Perspectives- David Shenk

2/3 of the world are oral learners. Yet many missions efforts focus on disseminating information rather than relating stories that can be heard, learned, and repeated. A result of such cross-cultural miscommunication is found in a phrase that Hong Kong street vendors use to mean "you're crazy, knock it off," which is literally translated as "stop talking Jesus to me." This week, David Shenk addressed the topic of "How Shall They Hear," covering cultural understanding and communications issues. Shenk was born in Tanzania of missionary parents and has spent much of his life understanding Muslim culture and writing books on bridging cultural gaps. Here are a few key points he addressed:

• Lloyd Kwast put forth that there are four layers of culture: Behavior (what is the normal way of doing things), Values (what is good or best), Beliefs (what is true), and Worldview (what is the meaning of life and death and what is forgiveness for my shortcomings).
• Every culture has a worldview that influences other layers, though technological improvements (e.g. cars into Fatalist culture) and cultural imports (e.g. Hollywood into Confucianism) create dissonance. If you seek to change behavior without addressing worldview, you get meaningless surface level changes.
• Cultural constructs are often divinized; people create gods that reflect themselves, shortcomings and all. This means that repentance is unnecessary. When a worldview changes to reflect the truth of the gospel, repentance is instantly required.
• Don't assume that people want what you perceive as their greatest need; ask them and it may be that God is their greatest need.
• The gospel affirms yet transforms culture, by empowering people to confront evil.
• There is a metanarrative (great story) in every culture that explains the worldview. For instance, the Darwinist metanarrative explains that we come from a primordial goo out of which the strongest have survived and humans are the apex of life. This feeds violent repression as people strive to survive by being stronger than others.
• The first priority in bringing Christ to a people group is translating the gospel into a meaninful communication that reflects the culture. This should be written, but there should also be a metanarrative communicated in a way that people relate to.

David Shenk closed by digging into how the Islamic worldview overlaps with the Christian worldview and discussing his interactions with Muslims (he co-authored a book with a Sheikh discussing beliefs in a mutually respectful manner). It is important to remember that while it is imperative to contextualize the message, Christian witnesses do not convict people to believe. Even Jesus did not convict people to believe. It is our job to spread the word, and the Holy Spirit will convict people of the truth.