DESCRIPTION:

In a world shrunk by jet air travel, television, education, music, and Internet connections, understanding culture (what it is, how it works, and how to study it) is increasingly crucial to church and mission ministries. These forces for globalization are not neutral, nor are the counter forces of tradition. At the same time, the emergence of World Christianity and the explosion of the church in the Southern Hemisphere have dramatically shifted the focus of mission. The course will explore questions of culture, globalization and partnership for mission in the twenty-first century. Students will learn to use some basic tools for exegeting a culture and understanding how to become effective partners with the Majority World church. Through the analysis of case studies, students will explore how Christianity and its social expressions in the church may transform or fail to transform people and their communities.

• Explain the essential characteristics of incarnational ministry;

• Describe their cultural bias through profiles of basic values and the social games of family and church;

• Evaluate a ministry organization and its cultural context with reference to its effective "practice of power" for spiritual, social, or economic transformation;

• Propose action steps on how to partner with Majority World Christians for ministry that transforms people and communities.

Gupta, Paul R., and Sherwood G. Lingenfelter. Breaking Tradition to Accomplish Vision: Training Leaders for a Church Planting Movement. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books 2006. ISBN: 9780884693055. Price: $14.99.

Harrison, Lawrence E., and Samuel P. Huntington. Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. New York: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN: 0465031757. Price: $19.00.

Lingenfelter, Sherwood G. Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998. ISBN: 0801021782. Price: $22.00.

Lingenfelter, Sherwood G., and Marvin K. Mayers. Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003. ISBN: 0801026474. Price: $14.99.

Linthicum, Robert. Transforming Power: Biblical Strategies for Making a Difference in Your Community. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003. ISBN: 0830832289. Price: $15.00.

Berger, Peter, and Samuel P. Huntington. Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0195168228. Price: $24.95.

Sanneh, Lamin. Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. ISBN: 0802821612. $15.00.

1. Weekly Threaded Discussions, Journaling, and Web research

2. Each student will be required to work in a team with their small group online to write a 6500-8750 word major paper of a "transformational" ministry.

3. Each student will be required to do a Basic Values Questionnaire and a questionnaire on the social game of one's family and church life. These questionnaires will be part of course resource materials, which will be used to prepare a 1500-2000 word self-assessment paper.

4. Two 500-750 word reflections on selected assigned reading in Harrison and Huntington and in Linthicum.