• 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!

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 »

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 »

Looking deeper

Posted on December 4, 2023 by wtdavid

Sometimes when we look at an issue or a problem, a lot of creative ideas come quickly to mind. And certainly, a number of those are good solutions to that issue that we should consider implementing. 

However, that “quick response” reflex can sometimes keep us from looking deeper; from searching out other sources of that issue or problem.

In recent times, we have heard quite a bit about the decline of candidates from North America (and other places in the Western world); a decline in those who are considering serving in cross cultural church planting.  A number of reasons are put forth: an antipathy toward raising funds; the unknown of what is church planting; the feeling that one can do ministry right here in North America where the world is coming to us; or the desire to find a job overseas (rather than raise funds) and simply help a church plant get started somewhere in the world.

In light o those concerns, we create viable solutions to address them: creative funding solutions; marketplace ministry; diaspora outreach; or front loading more and more CP training.

Please hear me well: all of these are worthwhile endeavors that we should pursue.

However, I would encourage us to look more deeply at these issues in missions today in light of a few thoughts I have recently read:

  • In Mobilizing Gen Z, Jolene Erlacher and Katy White quote the Future of Missions study from Barna: “Only 35 percent of engaged Christian parents of young adults say they would definitely encourage their child to serve in missions, while 25 percent are not open to the idea at all.”
  • “In the West, we have multiple churches in any given community, yet more than half of the world’s population has little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  • A friend wrote recently: “The sacrifice of missions is real, it’s deep, it’s enduring.”

Maybe we should give time and energy to better understanding the hesitations of Christian parents, and how we might challenge them to pray for the future of their children from God’s perspective.  Perhaps, we might re-build the vision of the incredible ride and journey cross cultural church planting is.  And maybe, we just need to rehearse again and again Jesus’ call to disciple the nations – some of whom may not land on our shores.

Michael Griffiths wrote a short book many years ago called: Give Up Your Small Ambitions.  Maybe that’s a word for us today: how do we share the wonder, joy, and sacrifice that is cross cultural church planting with those around us?   What are your thoughts?

Filed under: Church planting, Coaching, Crossing cultures, Reflection | Leave a comment »

Other graces

Posted on December 6, 2021 by wtdavid

Yesterday, one of our local church members, Jacques (prof at a seminary nearby), gave the message. We are currently in a series on Advent, thinking through several of the names attributed to the Son of God.  This past Sunday’s focus was on the name we know so well: Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25).

Jacques presented this text in Matthew in the larger context of God’s sovereignty over the history of His people. For example:

  • Though Jesus was a common name at the time, it is God the Father who chooses this name for the Savior He will send.
  • Citing a passage from Isaiah, Matthew shows how far into the past (and the future) God’s plan extends.
  • The main and only protagonist in this story is God. Man and woman are simply passive.

But then, Jacques made an interesting observation: what was good news for the world, was not good news at first for Joseph & Mary.  He asked us to think about what this “news” meant to Joseph.  The text is pretty clear that it placed Joseph & Mary in a very delicate situation.  How were they to explain to others the fact of Mary’s pregnancy, given that they were not living together? 

Sometimes, God demonstrates grace towards us by placing us in a difficult or hard situation. This grace, in the moment, may seem ambiguous or unclear because the real blessing of what God is allowing us to go through will not become evident till later. And often that difficulty will become a gift to others as we allow God’s grace to sustain and teach us in the midst of the situation in which we find ourselves.

I couldn’t help but think of numerous applications of Jacques’ insights to our lives as cross-cultural workers.  Life as a cross-cultural worker is exciting, adventurous, a “wild ride” as I sometimes describe it.  However, cross-cultural living is plain hard at times.  Trying to learn the language(s) of the people to whom you minister.  Navigating cultural differences which cause us frustrations and misunderstandings.  Giving and giving to others in another culture, only to see them turn away from Christ. 

Could it be that God’s demonstration of grace in these instances is often hidden from our eyes by our own complaining spirit?  Could it be that we forget later to see how God ‘graced’ us through those hard times to prepare us for the ministry to which He has called us?

Let us help one another to see His grace(s) to us, even in the hard moments of life and ministry as cross-cultural workers.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Grace, Jesus Christ | 6 Comments »

Where is home?

Posted on January 18, 2021 by wtdavid

It’s the blessing and the struggle of any cross-cultural worker.  The idea of ‘home’ seems elusive to our thoughts.  Where is home?  We know where our passport tells us we are from, but we feel at times caught between worlds.  We know how to ‘fit in’ in more than one culture, all the while sensing a certain aloofness or detachment at times to each one.

There are several common responses to living between worlds.  One response is to enjoy the blessings of a second culture, while pointing out regularly how our first culture is somewhat better.  Phrases like: “I just don’t understand the … [fill in the people of another culture]” or “We just wouldn’t do that in our culture”.  A second response is to seek to become a member of the second culture; to adopt all the ways of that culture without any questioning.  A third response is to ‘float’; to not fully adopt the new culture, nor hold tenaciously to one’s passport culture. 

One response is not better than another.  Living between cultures, living between worlds is just downright hard.  Nevertheless, God calls us to ‘excel still more’ (1 Thessalonians 4) in our walk with him; to learn how to navigate this life to which He has called us.

We affirm the fact that we are aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 1) and that God has reserved a ‘home’ for us elsewhere.  Yet, how do we live here and now?

That question often comes to mind when someone here asks me the proverbial question: “You’re not from here, so where is your home originally?”  It’s a reminder that I do live between worlds.  Yet, how do we live here and now?

A couple of suggestions for us to consider:

  • Learn to reason as one does in your adopted culture and appreciate that new perspective.
  • Ask the question: what does the Bible call me to do in this instance (rather than just my passport culture)?
  • Think on Christ who ‘lived between worlds’ and now lives in us, to show us how to live between worlds, and to give us the courage, grace and capacity to do so.

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

Dependent

Posted on July 11, 2019 by wtdavid

“You know you’ve become the missionary you were meant to be the day you become dependent on the people you were sent to serve.”

I had to read that statement twice before I began to seize its full significance.  Why?  Because my natural tendency, as well as yours I would imagine, is to believe ministry is more about others becoming dependent on me as ‘full-time worker’ than on me becoming dependent on them.

In the book, The Ideal Team Player, Patrick Lencioni argues that there are three core qualities to an ideal team player. They are hungry, they are smart, and they are humble.  The hardest to measure and assess, he said, is humility. 

Pride is probably our default mode in most ministry efforts.  We want to do the job well, and we enjoy when others notice the good job that we are doing.  Appearing dependent on others makes us look weak, less capable than we thought, lacking the necessary skills to do the job, or not “leading” as we should.  Pride is one of those root sins that keeps us from admitting (or asking for) our need for others help and for God’s help.

So, maybe one indicator of a heart that is learning humility is to assess its ‘dependence factor’; that is, how much does that person demonstrate real need of others, real need of God in the culture in which they find themselves? 

“You know you’ve become the missionary you were meant to be the day you become dependent on the people you were sent to serve.”

By the way, I pulled the quote at the beginning of this blog from another blog by Jonathan (http://leadbysoul.com/leadership/the-quiet-leader/). The quote is from a documentary interview of his father, John W (WT Papua alum).

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Dependency, Humility | 2 Comments »

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