Leading Cross-Culturally By Hollywood Lindfelter

For this book review we read Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership by Sherwood Lingenfelter. In this book Lingenfelter informs the reader of how to be an effective leader in a multicultural setting. In this book we are able to see multiple ways on how to be an effective leader, and are able to learn the dos and the do nots of leading another culture. The reader is able to learn these dos and do nots through different case studies that the author presents in each chapter to make a point about being a Christian leader. Later on in this paper you will see references to some of the chapters where the case studies have been used to point out different topics of being an effective Christian leader. These
topics I was able to apply to myself in what I hope I will be able to use and think about while on my mission trip in Belize. This book makes several good points, and I believe throughout this review you will see those points exposed.

This book Leading Cross-Culturally by Sherwood Lingenfelter, was written to help us understand how to effectively reach people outside of our culture as Christians. Through this book, Lingenfelter uses case studies from different situations to shows the characteristics and desires we needs to have for leading people from different cultures. He also shows us through the book how to see how other cultures see/pick people of leadership, view missions, how to interact with others, and how to go about having a successful mission. Through the book he gives us

different situations and failed ministries to show us how understanding the culture, establishing trust, working for the kingdom, building a covenant community, effective discipleship, and how to be an effective Christian leader.
Lingenfelter stresses these things through the cases studies so we can have effected missions and be able to set a group of locals that will be able to take the place of missionaries. He breaks this book into parts so each set of chapters address different areas. These parts are sectioned into Inspiring People, Building Trust, Pathways to Empower, and Leading Cross-Culturally. These parts helps us understand the different sections of each of these goals so we can be effective leaders. In these we are able to dissect different values and attributes for each of the
goals.

For this book the first thing that I found was stressed the most, was the importance of trust between the missionary or the group that is doing a mission with the people that they are trying to reach. Not only should there be a sense of trust between the two, but they should have a mutual trusting relationship. We see this in the first chapter of the book, where the missionaries Galen, Henry, Kate, and Myra did not focus on building that trusting relationship and how that affected the collapse of the ministry they had established. Then in chapter 4 we begin to learn how to build a community of trust, to chapter 7 where trust is a pathway of us leading. This theme of trust continues through the book showing how Lingenfelter believes this is one of the most important attributes for us to establish to be successful cultural leaders with other people. I see trust as very important thing to have. For us to effectively spread the gospel and help in the transformation of people’s lives, we have to build trust with the community so we can become part of the culture, and minister to them in ways that we would not be able to without that relationship. I also believe these trusting relationships come easier when we keep the mission that God has given us first in our minds. We are more likely to try and develop these deep

relationships when we are reminded of what God has sent us to do, and how Jesus was our example to develop relationships.

Another value that I believe was important from the book was the importance of a vision, especially a vision from the Lord of the mission that you have been given.
This book gives us guidance on how our vision should be shaped, carried out, and observed by others. For us to be successful in our mission we have to share our vision that hopefully God has given us. We see in chapter 5 how we need a vision that is Christ centered and not just community centered, then in chapter 2 we see how important it is to share our vision so it can be carried out and made greater by the power of the Lord than we ever imagined. I never realized how important it is to go into a mission with a specific vision in mind. We need on our minds focused on what we can establish so the gospel of Jesus Christ can spread where we are ministering. I love how in chapter 2 the author brings out how our visions should be focused on the Kingdom. I believe it is important to make sure that the vision we are carrying and telling is in line with God’s Word and direction, along with it being Jesus centered. We see throughout the book how important it is for Jesus to be the center of our vision so we can impact people both spiritually and the ways that we are trying to help them. I love how in chapter 5 Lingenfelter stressed how we should not just serve their physical needs, for if we do this we are just like any other secular business that could come in. As Christians, we should with everything we do promote and
exhort the name of Jesus. This should be our ultimate vision to see His name spread far and wide.

Overall, this book has helped me gain understanding of how I can apply myself while in Belize. I hope that while on this trip I am able to build trust within the communities we will be working with, and keep the vision of giving these people clean water, but also most important Jesus Christ. This book I believe shows the importance of being transparent with the people we

are working with so we can build relationships with the people. Most of all though, I believe through this book we see how we should lead as Jesus did. Jesus is our greatest leadership example, and if we follow him we will experience more blessings in our ministry then we can imagine.