• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

The Importance of “We”

Posted on April 30, 2026 by wtdavid

Working on a study of the church with one of our new elders in training, I came across this statement in the book that we are studying together (free translation from the French text): “A person does not exist isolated, independent from others: he/she is a person in community; he/she is built by and for the community. No one is an island sufficient in himself/herself”

I’m sure that all of us would agree. As individual members of a local church, we are “built by and for community.”  That’s what we teach, share and preach to others. That’s what I’m seeking to impress upon this elder in training. 

However, many times the importance of the “community” element in our personal growth and development seems to get lost in cross-cultural ministry.  Over time, we can learn to function autonomously and see input (read: constructive feedback) from others as unnecessary and a way for them to simply unload on us. We avoid looking for and receiving feedback from others.  We may work on a team, but we do not allow ourselves to be built by this community.

What we want in the church we are seeking to establish is for believers to recognize their need for others: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). It’s the “we” that takes priority because we believe that we need one another to be built up into Him.

I am always saddened to read that the number one reason cross-cultural workers leave the ministry is because of other cross-cultural workers. Certainly, there are a number of other reasons to explain this attrition. But working to sift feedback from others and then applying that helpful feedback would be a first step to allowing the community to grow us up into Christ.

So, how do we allow ourselves to built by the community that we are part of?  That’s for another blog post.

Filed under: Community, Feedback, Speak truth in love | 4 Comments »

What do I do now?

Posted on April 15, 2026 by wtdavid

Our electrician didn’t show up Monday … again. So, what do I (we) do now?  We signed his estimate in October 2025. He said he would do the work in February 2026. February came and went without a word from him.  We tried “cajoling” him by sending friendly emails asking if he could tell us when he planned to begin the work. We tried being direct but overly gracious when sending him text messages. Finally, I just called. When he answered, I said: “I just wanted to know for our planning when you might be coming by to do the work.  Nothing urgent.”  His reply shook me out of my gracious stupor: “Don’t say it’s not urgent. Otherwise, I would never come.”

You could take this same situation and simply rewrite it in a cross-cultural work context. A project is developed as a team. Everyone commits to the planning schedule and flexible time frame. However, time and again, one team member seems not to follow through on his part. As a team, we try “cajoling” this team member into action. We try to be direct but gracious. Promises are made but follow through never happens. The situation is becoming urgent, but we’re not sure what to do now.

“When it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional conversations, skilled people find a way to get all the relevant information (from themselves and others) out into the open.” The Bible puts it in other words: “We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4.14-15).

Probably the hardest thing in any difficult situation or conversation is focusing on truth (what we really know) and love (how we can better serve the other by listening and engaging them in dialogue).

This is never easy and the path to this kind of conversation is strewn with emotional pitfalls and groundless accusations.

So, what do I do now?  Figure out what a path looks like to a crucial or important conversation. And then practice and regularly review some basic baby steps in that direction.

Guess what? Through good counsel from the past I wrote one more note to our electrician: direct, culturally contextualized, and with no comments to make him feel guilty. He stopped by unannounced yesterday. He apologized for having forgotten us because of his workload and forgetting to note us in his agenda (we gained more relevant information). We agreed as to what out joint goal and desire was: to provide light to our upstairs living space. Then I asked when he would begin. He’s coming tomorrow.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Navigating Transition(s)

Posted on March 30, 2026 by wtdavid

All of us face transition at different moments in our lives and ministries. And there are numerous articles and books which provide helpful input on how to navigate well these transitions.

Assistant

In my mind, there are a few elements which are crucial to navigating well any transition: keep your eyes on the larger objective; seek counsel from others in your community; and build a flexible process

When transition occurs, don’t allow all the details that might be involved to cause us to lose sight of the larger objective. It’s the “why” question of transition that will give us the strength to work the “how” questions. I went to see my doctor trying to find a way out of a marathon run with one of our children three weeks before the event: “So, why are you doing all this running and preparation?” he asked. I replied: “I want to run a marathon with one of our children.” His words refocused my heart and mind: “Then that’s why you are out there and need to be out there training for the next three weeks. Focus on that larger objective.”  When we focus on God’s larger objective for our lives (even if at times unseen) we will be enabled to address all those details, preparations and at times tedious work to navigate that transition.

Seek good counsel. Seek that input from people who know us or who have journeyed with us. They can see the pieces in our history that the Lord is using to move us further in our journey.  And they can see where the Lord might be leading us in this transition. Their wisdom is invaluable in large part because they know us and stand with us. Outside input is also helpful.  Mentors, a coach, and your personal community are all places where you can find needed counsel.

Finally, build a flexible process. I’m not talking about a strategic plan, but the framework that will move you from one spot to another. There will be some action steps (some “to dos”), but there also will be the identification of large categories that need to be addressed, to be thought through and planned for. And that process needs to be flexible because as you “move” some important things will change and give way to other things that will need to be addressed.

We all like the comfort of the “known” – where we live, what we do, and where our friends live. Transition can feel like chaos. That’s another reason why we must hold on tight to our Saviour’s sovereign hand and trust His heart that He knows what He is working in us and through us in this transition.

