China's Ambassadors of Christ to the Nations

A Groundbreaking Survey

Tabor Laughlin

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781725257962, 9781725257979
• eBook ISBN: 9781725257986
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Maybe you are familiar with the growth in recent decades of "majority world" missionaries being sent all over the world from non-Western countries (i.e., countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East). This book focuses on missionaries sent from one non-Western country, analyzing the experiences of Chinese missionaries on the mission field. The missionaries interviewed were sent from house churches in mainland China, have served overseas for at least two years, and are ministering cross-culturally to non-Chinese on the mission field. The first research question relates to Chinese missionaries' successes and difficulties in cross-culturally building relationships with locals, learning the local language, and adjusting to the local culture. The second research question analyzes factors that have contributed to the Chinese missionaries remaining on the mission field. This included how pre-field preparation and on-field support contributed to their retention. Also analyzed were other challenges and needs the missionaries had on the field. The interviewees were serving in countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

2

Precedent Literature

In this section, the precedent literature on building effective cross-cultural relationships will be reviewed first, followed by literature on missionary attrition. Missionary training literature will then be evaluated, followed by literature on the church in China. Finally, how this dissertation addresses themes in the existing literature of these four topics will be presented.

Effectively Building Relationships Cross-Culturally

This section discusses the effective building of cross-cultural relationships. To fully understand this topic, it is necessary to examine this subject from both secular and Christian perspectives. This dissertation will examine primarily secular scholars who write from a research-based standpoint. Of particular interest for this dissertation is the topic of how to effectively build relationships cross-culturally. Chinese missionaries were interviewed regarding their experiences on the mission field in building such relationships. In this part, secular sources will be discussed first, followed by Christian sources and then a comparison of the two approaches.

Secular Sources

The most influential secular sources consulted for this section are William B. Gudykunst, Myron W. Lustig and Jolene Koester, and Carley H. Dodd. These writers have an academic audience in mind; all of their books are research-based and technical in nature. Gudykunst, a scholar of intercultural communication, is renowned in his field for developing the “Anxiety/Uncertainty Management” (AUM) theory. Lustig and Koester are authorities on intercultural competence. One of Dodd’s noteworthy contributions has been on how the “Homophily Principle” affects intercultural communication.

William B. Gudykunst

In their book Communicating with Strangers, William B. Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim discuss how to effectively communicate with strangers. They note that the key to effective communication is to reduce confusion.52 Cultural differences have their source in people’s “motivation, knowledge, and skills.”53 They describe one’s “motivation” as including a “need for predictability,” which is the desire to have interaction with others that is predictable and without surprises54; unpredictable exchanges lead one to feel “diffuse anxiety,” which stems from “deprivations in meeting our needs for security, predictability, group inclusion, and self-confirmation.”55 We are to be mindful of others’ self-conceptions and what is significant in their idea of self as well as how we can avoid retreating from strangers and just interacting with those who are like us.56

The second variation between cultures that impacts communication is “knowledge.” This is described as how we take in information about others,57 including both knowledge of the differences between our own group and an outside group and knowledge of ways we may be like others.58 We are to be “mindful of our co...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Precedent Literature
• Chapter 2: Research Methodology
• Chapter 3: Presentation of Findings
• Chapter 4: Analysis of Findings
• Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
• Appendix A: Interview Protocol
• Appendix B: Informed Consent Letter
• Appendix C: Initial Email Correspondence with Missionaries
• Appendix D: Initial Email Correspondence with Missionary Contacts
• Bibliography