Webinar: Cultural imperialism and the new believer

Event Details

Webinar info

It’s easy to point out where others have engaged in cultural imperialism. Pointing fingers at how mass media often exalts Western expressions, how foreign aid often has hidden social agendas, how greedy corporations manipulate social expectation through advertising, etc. Missionaries see themselves as messengers of the Good News and ambassadors of God’s Kingdom; however, the question remains to what extent they ask in both large and small ways whether they might also be inadvertently instigating cultural imperialism.

Taking the perspective of the new believer or seeker, it is necessary to ask whether the message—and the desired transformation it entails—is unnecessarily complicated, difficult, or foreign, thereby helping to discern how one may be contributing to cultural imperialism.

Although the case study draws upon a 30-year long movement to Christ (a locally led process in which people begin following Jesus and form new faith communities within their own social networks) among Hindus in a geographical area marked by persecution, the principles discovered through both suffering and success are also applicable to many Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and other communities characterized by a strong communal identity.

About the speaker

Anand A. has served cross-culturally for many decades. First in community development in the Sahel of Africa, then with immigrants in Europe, and now in South Asia. He is both a practitioner and a trainer who is committed to the multiplication of Christ-followers and to the spread of culturally grounded expressions of faith in difficult contexts.

The Organisers

For this webinar, the Alliance for Vulnerable Mission (AVM) partners with the Rethinking Forum (RF).

The Alliance for Vulnerable Mission encourages cross-cultural workers to make themselves vulnerable to the people they serve – mainly by using local languages and local resources in ministry. This webinar is a platform to listen, ask questions and engage in conversations focused on this theme.

Prioritising cultural and missiological humility, the Rethinking Forum seeks to strengthen the witness of Christ to the Theravada Buddhist world. We want to address barriers and overcome hinderances to the Gospel, taking a critical look at what lessons can be learned from the past, deconstructing unhelpful approaches (such as neocolonialism and western worldview). Likewise, we seek to learn from and engage with new movements to Christ taking place on the ground and culturally appropriate foundations and expressions of faith. Engaging on a missiological (theoretical) and practical level, we seek to incorporate the two. We aim to become vulnerable towards those we are there to reach, seeking to discover what God is doing beyond our limited frameworks.

Webinar platform

This webinar will be hosted on Zoom. After subscribing (i.e. booking a free ticket), you will be sent the Zoom link. Here can be found the terms under which Zoom provides protection of their users’ data.