discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 94
94 How Culture Affects Mission
skin, where shading is caused simply by different amounts of those chemicals.
Conrad Kottak has noted, “It is not possible to define races biologically. Only
cultural constructions of race are possible—even though the average person
conceptualizes ‘race’ in biological terms.” 4 Indeed, there is no single gene that
determines a person’s race. Those physical characteristics that people think of
when they say “race”—skin color, facial features, hair color, and texture—are
determined by many different genes.
As British anthropologist Ashley Montagu looked at the “superior race”
idea that the Nazis were promoting in the 1930s and 1940s, he saw the dangers
of using racial labels. So, in his book Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy
of Race, Montagu called for discarding the word race, arguing that while
there are physically distinguishable groupings of people, genetically determined
physical characteristics such as skin color do not demarcate culture. 5
Ethnocentrism
On what basis do people evaluate things in another culture that they find
strange? In American culture, for example, used bathroom tissue is flushed down
the toilet. In neighboring Mexico where the plumbing code allows smaller diameter
sewer lines, used toilet paper is generally discarded in a wastebasket. When
people encounter customs like this that are different from their own, they may
express their dislike verbally or with body language. Such negative reactions
come because of the human tendency to judge things on the basis of the values
of one’s own ethnic group. In almost everyone’s eyes, what their own culture does
is the best way and is therefore the standard for judging all other ways. Evaluating
the values and motivations of other cultures by those of one’s own group is
called ethnocentrism. Unfortunately, ethnocentric attitudes have afflicted human
beings since the human race broke up into different cultural groups after the
Tower of Babel. Biblical examples of ethnocentrism include the way Jonah
thought of the Ninevites or the way Jews looked down on Samaritans.
As people groups around the world encounter each other, ethnocentrism
causes more than a few difficulties. In its mild form, ethnocentrism can keep
missionaries from deciding that local leaders are ready to take over. In more severe
forms, prejudiced and judgmental ethnocentrism gives birth to a racism,
which provokes human beings to do horrendous things to each other.
Relevance for Global Mission
What importance does the need to understand culture have for Christian
mission? With thousands of people going into eternity every day without
Christ, should expatriate missionaries be spending time learning nursery
rhymes or the intricate kinship relationships of their target culture? Unequivo-