What do you think you bring new to the discussion on cross-cultural ministry?

There are themes I address that you will find others saying as well, such as the idea that all ministry to those outside of the faith is cross-cultural.  And like them I place strong emphases on incarnational ministry and planting works that are indigenous to the culture.  

Among the more unique contributions perhaps is the relationship I stress between the fundamental values of human nature and the fundamental values of human cultures.  Cultural diversity is apparently very important to God.  As I write, “You see [diversity] both in the created order and in God’s preferred vision of the kingdom.”  The gospel itself is transcultural in nature and our task is less to repackage it to cross cultural lines than to get rid of the excess baggage we have attached to it that makes it hard for us to transport the good news.

Incarnational ministry is an important component of Night Shift’s section on cross-cultural ministry.  As Jesus is a – well, the – bridge between God and humanity, so we are the bridge between Jesus and other people.  I tie together the two important concepts of incarnational ministry and indigenous ministry – what it means for the work of God to incarnate is that it goes indigenous.  Indigeneity is a missiological term, but as I set out to demonstrate, it applies to much more than the “foreign field.”  I try to explain that incarnational and indigenous ministry are concepts every individual believer and every individual congregation needs to be working out right where they are.

People are asking if this book can be useful in their local congregations as a tool to help them think through their ministry strategy.  This is exactly what I had in mind when I wrote Night Shift.  Obviously it can be a tool for the professional cross-cultural worker as well, but I think the concepts of nurturing with space, receding, replicating, and creating will play just as well in Peoria, Illinois, as they will in Pretoria, South Africa.

Because the gospel is so transcultural, “All human cultures can be transformed by the culture of love without losing the diversity God has purposefully embedded into human cultures.”  Hopefully through Night Shift we can rediscover this ancient truth.