Blog Post: Resilient Ministry: Cultural Intelligence

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What happens when a well-meaning Anglo couple invites their new Middle Eastern neighbors over for dinner in hopes of establishing a supportive relationship? Practically every move the host couple makes in order to create trust actually backfires and causes the guests to be offended and confused. From the decision to dress casually to encouraging the guests to serve themselves, the hosts operated according to their own culture instead of being sensitive to the culture of their guests. The authors of Resilient Ministry share this story as well as several others to illustrate the point that today’s ministry leaders need “Cultural Intelligence” in order to thrive in ministry.

For the past few weeks I have been reviewing, summarizing and commenting on the five key themes for maintaining ministry vitality as shared by the authors of Resilient Ministry. Last post we looked at the need for Emotional Intelligence, and this week we turn to the other side of the third key theme: Cultural Intelligence.
What is cultural intelligence? The authors define it as the ability to function effectively across various cultures. (132) While we might be tempted to confine culture to large-ranging domains as language, ethnicity and geography, the authors share seven “cultural domains” that must be navigated in today’s highly globalized context:

1. Personal – one’s family of origin, broader childhood context and home church experience all combine to form below-the-surface ways of seeing things and responding.

2. Generational – while broad generalizations based on generational statistics can be misleading, there is no question that different cultural perspectives and commitments are reflected by each generation.

3. Church – the church where you worship has its own distinct culture, and it is not best observed through the formal policies and written statements. Rather, it is most powerfully expressed in the ways things get done.

4. Denomination – the culture of the broader denomination (or other subgroup for the non-denominational folks) will influence your life, ministry and assumptions.

5. Geography and Demographics – the location in which you minister will affect how you ministry, even if you are move within the same country or same state.

6. Socio-economic Status – factors such as educational level, income level, lifestyle preferences and occupation.

7. Socioethnicity – racial and ethnic factors that are at play in practically every ministry context.

The authors underscore the need for cultural intelligence

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