As an unparalleled introduction to missionary communication, this thoroughly indexed book examines world views, cognitive processes, linguistic forms, behavioral patterns, social structures, communication media, and motivational sources.

As an unparalleled introduction to missionary communication, this thoroughly indexed book examines world views, cognitive processes, linguistic forms, behavioral patterns, social structures, communication media, and motivational sources.

Duane Elmer offers the tools needed to reduce apprehension, communicate effectively and establish genuine trust and acceptance between cultures while demonstrating how we can avoid being cultural imperialists and instead become authentic ambassadors for Christ.

With careful biblical exposition and keen cross-cultural awareness, Duane Elmer offers principles and guidance for avoiding misunderstandings and building relationships in ways that honor people in other cultures.

"Christians are being called upon increasingly to care, counsel, and cure across cultural boundaries," writes the author. Of course foreign missionaries counsel people from other cultures, but so do many pastors - particularly those in urban settings. Because Christian counseling theory presupposes that counselor and counselee share the same culture, the insights of this discipline must be brought together meaningfully with the cross-cultural perspectives of missiology. Counseling Cross-Culturally pioneers this new field. After surveying approaches to counseling in the West and those in the non-Western world, the author develops a theory of Christian cross-cultural counseling. The final part, consistent with the author's broad view of counseling, discusses counseling concerned with the well-being of people, Christian conversion, spiritual growth and development of a Christian life style, and Christian service. Numerous case studies, drawn from a variety of cultures, provide realistic examples of the questions that counselors will encounter. A psychologist who trains Christian workers for cross-cultural service describes this book as "a helpful, thoughtful study of complex issues surrounding counseling.... It is extremely valuable to expose any missionary candidate to this type of book. It broadens awareness to cross-cultural issues and touches on common problems of missionary-counselors.... Counseling Cross-Culturally is an admirable attempt to integrate a conservative, evangelical theology with the complexities of culture and life."

In this revision of a long-enduring classic, Kraft draws upon faith experience and the social sciences to make pastors, preachers, missionaries, and religious educators aware of the mystery of human communication in the service of God who calls all into communion. The question is how to communicate with these other cultures so that the message is effectively transmitted and received? How to we recognize the gaps--of language, tradition, life experience--that separate us and build bridges over them.

With the development of instantaneous global communication, it is vital to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries. This addition to the acclaimed Encountering Mission series is designed to offer contemporary intercultural communication insights to mission students and practitioners. Authored by leading missionary scholars with significant intercultural experience, the book explores the cultural values that show up in intercultural communication and examines how we can communicate effectively in a new cultural setting. Features such as case studies, tables, figures, and sidebars are included, making the book useful for classrooms.

A practical approach to church planting that uses cultural and experiential data to facilitate the founding of new churches in unreached areas of the world.