Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility

Duane Elmer is the G. W. Aldeen Professor of International Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. In addition to traveling and teaching in over seventy-five countries, he has provided cross-cultural training to people from Fortune 500 companies, relief and development agencies, mission organizations, churches, and educational institutions. He has also conducted peace and reconciliation efforts in several countries. He is the author of Cross-Cultural Conflict and Cross-Cultural Connections.

"The insights of this book will help us develop shared and mutually understood servanthood within our ministry team to more meaningfully serve the community around us."

An engaging and easily read work, full of sage advice and principles for cross-cultural sensitivity. Those preparing to serve in ministry or mission work, either short or long-term, will find this book helpful.

A clear, well-written, and eminently practical book for training people going into missions at all educational levels. With vivid examples and an easy to follow format, Elmer lays out what it means to live and work as a servant of Christ in a different cultural context. . . . Elmer's solid grounding in scripture and frequent use of personal experience, coupled with his engaging writing style, leave the reader wanting more. . . . This book is ideal for missionary training and beginning-level missiology classes. It should spark some lively discussions and challenge many of our commonly held views of doing ministry cross-culturally.

"Duane Elmer has created a gem! This latest of his creations reminds us that Duane writes stories rather than documents. The reader will discover in Cross-Cultural Servanthood a delightful encounter with people, places and situations. The examples and reflections that come through these pages shine with the warmth and reality of letters from a close friend. But this is no ordinary friend--Dr. Elmer sheds light on cultural mysteries. His experiences as a missionary, teacher, consultant, school administrator and quite surely a researcher who 'gets to the bottom' of the curious events that pepper these stories reveal a depth of understanding that makes this book shine.

The choice of servanthood reveals the fundamental difference in Dr. Elmer's understanding of the cross-cultural situation. Others have written of the information-flow task from one culture toward another, the management dimensions of intercultural affairs and the quest for excellence in intercultural experiences. Note that each of these assumes that the intercultural encounter calls for a series of top-down skills moving from foreignness toward control. Not Duane Elmer. Choosing Christian styles and biblical sources, he develops applications of principles that ring true, reflecting the warmth and wholeness of sound interpersonal affiliation. This is the strong stuff that overcomes the differences, tensions and conflicts that otherwise will plague the intercultural environment. The key is adopting the posture, manner and style of a loyal servant."

"Elmer provides a fresh and provocative look at learning and ministering cross-culturally through the scriptural mandate to be servants of the master engaged in kingdom work. Noting that the practice of servanthood must vary in every culture, the book provides powerful and practical insights into how to become an effective servant in another culture. This is an excellent resource for practical mission training, and for those already in ministry, the book enables willing servants to sharpen their emotional and behavioral practices to more appropriate contextualized servanthood."

"As the Son of God entered first-century Jewish culture and discerned and used its expressions of servanthood--a basin and a towel--to communicate the nature of his Heavenly Father, Duane Elmer draws helpfully from Scripture and his broad experience to help us enter another culture today and discern and use its expressions of servanthood to communicate the nature of our Heavenly Father as well."

"My library is filled with books, tapes and materials all on servanthood in which I see and hear the oft-repeated phrase 'servant-leader.' But how do we live as servants or 'slaves' in a cross-cultural context? Duane Elmer has provided a much-needed cultural guide for any of us involved in intercultural ministry. His writing gives us a biblical foundation along with living anecdotes from across the world in real-life situations. Duane helps us understand the lifelong process and guides us through the matrix of personality, cultural and generational differences. I believe his comments on the mantra 'servant-leader' were especially needed."

"Cross-Cultural Servanthood is needed more today than ever in the history of missions. In today's mission context, millions of short-term missionaries travel cross-culturally every year. Tens of thousands of non-Western missionaries serve in almost every country of the world. Many churches from the West are forming partnerships with churches from other countries. In all these scenarios, there is a tendency toward an attitude of superiority. The danger of ethnocentric arrogance is exploding. Dr. Elmer provides crucial principles of servanthood illustrated with timely examples. Short- and long-term missionaries from the West as well as the non-Western world need to read and practice the principles of this book. God's glory in the nations is at stake!"

"Cross-Cultural Servanthood offers short-termers and career missionaries a wise and practical guide on how to serve God and others. Duane Elmer is a master at cross-cultural relationships and nearly every page of the book shows it. It's a must-read for SIS staff and volunteers.

The relationship between task effectiveness and relational effectiveness is a crucial issue for missionaries and Christian workers of all kinds. Duane Elmer has pinpointed the essential linchpin--servanthood. He ably shows how Jesus' example of servanthood enables one to honor others while honoring God."

"With effective illustrations and ready-to-implement practical applications, Duane Elmer reminds us that Jesus-style servanthood must be biblically understood and culturally applied--in ways that the recipients interpret as servanthood. This book should be required reading for every Christian seeking to serve cross-culturally, whether in a long-term or short-term capacity."