Great book, not just a bunch of mission stories. These principles in this book will impact your ministry and your cultural sensativity.

I found this book while I was browsing Amazon back in the Spring of 2002. I sent away for a used copy of it, and I'm glad I did.
The author of this book spent a good deal of time on the Island of Yap, which is in the South Pacafic, in Micronesia. He documents his cross-cultural experiences in this book. He tells of both the good and bad of his experiences and how it strengthened him as both a Christian and minister of the gospel. He also tells of the barriers he had to cross in order to effectivey share the gospel to the people of Yap. Overall, this book is a cross between a "how-to" and a cross cultural autobiography.
Like Rev. Lingenfelter, I am also involved in cross-cultural ministry. And even though I've never been to Yap, I can understand what he went through. If you do any type of cross-cultural ministry here in America or anywhere else, youshould read this book. It may not have all of the answers you need. But it will indeed get you pointed in the right direction.

I first read this before my a short-term (6 weeks) summer trip to an east asian country, and although I am of asian descent, it definitely prepared me for things that I would have otherwise been caught by surprise.

For those preparing to go cross-cultural, even for short-term trips, this is a must-read. it isn't long, but its full of great stuff to pray, meditate, think about, and discuss. It does a great job of equipping and working on your mindset to be ready to face many of the things that will be guaranteed to culture shock you.

even for those who have already done/been doing cross-cultural work, I think this book is always a fresh reminder of the Biblical example we have in Christ, and that, as with all things, should be our singular focus. Who is Jesus the Christ, and how does that change the way I live my life for His glory?

This book is a horrible, almost criminal, misuse of anthropology. If the author understood anything about the discipline, he would know that it is about relativism and respect for differences, not about trying to use cultural concepts to invade and indoctrinate other societies. There is no way we can control how our tools are used, but to employ anthropological knowledge and methods to overthrow another culture's religion is a betrayal of anthropology and cultural genocide against that culture. This book disgusts me, like all missionization.

It's a good introductory book to who wants to know something about anthropology, or cross-culture communication. The book provides each aspect of anthropology study, very easy to understand. It may also help Christian to understand the human behavior. Open your mind to a new vision about the world. The book emphasizes the importance of anthropology for missionaries, is a very correct vision. Evangelism is also communication. It exposes whom the culture may influence faith and bible interpretation. There books indication at the end of each chapter should be very helpful, but major of the book are very difficult to find because they are too old. A basic book, but can help.