Culture Shock

Culture comes in many ways, shapes, and forms. In particular, there are 4 areas analyzed when looking at sciological trends for the missional church. The first one is blocs, or groups, of people. These groups are sometimes identified according to evangelization status, using terms such as "reached" or "unreached". Then there are the ethnolinguistic identifiers of culture, which includes ethnic or racial group information, such as traditions, history, customs, and language. The third one is sociopeoples, which is small associations of people bonded by some common interest. Sociopeoples help us to note relationships among blocs or ethnolinguistic lines. Finally, there is unimax peoples, the maximum sized group that is unified in movement, and void of barriers that would divide their understanding or acceptance of the movement.

These pieces of culture all involve a sociological perspective on elements that are key to the evangelical christian church. Culture is immensely important to missionaries because the idea of being a global catalyst starts with engagement and immersion into culture. You can't simply make a group of people change their lifestyles and beliefs, for example, until you know the proper ways to comunicate to their people, bond their people, and eventually have their people take over the movement.

So what actions should we take in our personal lives to influence culture? Well, sometimes looking at culture from a global standpoint can be overwhelming, but if we implement some of these sociological strategies in our own communities, schools, or workplaces we can still make great impact. For example, you may identify the blocs of people in your neighborhood who have never even heard the Gospel compared to the people who have heard it and ignore it. You may look at the ethnolinguistic identifiers in your workplace that explain where peoples values, time management, and modes of work have stemmed from. You may look at sociopeoples in your school to identify the connections students have to other students with similar interests, such as in sports, music, art, etc. Unimax peoples will follow when you have unified people and torn down the walls separating them from one another. Then you have a movement, and consequently a catalytic reaction.