As we prepare to start our language & culture training in just over a week (Mon, 8 Aug) we covet your prayers.\u00a0 More than just a practical tool to help us get around, we believe this is a critical part of being able to minister effectively in the area God is placing us.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d say we all know language is important when trying to communicate (particularly in ministry), but that\u2019s not a given in a lot of our minds as is evidenced in various facets of the Western church\u2019s approach to world missions today.\u00a0 Why take the time to learn a language when I can use an interpreter or, better yet, just use an app on my phone to translate?\u00a0 Is there a time for those tools?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 Is that a healthy primary approach to the long-term vision of building relationships, developing mature disciples, and seeing a thriving church for every people?\u00a0 While you consider that, I\u2019ll add this, what can we learn from Christ\u2019s own example of identifying with those He set out to reach (Philippians 2:5-8<\/a>)?<\/p>\n Please pray that we would be able to learn the language well, specifically, that before the end of the year we would be able to reach a high level of fluency<\/strong> (\u201ccapable-high\u201d on the evaluation scale NTM uses).<\/p>\n While language learning is a great start, learning the culture is just as critical.\u00a0 Culture \u201cconsists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society\u201d.\u00a0 Quite often we don\u2019t even think about our own culture because much of our shared knowledge, behavior, and values, are unconsciously passed from one generation to the next.\u00a0 It\u2019s those very things, though, which define us as a people and make us unique.\u00a0 A tribal saying sums up the need for cultural awareness well:\u00a0 “When you enter the goat barn, make a goat noise.\u00a0 When you enter the cow barn, make a cow noise.”\u00a0 We\u2019re in a goat barn here in the US, so we make goat noises.\u00a0 However, going to another barn now, we must learn to make new noises.\u00a0 Failing to do so can end ministry opportunity before it even begins by coming across in such offensive ways that even words spoken plainly will not be heard over the din of the \u201ccultural noise.\u201d\u00a0 In his letter to the Corinthian church Paul laid out a great example for us to follow here (1 Corinthians 9:19-23<\/a>).<\/p>\n Please pray that we, like the apostle Paul, might also learn to \u201cbecome all things to all people\u201d so that our actions and attitudes will enhance our spoken word, allowing us to minister effectively at the heart level of the people the Lord allows us to engage.<\/strong><\/p>\n For a great, simple illustration of the importance of grasping language & culture check out Ian Fallis<\/a>\u2019 short post, \u201cA Message More Important Than Hello<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n *Photo credit for the cattle in the PNG highlands goes to Brent.\u00a0 In the trade language cattle are called bulmakau.\u00a0 We appreciate your prayers as we learn to make \u201cbulmakau noises.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we prepare to start our language & culture training in just over a week (Mon, 8 Aug) we covet your prayers.\u00a0 More than just a practical tool to help us get around, we believe this is a critical part of being able to minister effectively in the area God is placing us. I\u2019d say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1057,"featured_media":268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,58],"tags":[24669,125,448,1571,97060,637,160],"class_list":{"0":"post-267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ministry","8":"category-prayer-requests","9":"tag-communicate","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-ethnos360","12":"tag-language-learning","13":"tag-ministry","14":"tag-new-tribes-mission","15":"tag-training","16":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}