Biblical Multicultural Teams

Multicultural teams are becoming more common both in the business world and the Christian world. We increasingly work with people from other cultures - and despite our best intentions, we find this can be difficult and uncomfortable. We can disagree over how decisions are made, what the leader should do, how the team should work...and an unexpected explosion can destroy our team.As challenging as they may be, as Christians we are compelled to work well within multicultural teams. An effective multicultural team can bear witness to the fact that Jesus has the power to overcome cultural differences and national boundaries. When we form such a team, we take a deliberate step towards God's goal of bringing together a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language. But what does this look like? How do Bible-based multicultural teams work in practice? This book aims to look at the most common issues that face multicultural teams, and better equip team members and leaders to address them, including:* our spiritual resources* choosing team members* preparing one's team* communication style* elements of effective team meetings* dealing with team changes* conflict resolution

Biblical Multicultural Teams speaks to the heart of cultural misunderstanding- our childhood upbringing. Sheryl Takagi Silzer is able in this work to provide both an honest look at her own cross-cultural experience and an astute academic understanding of cross-cultural communication. We all work and function in a multicultural world. The advice and wisdom in Biblical Multicultural Teams will thus enable you to take a hard look at assumptions and attitudes found in your team and to work on submitting them to biblical standards of interaction.Sign up for the WCIU Press newsletter to be notified about new books from this author and more! http: //eepurl.com/rB15L

With 25 years of experience working on multicultural mission teams, Roembke helps the reader to identify and clarify credibility factors as well as problem areas of multicultural teams. She also offers concrete points of action for mission executives, team leaders and missionaries - whether they are seeking training for new missionaries or seeking to make changes to existing teams. Ultimately the aim of this book is to deal with concerns of multicultural mission teams so they can live together in such a way as to attract others to the person of Christ.

Churches and mission agencies are increasingly characterized by cultural diversity. As a result, many Christians find themselves working as part of a multicultural team. Leading these teams is a complex challenge that requires team leaders to understand how to help multicultural teams thrive. Team leaders need to know how to help team members grow in particular qualities and acquire specific skills related to multicultural teamwork. This book integrates insights from the Bible, team theory, leadership, and intercultural studies to explain how leaders of multicultural teams can help their teams become enriching and enjoyable contexts to work in, at the same time as achieving their purpose.

As the US becomes more diverse, cross-cultural ministry is increasingly important for nearly all pastors and church leaders. Of particular concern is the issue of leadership--a difficult task made even more challenging in multicultural settings. Sherwood Lingenfelter helps the reader understand his or her own leadership culture (and its blind spots), examine it critically in light of Scripture, and become an effective learner of other cultural perspectives on leadership. He also confronts the issues of power inherent in any leadership situation. Lingenfelter carefully defines cross-cultural leadership and unpacks that definition throughout the book, with an emphasis on building communities of vision, trust, and empowerment through leadership based on biblical principles. In the end, he argues that leaders must inhabit the gospel story to be effective cross-culturally.

This qualitative study explores intercultural social dynamics among international Christian workers who are part of multicultural teams engaged in Christian ministries in a North African country. It seeks to understand these workers’ lived realities at intersections of multiple cultural flows. Ethnographic methods were used to collect and analyze data, and forty-nine international Christian workers were interviewed. The findings of this study indicate that intercultural Christian workers go through complex intercultural social processes interwoven in the fabric of their everyday life. These processes are mediated by their social experiences in the local North African context and their multicultural teams, resulting in significant changes in their personal dispositions and social behaviors. Based on these findings, a working concept of diasporic habitus is developed, and the practice of double discourses of culture is further examined. This research suggests that some existing missiological concepts need to be revisited and recommends further interdisciplinary conversations involving cultural anthropology and sub-fields in psychology about the changes that happen to people in intercultural missions. It also calls for a reflexive approach to missiological research that incorporates awareness of one’s situatedness and the lasting impact of historical entanglements on contemporary intercultural relations.

Outreach Magazine Book Award winner The world is becoming increasingly diverse. More and more of our neighbors are from a variety of cultures, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. But most churches are still culturally homogenous and do not represent every tribe and tongue. What can we do to minister more effectively to our multicultural society? David Anderson and Margarita Cabellon bring together an experienced team of practitioners to share best practices for multicultural ministry. First they lay out the biblical rationale for multicultural community as God's vision for his people. Then key leaders share personal journeys and practical ideas for multicultural leadership development, worship, children's ministry, outreach and much more. Drawing on the pioneering expertise of Bridgeway Community Church and BridgeLeader Network, the contributors present a holistic and multifaceted portrait of what a dynamic, grace-filled and diverse ministry can look like. Our tribalized world is crying out for healing. Discover how you can minister to others as agents of God's reconciliation and hope.

The true story of mission has been deeper, wider, and far more diverse than many Christians in countries with long histories of church presence have realized. The authors in Reflecting God’s Glory Together: Diversity in Evangelical Mission drive that point home in a variety of ways. From Filipino and Ghanaian missionary work in North American cities, to Canadian work among the Chinese diaspora, to African-American work in Zimbabwe, the authors help us begin to grasp just how many ways evangelicals in mission are truly going from and coming to everywhere as they follow Christ’s mandate to reach the nations. Diverse voices utilizing diverse strategies pursuing a common call: these result in a mosaic whose larger pattern glorifies the God who came to live among us—and who continues to send us out in the pattern God so clearly established. As editors, Beth and Scott invite you to explore the stories embedded in that marvelous mosaic that we have been privileged to collect for this volume.