Workers who are able to freely and clearly communicate in their host language(s) are much more likely to be fruitful. Fruitful workers carefully consider questions concerning language choice, such as whether to use heart or trade language, sacred or secular language. By learning language, they also gain a deeper understanding of culture, making language proficiency fruitful across a number of different dimensions.
Both common sense and cross-cultural experience suggest that language proficiency contributes significantly to fruitfulness, and our research confirmed this point. Workers with strong language skills can build better relationships with their neighbors and can better take advantage of the opportunities that arise to share the gospel. Numerous interviews obliquely demonstrated the fruitfulness of language proficiency, including these:
So all of us prayed together, and for about two hours after that we were just sitting and talking with the elders and the imam about religious topics (GTFP, Interview 52, 2007).
After every story I ask them questions that would make them to think. I am not giving them the answer, direct answers like, oh, this is the story. … I tell the story and I ask them the right questions because I’ve been prepared for that beforehand–I’ve practiced those stories (GTFP, Interview 34, 2007).
As they came in [for audio recording sessions], we started from day one meeting as a group, every morning beginning in prayer. Though we are foreigners, we used mother tongue in our prayers (GTFP, Interview 75, 2007).
We are teaching our team members right now to tell the Bible story from the beginning (GTFP, Interview 90, 2007).
These and many other interviews contained implicit statements about language proficiency that connected with two specific concepts—prayer and storying.2 In fact, other than the importance of language proficiency for relationship building, our study participants linked language proficiency with prayer and storying more than with anything else. This leads us to conclude that when a cross-cultural worker can pray with people or tell Bible stories in their target language, then they have begun to have the language proficiency to be fruitful.
This could mean that we need a shift in our way of thinking. Perhaps field teams and sending organizations need to start talking in terms of “prayer proficiency” or “storying proficiency,” even developing assessments for these, rather than the various scales of language fluency that are currently the norm for field workers. Other findings from the GTFP research also indicated that fluency in the language, use of the heart language of the people, and use of the learning preference of the local people (oral vs. literate) are a particularly fruitful combination of practices (Fish, Allen and Adams 2009, 14).
All the Fruitful Practices related to Society:
Society 1: Fruitful workers communicate respect by behaving in culturally appropriate ways.
A worker’s attitude toward the host culture sends powerful messages. Fruitful workers behave in culturally appropriate ways in major cultural domains such as clothing and food, and especially in regards to hospitality. The key is sensitivity to the local setting, not necessarily whole-hearted adoption of local practice.
Good deeds often help workers gain a good reputation in the host community. Fruitful workers make clear that their good deeds are an expression of the gospel; otherwise, local people may assume that the worker is simply a good person or is trying to earn religious merit.
Society 3: Fruitful workers relate to people in ways that respect gender roles in the local culture.
Gender roles, and the taboos associated with them, are potent issues in the Muslim world. While maintaining a biblical perspective on these issues, fruitful workers strive to understand gender roles in their local context and demonstrate respect for these social norms.
Society 4: Fruitful workers mobilize extensive, intentional, and focused prayer.
Fruitful workers invite others to join them through committed intercession for themselves and the people they are engaging. They recognize that this can be as important as inviting people to join the team that lives in the host culture.
Society 5: Fruitful workers pursue language proficiency
Workers who are able to freely and clearly communicate in their host language(s) are much more likely to be fruitful. Fruitful workers carefully consider questions concerning language choice, such as whether to use heart or trade language, sacred or secular language. By learning language, they also gain a deeper understanding of culture, making language proficiency fruitful across a number of different dimensions.
Fruitful ministry is shaped by many different streams of information, including ethnography, linguistics, and history. Workers who conduct research or actively reflect on the research of others are more fruitful than those who base their ministries on preconceived ideas or the patterns of ministry in their sending countries.
Society 7: Fruitful workers build positive relationships with local leaders
By sensitively and carefully relating to local authorities, including non-Christian religious figures, workers gain respect and good standing in their host community. Those who are intentional about choosing their relationships with local leaders are more likely to be fruitful.