Introduction
The review of Chang’s book provides the need for contextualization together with the origin of Christian intellectual communication which is believed to bring fulfillment to the current and future great commission. I do not appreciate Chang’s book because the writer did not explain about the barriers that were hindering the ef appropriate and effective intercultural communication. The author only reflected on the reasons on why the missionaries brought Western life into local communities. Christian Intercultural Communication was introduced in the year 1970 by both missionaries and theologians. The description of contextualization in the book identified where the missionaries decided to come together with the local people through the adoption of their culture. The book provides three observations on how the Western Missionaries managed to carry out the mission of preaching the gospel message. One of the ways was preaching the bible to the local people. The contextualization also provides ways of adopting the cultural practices carried out by local people which then identify the best forms of sharing ideas since all the local cultures have different religious organizational structures, rituals as well as architectural schemes. The promotion of Christian Intercultural Communication was first objected to by both the missionaries and the theologians in 1970 when the idea was brought to them (Handford 2019, 161). The objection made by the missionaries and theologians contributed to inappropriate intercultural communication.
The paper provides a review on Christian Intercultural Communication and how it can lead to the fulfillment of the current and future great commission. The analysis makes the content of the book as an application of the current and future Christian intercultural communication, and the ways it can fulfill to the great commission (Handford 2019, 161). Therefore, the text generally provides the comparison between the Christian Intercultural Communication in the missionaries and theologians concerning the intercultural Communication and its impact on the fulfillment of the great commission.
There are several ways or lessons to engage in appropriate and effective Christian Intercultural Communication. The intercultural communication involves communication between different gospel religions and cultures of the local people (Hastings 2020, 56). Cultures may be considered to have more formal means of communication while the gospel culture may have a more formal approach to the communication between the communities and the religious individuals for the adoption of other practices. For an individual to have effective communication with other people, they have to realize that people have different ways of perceiving the world and then use it to understand the guide when communicating with one another. Therefore, the following five discussions involve the ways or lessons on how to engage in appropriate and effective Christian intercultural communication concerning the missionaries and theologians and how it fulfills the great commission.
The first way to engage is through learning about cultures and values. This is the most important thing that an individual has to consider in the engagement in appropriate and effective Christian intercultural communication amongst the different groups or communities with different cultural practices. In current and future engagement, the internet as an amazing platform helps individuals to learn more about the cultures of different countries or societies and even a given community. The streaming platforms also provide a variety of travel documentaries that can as well help in gaining knowledge about the community of choice and understanding their ways of cultural practices the availability of cookbooks on the internet or the libraries can be considered to be great sources for acquiring the knowledge about the native food that is provided by a given society or community (Croucher and Kramer 2017, 97). In contrary with the Chang book, the missionaries were not able to gather information about the local individuals first before they started spreading the gospel message to the individuals.
This made Westerners believe that their understanding of God was much far, more advanced, and correct as compared to the local people. This which was in the mind of Westerners, made the missionaries think that there is only one way of spreading the gospel message (Handford 2019, 161). For example, quite many missionaries believed that there was only one outfit to be worn in churches, the church should also have only one long sermon and the church should only have one music style.
The second way to engage in appropriate and effective Christian Intercultural Communication is through joining international associations, organizations, and clubs. The international clubs, associations, and organizations are the platforms that bring together individuals from different countries all over the world on a common ground where only one language or two can be used when communicating with one another. These organizations and associations provide appropriate and effective communication between the members of the groups or clubs For example, the international student’s group is one of the platforms that bring together different students from various societies or countries all over the world. The students host a series of events almost every year where the two chosen countries every year showcases their cultural practice most probably the religious-cultural practice (Lebovitz 2017, 89). This provides an opportunity for every individual to understand the background increases of one another making the communication and interaction more effective among the students themselves.
The act of showcasing promotes understanding of different cultures from different countries which creates an environment for effective intercultural communication between the students from different countries (Caligiuri 2021). The organizations and associations that are formed and open for any person from all corners of the world have provided an effective Christian Intercultural Communication amongst the individuals spreading the gospel message in the current generation and will also continue promoting the communication in the future.
Mirror the body language of different communities is the third engagement in appropriate and effective Christian Intercultural Communication. Language is an important aspect of communication, body language in communication allows someone or an individual who does not speak to understand what the other person is trying to communicate. Individuals involve in the conversation using body language, as it creates a common ground of discussion between them. There are four main body language that is involved in any communication, they include personal space, eye contact, hand gestures, and physical contact. Therefore, people with different cultures are believed to use a lot of gestures when they communicate with one another or even with the individuals from other groups (Hastings 2020, 56). Adjusting body language during communication, for example, when the speaker raises his or her voice to speak louder when the other people are silent, the audience might get offended or make a wrong impression of the speaker. By referring to the book, when the missionaries first arrived in the local areas to spread the gospel message, the communication was not effective since there was no common language therefore, they were forced to use body language for the local people to understand their message.
The fourth way of engagement is through learning the language. For appropriate and effective Christian Intercultural Communication to occur an individual have to understand familiarize with ways of communication. Languages are considered to be fun when one gets to understand a different one because the more you train your ear on the new one, the more an individual gets addicted to everything that revolves around the given culture. The missionaries and the theologians were forced to learn the language spoken by the local people and then it took time for that to happen which made it difficult for effective communication by then (Caligiuri 2021). In the current generation learning another language has been made easy through the use of technology which can be advanced in the future promoting appropriate and effective Christian intercultural communication to fulfill the great commission.
The fifth engagement in appropriate and effective Christian Intercultural Communication is through being open-minded. Being open-minded may involve appreciating that the difference between the cultures is crucial as well as learning to understand the worldview of other individual’s languages or culture. Different people have different views but sometimes they do listen to the thoughts of other individuals and why they have such thoughts helps individuals understand one another (Lebovitz 2017, 89). As indicated in the book, the local people listened to the thoughts of the missionaries and theologians concerning the preaching of the gospel message and that made the local people understand what the gospel message is.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the analysis of Christian Intercultural Communication has shown a great impact on the current ministry. The impact has been considered to be mostly positive since the communication between the Christians and the cultural practices has been made easier by the existing technology as compared to the days of missionaries. Therefore, due to the technological change in the field of communication, Christian Intercultural Communication has been made appropriate and effective in the current ministry.
Bibliography
Croucher, Stephen, and Kramer, Erick. “Cultural fusion theory: An alternative to acculturation.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication (2017): 97-114.
Handford, Michael. “Which Culture? A Critical Analysis of Intercultural Communication in Engineering Education.” Journal of Engineering Education (2019): 161-177.
Lebovitz, David. L’Appart. 2017. The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home. New York: Crown Publishing Group.
Caligiuri, Paula. 2021. Building Your Cultural Agility: The Nine Competenies of Successful Global Professionals. New York: Kogan Page.
Hastings, Reed. “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention.” (2020): 56-78