Author: Werner Mischke, Interim Director with Mission ONE | Source: Youtube.com
Summary
Healthy cross-cultural collaboration is vital to the witness of the gospel in a lost and fractured world (John 17:21). However, collaboration in partnerships or networks is a lot harder when questions about honor status create stress or division. This is not a small issue; it impacts trust, leadership, who has a voice, who is validated, how success is shared, and more.
In this webinar, Werner brings to the surface the problem of honor competition, rivalry, and honor status. This was common in the New Testament church and remains an issue for the church today. He examines the spirit-empowered solution of “giving honor” across cultures and across different levels of social status. He also explores different ways that “giving honor” can help make our own networks or partnerships more healthy relationally—and more fruitful for the gospel.
Key Ideas
- The New Testament church struggled with the Roman culture of honor competition and rivalry.
- These issues affect the church today. This is especially true in a globalized world where the church is working cross-culturally more than ever before.
- One of the biblical, spirit-inspired solutions is to outdo one another in giving honor
- Empathic listening is a critical skill to develop.
- An Honor/Shame lens can help us be more aware of cultural dynamics and ask effective questions.
Downloads
Webinar: Giving Honor – A Key to Fruitful Cross-Cultural Partnerships [Youtube video]
Powerpoint: Giving Honor – A Key to Fruitful Cross-Cultural Partnerships [PDF]