DESCRIPTION:

God's heart is for developing relationship with people whom he created, and for communicating his message to them. In sending Jesus, he gave us a model for communicating with people in their own cultural context. People in ministry cannot afford the luxury of having a monocultural outlook. Skills in intercultural relationships and in culture learning are essential, whether you are a pastor ministering in a multicultural context or needing to give your congregation a missionary vision, a Christian worker in the inner city, a cross-cultural missionary, or a layperson planning a short-term ministry. This is a practical hands-on culture-learning course to help you develop cultural self-awareness, a positive approach toward other cultures, and intercultural interaction and communication skills. It is therefore essential that each student must certify that he or she is able to access a community of people from a culture different from one's own within their cultural setting, and find one or more people of that culture to interview for the field experiences.

• developed a holistic view of serving cross-culturally;

• developed an initial understanding of doing mission in context;

• learned the basics of communicating the Gospel cross-culturally;

• cultivated cross-cultural sensitivities;

• developed an understanding of the role of culture in the communication of the Gospel;

• begun to apply skills of culture learning in intercultural communication.

The class will be conducted on the Internet using a 10-week lesson program aligned with Fuller's academic calendar. Each week, students and the instructor will interact with the material and each other through journaling, threaded discussions, and web-based research. Lectures for each lesson will be available online. Class activities include planning and debriefing fieldwork for experiential culture learning activities.

Brewster, E. Thomas, and Elizabeth S. Brewster. Bonding and the Missionary Task. Lingua House, 1982. ISBN: 0916636046. $2.25.

Kraft, Charles. Communicating Jesus' Way. William Carey, 1999. ISBN: 9780878087730. $9.59.

Law, Eric H.F. The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb. Chalice Press, 1993. ISBN: 082724231X. $11.55.

Smith, Donald K. Creating Understanding. Zondervan, 1992. ISBN: 0310531217. $17.81.

Sogaard, Viggo. Media in Church and Mission. Gabriel Resources, 1993. ISBN: 0878082425. $13.99.

Read biographies of at least 2 persons in cross-cultural ministry (book list supplied to those registered for the class).

Hunter, David, and MaryAnn B. Foley. Doing Anthropology. Harper & Row, 1976. ISBN: 0060430117. $5.00 used.

Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society Publishers, 2002. ISBN: 0865714592. $12.89.

Lingenfelter, Sherwood. Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission. Baker Books, 1998. ISBN: 0801021782. $20.00.

Mains, David. 8 Survival Skills for Changing Times (chapter 4). Wheaton, 1992. ISBN: 1564760367. $0.75.

Mains, David, and Melissa Mains Timberlake. Getting Beyond "How are You?": Learning to Connect in a Disconnected World. Victor Books, 1992. ISBN: 1564760359. $4.79.

Spradley, James P. The Ethnographic Interview. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979. ISBN: 0030444969. $34.00 (used).

Stafford-Yilmaz, Lynn. A to Zany Community Affairs. University of Michigan Press, 1998. ISBN: 0472085018. $15.00.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace. Abingdon, 1996. ISBN: 0687002826. $22.00.

Zimmerman, W. How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies. New York: Guarionex Press, 1999. ISBN: 1558705260. $5.95 (used).

1. Weekly threaded discussions (25%).

2. Reading interactions, reports and journaling (10%).

3. Plan and carry out regular fieldwork in community, reflect and report on what has been learned, share the experience and reflections with the class (25%).

4. A 3,000-word paper describing the participant's strategy for cross-cultural communication, learning, and ministry (40%).

5. ThM: Greater analytical depth in writing assignments. In addition, choose one of these:

a. Carry out one additional complete field experience, with written report.

b. Read 150 additional pages from the recommended readings with a written reading interaction.

c. Write an additional 1250 words for the strategy paper.