Message Magazine Online - Vol. 56, No. 03, Summer 2008

In This Issue

• Editorial
  Angela Shuff
• Canadian Editorial
  David W. Smith
• The Ecology of Church Planting
  ABWE's Core Ministries Institute Training Team
• Living Out Wisdom Literature in Middle Eastern Culture
  Susan Schmidt, Middle East
• Consider the Joy
  Bill Commons, Strategic Initiative and Research
• Culture Shock Revisited
  A. W., South Asia
• A Willing Sacrifice
  Pauline Stevens, with her sisters Dr. Beulah Hall and Mrs. Laura Anne Cebulak
• Dig Your Roots Deep–But Where?
  Kimberly Rae
• Deep in Liberia, People Have Never Heard
  Keith Lippy, Liberia
• Training a Special People Group
  Bill Amstutz, President, Shepherds Ministries
• CLIPS
• Adapting to Retirement
  Spence W. Jackson
• Kids Can Help Start Churches, Too!
  Jim Cook, ABWE Next Generation Ministries
• Invest in Training Missionaries for Cross-Cultural Ministry
• Focal Point
  Michael G. Loftis, President, ABWE International

Canadian Editorial

David W. Smith, Executive Director, ABWE Canada

When I train short-term mission teams about culture, I teach them the concept that even though something in the host culture may be different, it is not necessarily wrong—unless it is sin. Missionaries are not seeking to change culture, they are seeking to change lives through the gospel by learning the culture in which they serve.

In order to faithfully obey the Great Commission, we will have to cross cultures. As we take the gospel to the world, we are presenting a spiritual counterculture, and clashes are inevitable. It is important to learn the best way to engage a culture in order to avoid losing an opportunity for the salvation message to be heard.

Canada has been dealing with one of its own cross-cultural clashes. Recently, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an apology to Canada’s Native Peoples concerning the 150,000 children who were for decades removed from their homes and sent to residential schools. In these mostly church-based schools, some children suffered abuse. Most were subjected to “having the Indian taken out of them.” Sadly, instead of crossing culture, some of our fellow Canadians tried to obliterate the First Nation culture from our land.

The apology comes at a time when Canada has become increasingly multi-ethnic and multicultural. Statistics for Canada list more than 200 distinct ethnic groups reflecting a varied, rich cultural mosaic. These facts open incredible opportunities for churches, individuals, and ABWE Canada in terms of establishing friendships and providing a caring witness to these new Canadians who are culturally very different from us.

ABWE Canada’s descriptive name is Across Borders for World Evangelism. That is what we do. Crossing borders does not only mean crossing national boundaries. It also means crossing the borders of culture, religion, race, language, and generations with the gospel message for the glory of God.

Whether within Canada or across borders, let us all pray earnestly, look for divine opportunities to witness, and do what we can to engage other cultures in order to spread the amazing message of salvation in a culturally appropriate manner.