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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012 Western church. As BMBs are mentored by Western leaders, they may try to emulate Western cultural patterns of leadership, thinking them to be uniquely Biblical and thus superior. This paper shall clarify cultural patterns to better understand BMBs. Each individual is a combination of personality, culture and human nature. The person’s gifting is based on their personality. Their personality is both inherited and learned. Human nature is inherited and from a Christian perspective this human nature is fallen or sinful. Culture is specific to a group of people and is learned. The main concern of this paper is the third topic— culture—and how Iranian culture may introduce harmful leadership habits into the lives of Iranian Christian churches. (Hofstede 1991, 6). Harris and Morgan define culture as …a distinctly human capacity for adapting to circumstances and transmitting this coping skill and knowledge to subsequent generations. Culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, of how they should behave, and of what they should be doing. Culture impacts behavior, morale, and productivity at work and includes values and patterns that influence company attitudes and actions (Harris and Moran 1979, 10). Cultural values influence our options and behavior and how we react to challenges in life. These cultural values are developed early in life and are very resistant to change. Even throughout the pro- St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 402
St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012 cess of religious conversion the cultural values of the BMB may not change. Religion, education and culture are variables which will help us better understand where the Iranian BMB is coming from and how certain aspects of Iranian culture can influence leadership practices, both positively and negatively, in different diaspora Iranian churches. 4 Human Nature Shaping the BMBs Human nature is something that is innate and not learned. The Bible has much to say about the state of human nature and what God has done to address man’s basic need in transforming that nature and so make a people of God. According to the Biblical worldview, mankind became sinful in his core being, though he was not so created. This is not learned behavior (as much behavioral science proposes) or a lack of knowledge of God’s laws (the Islamic perception) but is a stain inherited from the first human, Adam. Societies are made up of individuals who are sinful and therefore cultural values will be shaped by sinful human nature. Roland Muller proposes that sin has three basic influences upon man. The three emotional responses to sin are guilt, shame and fear. Different cultures tend to emphasize one of these responses more than the other two. This shapes their cultural worldviews: guilt-based, shame-based, and fear-based cultures. 8 The cultural responses that shape a person’s worldview are powerful factors that affect all aspects of Christian life, including leadership. The context in which the individual lives is not neutral. There are three influences that shape the individual: Satan (the enemy of all mankind who is a liar and deceiver John 8:44), self (old sinful nature that plagues all mankind until death - Romans 7), and society (sinful world which seeks to conform everyone to its image - Romans 12). The Christian leader in each culture needs to understand that the Kingdom of God, sooner or later, confronts sins and unjust structures in every human society and culture. In response to Satan 8 Roland Muller in chapter one in his book Honor & Shame introduces these three great worldviews. They are further developed in the ensuing chapters. St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 403
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