WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

FOREWORD to the First Edition
By J. Oswald Sanders, 1990
One of the most encouraging missiological developments of our day is the
fast-increasing flow of cross-cultural missionaries from former receiving
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Among them is my friend, the
author, who is well known in missionary circles especially in Asia.
Growing up as he did in Singapore (a city that has experienced
remarkable missionary activity and growth), and having himself served for thirty
years as a missionary, he is well qualified to write such a culturally sensitive
book as this. His spheres of service have been in North East and South East
Asia, as well as in USA and New Zealand.
This book is born from his concern that many of these “two-thirds world”
missionaries and lay workers (as well as many from “developed” lands) are
entering upon cross-cultural work with inadequate preparation for that
increasingly complex task. This means that they are being subjected to
unnecessary and avoidable stresses and strains. From his wide experience as a
trainer of candidates, and supervisor of missionaries, especially under the
auspices of The Navigators, he shares keen insights that will provide invaluable
counsel to both candidates and missionaries who are struggling with complex
problems of inter-cultural adaptation.
It is estimated that within a decade about eighty per cent of the traditional
mission fields will remain closed to evangelical missions, or will place severe
restrictions on entry. In Asia today, only nine countries allow unrestricted entry,
so new strategies must be devised and employed.
Of recent years, especially in East Asia, the term “tentmakers” (after Paul)
has been used of suitably qualified professional or business people, who at the
call of God enter these lands, to make a bona fide contribution to their
development. By their diligence and effective lifestyle, and low-key witness as
opportunity offers, they commend the Gospel to the many hungry hearts around
them.
The author draws on his experience and observation of this type of
ministry to demonstrate its importance and potential. Because the situation is
so sensitive, more than usual tact and sensibility is required, and the counsel
given here could keep the tentmaker from many avoidable mistakes, and also
shows how to exploit the situation to the maximum for Christ and the national
church.
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