Lifelong Learning Archives

Cultural Values About Time and Planning

In this third blog post about the ten value orientations of Cultural Intelligence (CQ), I want to look at cultural values related to time and planning. Time is like a river Time is like a river we all travel. How we view time and how we plan its use can be compared to canoeing a river. For instance, our uncertainty-avoidance orientation may affect whether we portage around rapids or enjoy the thrill of running them. Whether we are short-term or long-term oriented will determine whether we do day trips or week-long trips. Our monochronic or polychronic orientation will show itself in whether we focus on reaching the destination. Or is swimming, fishing, or photography along the way just as important? When I was in high school and college, I led canoe trips for a camp in Maine. On these trips, I observed conflicts from variations in these orientations in the… Read the whole post

May 4, 2020May 5, 2020

Gary Ridley2 mins read

Evangelism, Multicultural Teams, Cultural learning, Cross-Cultural Living, Assessment Tools

CQ Communication & Decision-making Cultural Value Orientations

Introduction: In this second blog post discussing the ten cultural value orientations of Cultural Intelligence (CQ), I will focus on the values related to communication and decision-making. It is important for the cross-cultural worker to understand these different values in order to avoid misunderstanding and offense. In order to help you, I offer an example in each value orientation pair. I’m sure you can come up with examples from your ministry context. Again, I’ve included a discussion question after each summary of the three identity related cultural value orientations. Please share your comments. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts. Low-Context/Direct and High-Context/Indirect: Communication styles differ in important ways between low-context and high-context cultures. In low-context settings, the relationship between people is a small factor in many conversations. For instance, the length of the line at a checkout counter is more important than the relationship one has with the cashier when… Read the whole post

April 28, 2020May 2, 2020

Gary Ridley2 mins read

Cross-Cultural Living, Assessment Tools, Multicultural Teams, Cultural learning

CQ Identity-Related Cultural Value Orientations

Introduction: Cultural knowledge is essential for missionaries as we make disciples in a multicultural world. SEND U is now using the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Assessment tool in our prefield training and lifelong development of cultural understanding. The CQ assessment identifies ten cultural value orientations framed in contrasting pairs that present a continuum of possible orientations. But here a warning is necessary. Do not use these cultural value orientations to form stereotypes about particular cultures because cultures change. Globalization accelerates that change and has created a blend of global culture and local cultures often referred to as “glocal.” Don’t be surprised if an individual behaves with one orientation among internationals and a different orientation among his/her local culture. I have written a brief summary of the ten cultural value orientations on the SEND U wiki. In three posts on this blog, I will discuss the ten orientations grouped as orientations related… Read the whole post

April 14, 2020April 25, 2020

Gary Ridley1 min read

Cross-Cultural Living, Training, Adult Education, Contextualization

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to train indigenous workers?

Why do we raise thousands of dollars of monthly support and move ourselves and our families to foreign cities? Why do we learn their languages and cultures, and seek to establish churches or disciple-making movements within those cultures? Because Christ tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. See Matthew 28:19-20. But here is the response we often get from those who have thought about the cost of human and financial resources in this effort: Wouldn’t it be cheaper and more effective to train and support indigenous believers to reach their own people? Why are expatriates needed? How should you and I respond to this pushback?… Read the whole post

February 24, 2020February 18, 2021

Ken Guenther1 min read

Disciple-making, Lifelong Learning, Training, Learning Attitude, Self-Feeding

Who spurs on the missionary to love and good deeds?

Over the last year or so, I have been thinking about what it means for missionaries to be both disciples and disciple-makers. I recognized that we can easily make the mistake of assuming that at some point in our Christian life, we graduate from being disciples to become disciple-makers. But through an in-depth study of the Gospel of Matthew, it became clear to me that we never stop being a disciple of Jesus. We never graduate from his school of discipleship. Just as we need to keep learning how to be better disciple-makers, we also need to continue learning to be better disciples. Disciples in Disciple-making In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard said First of all, it is clear that, if we would make disciples, we should be disciples. … To plan on making disciples, we need to know what one is and how people become disciples. We… Read the whole post

January 13, 2020June 23, 2020

Ken Guenther2 mins read