Global Humility: Attitudes for Mission

by Andrew McCullough

The aspect that needs training, more than any other in cross-cultural workers, is humility. Pride and mission are polar opposites. Pride pollutes mission, but the mission of Christ is humble mission. How dare we turn up with all the answers when you don’t even know what questions people are asking?This book should be useful and provocative for cross-cultural Christian workers and candidates, for those involved in multicultural cities in their own nations, for sending pastors, and for anyone whose ministry or Christian walk takes them across cultural divides.The book is made up of six Moral Humility (Thinking About Sin), Public Humility (Thinking About the World), Semantic Humility (Thinking About Language), Intercultural Humility (Thinking About Differences), Incarnational Humility (Thinking about Mission), and Theological Humility (Thinking about Thinking).

Genres: Christian, Christianity

248 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2020

Reviews

[Megan Everitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

{5⭐️ - kindle via kindle unlimited }. Goodness this book was eye opening and taught me so much about how my western eyes and upbringing have shaped my beliefs and quite honestly, my need to be humbled in regards to my faith and living cross culturally. It took me 3.5 months to read it and I’ll be purchasing my own copy so I can keep all the notes and highlights I applied to the kindle version.
I think this would be a great resource for anyone living/working in other lands but also for those that stay in their home countries and pray for, support and send people to other places.

[Kayla Peker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, a great tool despite my 3 stars. There was a good chunk that I found helpful and thought-provoking for living cross-culturally, but also a fair bit I found unhelpful or didn’t totally agree with.

[Anthony Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly recommended read for anyone doing any sort of cross-cultural ministry. And also for anyone that just wants to grow in biblical understanding and humility!

[Brian Zhang · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Christian book of the past few years. Andy McCullough is a church planter / church planting trainer within the NewFrontiers network, of which I was a part until a recent international move (UK to US). The insights of this book have been helpful for me in trying to conceptualize a postcolonial approach to global church growth that shifts power away from a Western center. The chapters on Tamar in Genesis and the Tower of Babel, among others, also served as an accessible yet powerful introduction to biblical interpretation through the lens of the oppressed. Though it was an easy read, this book along with other things I was engaging with at the time helped me reconstruct my faith in the face of perceived Western cultural captivity and grew my heart for global missions.

[Landon Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a challenging book to read. What I mean is that Global Humility challenged my thinking and perspective on key topics in missiology. From this book, some views were changed, others reinforced, or I simply disagreed.

He did a great job focusing on one of the most dire characteristics a missionary needs to have: humility. This comes in a variety of ways—ways that he expounds on in the book.

Sometimes I believe he places cultural contextualization over being biblical. An example of this is his advocacy for a form of the normative principle of worship. I have to disagree with him on this topic. I do not think using the five senses (an eastern orthodox view of worship) helps people in any culture have a deeper relationship with God. It is essentially the eastern equivalent to the western smoke machines and rock concerts on a Sunday morning.

Overall, I recommend this book with caution. Have discernment while reading. This book is great to challenge your thinking and make you a better missionary.

[Andrew Ryland · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. One of the best books I have ever read.
The author writes from personal experience, but supports each chapter with well judged references to scholarly books. Plus the style is engaging and the chapters short. The anecdotes and illustrations are apt. And the author surprises or ambushes the reader with insights into well known Bible passages.
This is a tour de force and I recommend it heartily to anyone who wants to join with the missional God of the Bible on an adventure in cross cultural hospitality. Wonderful.

[Joe Liddiard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It might seem a bit academic if it were not completely grounded in life stories and thoughtful applications. Serves as brilliant introduction to mission literature and opens up your mind to the see how much other cultures will bring to Christianity in the years to come. The bible bits were brilliant and came alive as he applied them to real life church planting in the Middle East. Also includes some really interesting observation about cultural differences and how that affects mission. Definitely recommend it.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book that I'd recommend to any church leader to help cross cultural divides.

[Elizabeth Bridcut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone looking to share the good news of Jesus across cultures and for those of us who pray for them.

[Tyler Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be quite helpful and I suspect that it is among the best of what's available on the theme. At the same time, I don't think it goes beyond being a decent/good starting point. On the one hand, I think the author falls into cherry-picking positions and quotes from the academic world at times. On the other, I find the material to be presented a bit rapid-fire, or staccato, at times, moving from point to quote to example too quickly. Both of those thoughts lead me to think that we need to do, and enable, a significantly greater amount of reflection of these issues. Even with that said, for now...definitely read this book. It will help enable some first steps in the right direction.

[Ryan Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for anyone serving cross-culturally! McCullough unpacks humility from a personal/moral perspective from the Scriptures, how to think humbly in the public sphere, humility in language-learning and transmitting, humility in understanding differences, humility in living a contextual, yet biblically faithful witness, and humility in our theology. All of these areas are key essentials to posture ourselves as learners, supporters, proclaimers, and witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we take the form of a servant and decrease, as we engage the nations with the gospel, and make Christ known. This book will equip future missionaries to do just that!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! I would love for all Christians to read it. It’s a great introduction into understanding the world from a non-western perspective. Early in the book he talks about sliding money across a table to make sure his kid got into a good school. American morality might call that a bribe. But in the culture he was living in at the time, it’s more like a donation, as in a recognition that this school administrator hardly makes any money. And the different perspectives on biblical narratives really blew my mind.

[Tamar K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent introduction to a variety of facets of humility specific to cross-cultural missions. Each chapter has a handful of bibliographic references for further study.
There are a number of weak areas, of which subtext has a seeming negative or inaccurate position towards them which are not addressed: including ritual, language, several theological premises, and a subtle bias that feels anti-Western.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read on humility in interacting with people from other cultures, and being able to see that your perspective isn’t the only or best one. Tons of practical examples, in a very readable style.

Right up there with Cross-Cultural Servanthood in books I would highly recommend on this topic.

[Natalie Millican · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was beneficial for our group to read something by someone outside of our group, but overall this isn’t a book that I would recommend. It did create opportunities for critical discussion amongst cross-cultural workers, but the content is lacking quite a bit. I’d recommend reading it in a group for discussion vs assigning someone to read it alone in preparation for cross-cultural work.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book encouraged me so much! It was an encouragement from God’s word to love and care for others well, not just how I perceive is best. I would recommend even if you aren’t planning on moving overseas!!

[J Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down one of the best books on a Christ-centered mindset for living well cross culturally

[Peter Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book on what it looks like for Westerners to show humility of various sorts as we find our place in God's global story.

[Leigh Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD….must read for anyone desiring to go into cross-cultural ministry

[mikayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

section on theological humility, narrative theology, parable brought it from 3 to 4 stars

[Dee Kohler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, thought provoking and challenging to a western mindset and unlearning some biases.