy about reading the Lord’s Prayer with a little extra volume. But no one seemed to mind. When it was time to suggest favorite hymns, Naomi chimed in with number 254 or something; it turned out to be “Silent Night” despite the fact that Christmas was months away.

I thought of the thousands of such churches across the landscape of America. Struggling to keep open the doors, many without a pastor to call their own. Our ministry resources would be financially out of their reach.

It was started 100 years ago or so, with great vision. Twenty-five years ago it was in its prime. The pews were full on Sunday mornings. It was known as one of the going churches in town. The place to be. Now, it is silent. Still. One of the prayer requests  spoke volumes about the church; it was about the people who wrote graffiti on the outside of the building during the week. Thank God the vandals only used pencil. What had happened in 25 years? What would the founders think of their dream now?

I don’t know. Part of me suggests it was time to shut the doors. What is the particular calling of that church? What purpose does God yet have for it in His grand scheme? I stab at answers but find none.

Or maybe one. If there are a thousand such churches across America, or a hundred thousand, I’ll bet there is at least one Naomi in each one of them. One person who has found a place to be herself, to find acceptance, to be safe. In a larger “going” church, she might survive, but only if she were someone’s project. Her peers would secretly mock her. But here at Northwest Community, she was part of the group. She was one of the 16.

The final hymn was laboriously sung, but my ears picked out the exultant voice of a young girl who sang with the confidence of one who belonged:

God be with you til we meet again, by his counsel guide, uphold you.
With his sheep securely fold you, God be with you til we meet again.
Till we meet, Til we meet, Til we meet at Jesus’ feet.
Til we meet, Til we meet, God be with you til we meet again.

I don’t know the future of the scores of Northwest Community Churches. Maybe they’ll be bought out and turned into Bahai cultural centers or Muslim prayer halls. Maybe a young pastor will come along and fuel the fire of the saints, swelling the numbers for awhile until he gets a call to a bigger church. But for now, Northwest is there, hanging on, providing a place for a few who don’t prefer a snazzy seeker church with a program for every age and stage.

As for my wife and I, we did not return to that congregation. We found a church in town that was a little less taxing and fellowshipped there for the few months we lived in town. But our visit taught me a lesson that helps me to this day. Wherever you find a caring fellowship which loves their Naomi, there you will find the presence of Jesus.


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