A missionary, in a cross-cultural setting and before a cross-cultural target audience, needs to learn to communicate Christ, and the Scriptures, in terms of the hearer’s way of viewing the world (sources must assume the responsibility of encoding messages with the worldview of the respondents in mind)…way of thinking (people in different cultures tend to [...]
Francis Schaeffer made some interesting comments on God and His ability to communicate with humankind: -man can be communicated to by God because, unlike non-man, man has been made in the image of God…man is a verbalizing being and God can communicate to man in verbalization…the One who made man capable of language has communicated [...]
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Missiological Bridge-Building Based Upon an Emic and Etic Understanding of Culture As Derived From Music Missio Apostolica Volume VII, No. 1 (May 1999) INTRODUCTION Francis Schaeffer observed that modern music is both an avenue for creative expression and the means through which modern man is exposed to new views of perceived reality (Schaeffer 1976:186, 201-202). [...]
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-the following INSIGHTS INTO THE PREACHING TASK are from John Stott’s book BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: -preaching is indispensable to Christianity…for Christianity is a religion of the Word of God for humankind -only Christian preachers claim to be HERALDS of GOOD NEWS from God -Luther on his ministry of the Word: “I simply taught, preached, wrote [...]
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-one of the best books that I have come across on Gospel Communication is a short book by Charles Kraft titled COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL GOD’S WAY (1983 EDITION) — here are just a few notes from his excellent study of John 4 (plus some Biblical material that I have added): GENERAL THESES ON GOSPEL COMMUNICATION [...]
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COMMUNICATION -one of the most frequent problems experienced by a congregation lies in the area of communication -the reality is that most members DO NOT know what is going on in the congregation (and some like it that way, of course) -several assumptions that need to be understood concerning communication: (1) when a message is [...]
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CULTURAL FUNCTION is the way the USE and MEANING of a FORM relate to the people who use and interpret them -for example, a wedding ceremony…legitimizes a decision for a couple to live together…brings about a close interaction between non-related families…provides an opportunity for family members to interact closely with each other…brings interaction between people [...]
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-anthropology distinguishes between FORM and MEANING -FORMS…the shape of the particular cultural pattern, the outward shape of a symbol, but not the inner meaning of the symbol -MEANING…deals with the cultural answer to the WHY that underlies the use and function of the FORM -for example, a COKE BOTTLE lands in the country of Botswana [...]
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General Theses on Gospel Communication, derived from Kraft’s book COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL GOD’S WAY (1) God seeks to COMMUNICATE, not simply to impress people Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness (Matthew 9:35). Frequently the Gospel writer [...]
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The missionary needs to learn to communicate Christ to respondents in terms of their… WAY OF VIEWING THE WORLD (sources must assume the responsibility of encoding messages with the worldview of the respondents in mind) WAY OF THINKING (people in different cultures tend to arrive at conclusions through different thought processes) WAY OF EXPRESSING THEMSELVES [...]
-all media exert a compelling influence on man and society…tribal man existed in HARMONIOUS BALANCE of the senses, perceiving the world equally through HEARING, SMELL, TOUCH, SIGHT and TASTE…but technological innovations are extensions of human abilities and senses that ALTER THIS SENSORY BALANCE -there have been three basic technological innovations: (1) the invention of the [...]
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-the medium is the MESSAGE/MASSAGE — any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work on environments…media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions; in other words, the extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act (and the [...]
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-all media are extensions of some human faculty — psychic or physical…the wheel is an extension of the foot…the book is an extension of the eye…clothing is an extension of the skin…electric circuitry, an extension of the central nervous system
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-during the last half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, a great changed within American culture and consciousness…it was the rise of the Graphic Revolution in which IMAGES flooded the marketplace…everywhere in America there seemed to be a new emphasis on SEEING -in this Graphic Revolution IMAGES would eventually [...]
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-all TV news programs begin, end, and are somewhere in-between punctuated with MUSIC…but what has music to do with the news…it is there for the same reason music is used in the theater and film…to create a mood and provide a “leitmotif” for the entertainment -any serious candidate for high political office in America requires [...]
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-TV has achieved the status of “meta-medium,” that is, an instrument that directs not only our knowledge of the world but our knowledge of WAYS OF KNOWING as well…TV is the command center of the new EPISTEMOLOGY -there is no subject of public interest — politics, news, education, religion, science, sports — that does not [...]
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-at different times in American history, different cities have been the focal point of a radiating American spirit -Boston in the late 18th century…its political radicalism -New York City in the mid-19th century…the melting pot as the wretched refuse from all the world disembarked at Ellis Island and spread over the land their strange tongues [...]
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-all media exert a compelling influence on man and society (“media” is any technology whatever that creates extensions of the human body and senses, from clothing to the computer)…prehistoric/tribal man existed in harmonious balance of the senses, perceiving the world equally through hearing, smell, touch, sight, and taste…but technological innovations have altered this sensory balance [...]
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