Many of you have followed me in this journey. Now a transition must be made to allow our new International Director to share his heart and journey. However, if you are interested in continuing to journey with me as a fellow pilgrim, know that this blog will migrate to a new domain: TATJourney.com as of April 1st. All existing content will still be available on the site.

You will automatically be subscribed to this new blog. But you can also unsubscribe yourself if this is one too many blogs for you (:

Filed under: Transition | 1 Comment »

Hearing from Others

Posted on July 22, 2025 by wtdavid

Many of us have quoted this verse from Proverbs: “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Good counselors provide the needed input and wisdom we need. However, I find that I will often seek the counsel of those who will agree with me and avoid the counsel that may raise questions about the direction or decision I am considering.

In the book, Thanks for the Feedback, the authors state that the problem with feedback comes not from the one giving it but from the one receiving it.  Simply because the receiver is not sure what to do with, or how to sift, the feedback that is given. Learning to sift feedback to discover the kernel of truth embedded in what was said is an essential component of learning to really ‘hear’ others. What others share with us, and even those with whom we may disagree, can contain elements of truth that are essential for whatever we may be in the process of deciding.

Add in the element of cultural difference(s) and the process becomes a bit more complex. The principle, however, remains the same. If we can learn to sift the feedback that is given, by expending added effort to understand the context from which it is given, we can benefit from this new angle of insight. An insight that we perhaps would not have received from those within our own cultural context.

In the long run, and in a changing global context, we need feedback from people close to us, farther away from us culturally, and from those who see things differently than we do.

Now all that is easy to say in theoretical terms.  Seeking feedback (input) from others will mean going out and asking for it, so that we can practice the skill of hearing others well.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Feedback, Listening | Leave a comment »

An online meal together

Posted on June 17, 2025 by wtdavid

A fellow church planter, from another culture, once said: “I have yet to participate in an American Thanksgiving online.”  His point was well taken. The Internet is great for communicating across the time zones of the world. But, when it comes to experiencing incarnationally an event, another culture, or another person, it is woefully lacking.  

One of our guiding principles as a WT community is “incarnational” or “incarnational living”. That is where we surrender “our rights to our home culture, language, and ways and embrace those of the host culture.” To do this online is near nigh impossible, because you will miss a certain number of “cultural cues” that could help you understand and embrace this new culture. That’s probably why at the start talking on the phone is one of the more difficult aspects of cross-cultural living. Without facial expressions and other gestures, you only have the voice to go on. And you often miss what the other is actually trying to say.

I’m grateful to a member of our local French church who recently wrote an article on the challenges youth workers could face with the next generation: Generation Alpha.  This will be the first generation raised primarily on the Internet. There will be strengths and weaknesses from this context. One of the challenges though will be the non-incarnational, non-interactive nature of their spiritual development. They will be trying to “share a Thanksgiving meal without being physically in the same room.”

Now I’m not picking on the next generation as we still don’t know how they will “enter” the global missions movement.  I’m just trying to underscore how the coming generation, as well as ourselves, may be pulled, without even realizing it, into a world of strictly online relationships and virtual cultural experiences.

Zoom, Teams, and other platforms are good. However, to really understand the culture and viewpoint of another, you need to “see” and experience their world with them in person, incarnationally.

Filed under: Cultural intelligence, Incarnational living, WT Ministry Framework | 2 Comments »

Learning to adapt

Posted on June 10, 2025 by wtdavid

A most pressing struggle when one “crosses into” or enters a culture different from one’s passport culture is learning to adapt.  What was natural, “normal” or innate for us in our own culture, now stands out as very different in another culture. For example, in North American culture, we are taught, when at the table, to hold the fork in our right hand and the knife in our left hand.  In France (and perhaps other European contexts), it is the opposite.  Changing what is “normal” from one’s own culture and adapting to one’s new adopted culture is not easy. And with this example, we are just scratching the surface of the kind of adaptation one is called upon to make when crossing cultures.

As more and more workers are launched and sent from the Global South – places such as Cameroon, Guatemala, Senegal and Indonesia , for example – the work of learning to adapt to one another will significantly increase. How do others, with whom we are called to work, make decisions, hold crucial conversations, or express agreement to mutually shared guiding principles?

Having crossed from one culture to another certainly gives tools for learning to adapt. However, that does not mean working from one’s home or passport culture excludes one from being able to learn to adapt. Either way, it will take time, effort, and gospel humility to learn.

And there is the key word for all of us: taking the stance of a “learner”. Rather than being a teller or a doer, we must work with others from a learning posture. Taking the stance of a “learner” will go against the grain of our nature.  We would prefer to be the one helping others rather than asking for help from others. In our heart of hearts, we often think we just know better what to do.

There is a good deal of difference between saying: “This is what we should do and the decision that needs to be made. What do you think?” And saying: “What would the decision-making process look like in your context?  And what will we need to do to best adapt to that process?”

Taking the stance of a “learner” is to be willing to ask others for help. It sounds so simple, but it takes humility infused by the Gospel to allow us to honestly ask and listen to help from others.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Humility, Lifelong learning, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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