Communctg Christ Cross: An Introduction to Missionary Communication Book

This book is quite accessible. The less cross-cultural experience someone has, the more helpful this book will be. Regardless of a person's background or experience, this book will offer many helpful insights. Hesselgrave includes chapters for communicating Christianity to specific worldviews, such as materialism, Buddhism, animism, etc.

The excerpted (523-24) are a wonderful summary of part VII - social structures.

Hypothesis number one: the more closely communication follows the patterns of the prevailing social structure, the more effective it will be.
Hypothesis number two: people communicate more to others of their own class; i.e., Interpersonal communication is usually horizontal.
Hypothesis number three: interpersonal, horizontal communication lends itself best to effecting involuntary changes of attitude and behavior.
Hypothesis number four: Prestigious communication is from upper to lower classes.
Hypothesis number five: prestigious, vertical communication is best suited to affecting social control.
Hypothesis number six: the degree of difficulty in achieving effective communication is positively correlated with the degree of social distance on the socioeconomic scale.
Hypothesis number seven: the degree of difficulty in achieving effective communication is positively correlated with the degree of compatibility of social systems (e.g., those from modern urban societies will have more difficulty in communicating with those from tribal societies than with those from folk societies).
Hypothesis number eight: the more face-to-face the society, the more difficult it becomes for the outsider to establish effective communication (and, therefore, the more important it is that the communication be based on personal friendship).
Hypothesis number nine: in all societies, the initial communication of the Gospel should be to responsible, accepted members of the community who are, therefore, good potential channels of communication.
Hypothesis number 10: the more heterogenous the society, the more flexible and variegated the communicative approach to its included groups must be.
Hypothesis number 11: in face-to-face societies, consideration should be given to communicating the Gospel first to someone at the top (or someone near the top) who is more capable of making decisions and presenting the Gospel to the larger group.
Hypothesis number 12: the more cohesive, homogenous and face-to-face the society, the more likely it is the communication will be along established group (probably familial) lines and the decisions will be collected.
Hypothesis number 13: the more cohesive, homogenous and face-to-face the society, the more time-conscious the communicator must be if he is to effect lasting change.

600 - a native in another culture may not have the issue of guilt as a felt need. Therefore it might be better to begin with other aspects of Christology such as the person and example of Christ.

601 - The best and only ultimate common point of contact is the missionary himself and his genuine love for the people. When they see that you care for them in a truly personal way it provides a genuine foundation for further effort.

603 - A helpful chart contrasting different types of societies.

605 - self supporting, self governing and self propagating are worthy goals but might actually reflect the individualism of the West. It might be better to speak of Christocentric in all of these respects.