Cross-Cultural Servanthood - by Duane Elmer (Paperback)

About the Book

Cross-cultural specialist Duane Elmer gives Christians practical advice for serving other cultures with sensitivity and humility. The reader embarking on a mission trip will find this essential reading to serve effectively in international settings. (Church Life)

Book Synopsis

Duane Elmer asked people around the world how they felt about Western missionaries. The response? "Missionaries could be more effective if they did not think they were better than us."The last thing we want to do in cross-cultural ministry is to offend people in other cultures. Unfortunately, all too often and even though we don't mean it, our actions communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism and arrogance. Our best intentions become unintentional insults. How can we minister in ways that are received as true Christlike service?Cross-cultural specialist Duane Elmer gives Christians practical advice for serving other cultures with sensitivity and humility. With careful biblical exposition and keen cross-cultural awareness, he shows how our actions and attitudes often contradict and offend the local culture. He offers principles and guidance for avoiding misunderstandings and building relationships in ways that honor others. Here is culturally-savvy insight into how we can follow Jesus' steps to become global servants.Whether you're going on your first short-term mission trip or ministering overseas for extended periods, this useful guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to serve effectively in international settings with grace and sensitivity.

Review Quotes

"Cross-Cultural Servanthood is needed more today than ever in the history of missions. In today's mission context, millions of short-term missionaries travel cross-culturally every year. Tens of thousands of non-Western missionaries serve in almost every country of the world. Many churches from the West are forming partnerships with churches from other countries. In all these scenarios, there is a tendency toward an attitude of superiority. The danger of ethnocentric arrogance is exploding. Dr. Elmer provides crucial principles of servanthood illustrated with timely examples. Short- and long-term missionaries from the West as well as the non-Western world need to read and practice the principles of this book. God's glory in the nations is at stake!"

--James E. Plueddemann, former International Director of SIM, and professor of intercultural studies, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

"Cross-Cultural Servanthood offers short-termers and career missionaries a wise and practical guide on how to serve God and others. Duane Elmer is a master at cross-cultural relationships and nearly every page of the book shows it. It's a must-read for SIS staff and volunteers.

The relationship between task effectiveness and relational effectiveness is a crucial issue for missionaries and Christian workers of all kinds. Duane Elmer has pinpointed the essential linchpin--servanthood. He ably shows how Jesus' example of servanthood enables one to honor others while honoring God."

--Michele Rickett, founder and president, Sisters In Service, and coauthor, Daughters of Hope

"Duane Elmer has created a gem! This latest of his creations reminds us that Duane writes stories rather than documents. The reader will discover in Cross-Cultural Servanthood a delightful encounter with people, places and situations. The examples and reflections that come through these pages shine with the warmth and reality of letters from a close friend. But this is no ordinary friend--Dr. Elmer sheds light on cultural mysteries. His experiences as a missionary, teacher, consultant, school administrator and quite surely a researcher who 'gets to the bottom' of the curious events that pepper these stories reveal a depth of understanding that makes this book shine.

The choice of servanthood reveals the fundamental difference in Dr. Elmer's understanding of the cross-cultural situation. Others have written of the information-flow task from one culture toward another, the management dimensions of intercultural affairs and the quest for excellence in intercultural experiences. Note that each of these assumes that the intercultural encounter calls for a series of top-down skills moving from foreignness toward control. Not Duane Elmer. Choosing Christian styles and biblical sources, he develops applications of principles that ring true, reflecting the warmth and wholeness of sound interpersonal affiliation. This is the strong stuff that overcomes the differences, tensions and conflicts that otherwise will plague the intercultural environment. The key is adopting the posture, manner and style of a loyal servant."

--Ted Ward, Professor Emeritus of Education and Intercultural Studies, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Michigan State University

"The insights of this book will help us develop shared and mutually understood servanthood within our ministry team to more meaningfully serve the community around us."

--David H. Greenlee, Mission Studies, 2009

A clear, well-written, and eminently practical book for training people going into missions at all educational levels. With vivid examples and an easy to follow format, Elmer lays out what it means to live and work as a servant of Christ in a different cultural context. . . . Elmer's solid grounding in scripture and frequent use of personal experience, coupled with his engaging writing style, leave the reader wanting more. . . . This book is ideal for missionary training and beginning-level missiology classes. It should spark some lively discussions and challenge many of our commonly held views of doing ministry cross-culturally.

--Robert Danielson, Missiology 35/1, January 2007

An engaging and easily read work, full of sage advice and principles for cross-cultural sensitivity. Those preparing to serve in ministry or mission work, either short or long-term, will find this book helpful.

--Haddington House Journal, 2007

About the Author

Duane Elmer is the G. W. Aldeen Professor of International Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. In addition to traveling and teaching in over seventy-five countries, he has provided cross-cultural training to people from Fortune 500 companies, relief and development agencies, mission organizations, churches, and educational institutions. He has also conducted peace and reconciliation efforts in several countries. He is the author of Cross-Cultural Conflict and Cross-Cultural Connections.