WHAT DO WE DO ON THE SFM? (PART 3)

By Ben Mc

Cross-Cultural Communication & Culture Research

That's a lot of C's! But it's good stuff.

The School of Frontier Media is not just about producing media tools for missions, it’s about producing them so that they speak to our audience in the way that we intend. For this reason, one of our most important topics is “Cross-Cultural Communication & Culture Research”. It’s during this week that we look at principles that are foundational to any sort of effective communication, including using media.

Language is probably the most obvious thing to think of when it comes to making our message clear. But there are so many more others: our audience’s social context, frame of mind, spiritual understanding, and needs and values. And so over this week, we look at a bunch of key areas, including God’s heart for cultures, principles of cross-cultural adjustment, worldview, methods for cultural research, and finally, effective contextualization of the message.

It is this last point that the whole week builds toward - what does it mean to put the message in the context of our audience? So much of it boils down to two central principles: to be faithful to Scripture and to be relevant to culture. We must never change or dilute the gospel message, but we must express it in a way that will make sense to the audience’s culture, or they will never be able to receive it.

The SFM continues to apply these principles as we go on to writing scripts, shooting video, designing graphics, making movies, and more. In many ways, this is what our outreach is all about: putting this teaching into practice in media projects produced for the nations.

Here are some testimonies from past staff and students:

God taught me to see cultures in a different light. To see the beauty and artistic nature each culture has. He has definitely given me more of a heart to understand all people from all culture….
- Heather, Canada

Understanding something of contextualizing the gospel for different cultures has helped us both share the story of the people with the body of Christ, and to bring the gospel to them in a way that retains and celebrates their God-given culture. God has awakened in my spirit a new and deeper passion for intercultural missions.
- David, USA

Two aspects of this teaching have stood out especially. The first is the importance of using a people groups 'heart language.' This is the language that is closest to their heart and therefore the best way to speak to them. The second is to do with the ways God is already at work in a people group. They have a ‘Redemptive Story,' which refers to a story deep within their culture that actually reveals God. Tapping into this redemptive story allows a people to see that God is not foreign but has actually been working in their lives and culture all along.
- Josh, Australia