Missional churches and missional people seek to learn from wise observers of missioners in cross-cultural situations, historically mostly from overseas stories of identification and service - but today, wherever we are as we seek to live the Gospel.
There may be a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) superiority that inhabits many of us at a level that we do not recognize. Our schooling sometimes leads us to believe that we have the answers for the rest of the world. So, we go with answers, rather than with a spirit of inquiry to understand and engage local realities. Usually the income level and technological resurces of missionaries are superior to that of the local people. . . .
We think we can solve the world's problems. These messages easily seep into our subconscious as 'We are superior.' Anthropologists would call this 'ethnocentrism' - the belief that my way is better than yours. Every culture in the world is ethnocentric, so we are all guilty. As Christians, however, we ought to be characterized by a spirit of humility, not superiority. It is in our humility that we are most like Christ, who served the world.
-- Dr. Duane Elmer, author of Cross-Cultural Servanthood (InterVarsity Press, 2006)
