week 7 research paper

Plan for increasing my CQ

Part 2

Cross-cultural communication effectiveness of my ministry using CQ

Elements of intercultural communication

1. Low-context and High-context communication styles

2. Direct and indirect communication styles

Part 3

Challenges of communicating the gospel across cultures

1. Lack of CQ knowledge

2. Misapplication of nonverbal communication

Bridging the communication gap across cultures

Conclusion

Part 1

Introduction

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is a measure of a person’s capacity or ability to function effectively in a multi-cultural environment. The areas of strength, which I have identified in my cultural intelligence will help me to effectively communicate cross-culturally. In this paper, I will analyze my personal CQ scores by expounding on my strengths, weaknesses, areas that need improvement, and how I can improve my CQ scores. Because we live in a multi-cultural world, it is important to know more about other cultures. The more we know about other cultures, the better we can effectively communicate with individuals from those cultures.

I took my CQ test in March 2018, and it helped me to identify the areas that I was proficient in and the areas that need improvement. In CQ drive, the extent to which I am energized and persistent in my approach to multicultural situations, my score was very high. I also had a high score in my CQ knowledge, this revealed my level of familiarity with how cultures are similar and different. One area that I need to work on is CQ strategy, specifically planning or strategizing before a culturally diverse encounter. I also need an improvement in some areas of my CQ action, specifically modifying my non-verbal behaviors. A specific step that I need to take to improve on planning is to research about a culture ahead of time before I interact with people from that culture. We Christians are expected to share our faith with nonbelievers from different cultures. To do this effectively, we must be familiar with other cultures so that we can communicate effectively with them.

My CQ strengths

My CQ test revealed that I had a high score of 98 in CQ Drive. The Cultural Intelligence Center defines CQ Drive as “the extent to which you are energized and persistent in your approach to multicultural situations”. It states that it includes our-self confidence in our abilities as well as our sense of the benefits we will gain from intercultural interactions. The CQ assessment report divides CQ drive into three sub-dimensions. The first is intrinsic interest, which is the enjoyment we derive from culturally diverse experiences. The next one is extrinsic interests, which is the benefits we gain from culturally diverse experiences. Finally, we have self-efficacy. It means having the confidence to be effective in culturally diverse situations. My score in all three dimensions was 98, making my overall CQ drive very high. I believe my background and past experiences have helped me to score high in this area. I grew up in Ghana, a very culturally diverse society. There are over fifty tribes in Ghana, all of them with their own unique languages and culture. I had the opportunity to live among seven different cultures because my father was in the military and he was frequently transferred to different parts of the country. I currently speak six different languages as a result if this. My cultural experience in Ghana has prepared me to quickly adapt to any culture I interact with or live in. This is the reason for my high score in my CQ drive.

Another area that I had a high score in is my CQ knowledge. I had an overall score of 96. It is defined by the Cultural Intelligence Center as “The degree to which you understand how culture influences how people think and behave and your level of familiarity with how cultures are similar and different”. It is divided into four different sub-dimensions. The first is business, which is one’s knowledge about economic and legal systems. The second is values and norms. It refers to knowledge about values, social interaction norms, and religious beliefs. The third is socio-linguistics, which is the knowledge about language and communication norms. The final is leadership. This refers to knowledge about managing people and relationships across cultures.

I believe that my exposure to different cultures at an early age helped me to increase my knowledge about different cultures. For example, I was speaking six different languages by the time I was eleven years old. This made it easier for me to learn additional languages later in life. I moved from Ghana to the US when I was about twenty-one years old. I had a job at Wendy’s restaurant here in Huntington Beach, California. I did not speak any Spanish before coming to the US, but I started speaking Spanish after a few months of working at Wendy’s. I learned it just by listening to some of my co-workers who spoke Spanish. Without my prior experience of learning to speak six languages, it would have been more difficult for me to learn Spanish when I moved to the United States. During my undergraduate program at California State University in Long Beach, I took an elective course in Intercultural Communication. I believe this class also helped broadened my general understanding of different cultures of the world. It is also another factor that contributed to my high CQ knowledge score.

CQ areas with opportunity for growth

One of the areas where there is an opportunity for growth is Business. This is a sub-dimension of CQ knowledge It is important to improve in this area because it affects everything we do. Livermore writes, “The path toward improving CQ knowledge begins with seeing the influence of culture on everything we think, say, and do”. Among the four sub-dimensions of knowledge, Business is the one with my lowest score. Business is the knowledge of economic and legal systems. My childhood experience of living among different cultures did necessarily improve my CQ knowledge of business because I was experiencing different cultures in one country. Economic and legal systems usually vary across countries, so I did not have any other experience of a different economic and legal system besides the one from Ghana. Traveling to different countries is what will increase your knowledge of Business. Another area I can improve on is leadership, the knowledge about managing people and relationships across cultures. It is not surprising to me that my knowledge in this area is lower than other areas because I do not have a lot of experience leading a group of people who are culturally diverse.

Plan for increasing my CQ

One of the ways I can improve on CQ knowledge, especially pertaining to economic and legal systems is to read more about how the economic and legal system work in other countries. I will go to a local library and borrow books on this topic to read so that I can gain more knowledge. I will also look for opportunities to travel to different countries so that I get to experience the cultures of different nations. For instance, my church is planning a mission trip to Mexico this summer. I will sign up and go on this trip as it will increase my exposure to another culture. Even though we can never learn everything we need to know about every culture, we must always continue to improve on what we already know. The more we know about a culture, more we can effectively communicate in that culture.

Part 2

I am the assistant to the Youth pastor at my church and I am constantly communication with church members, volunteers, and the staff. My church is culturally diverse, so to communicate effectively, I would use my cultural intelligence (CQ). I took my CQ evaluation and I had a score of 98 percent on my CQ knowledge. According to Livermore, “CQ knowledge is your level of understanding about culture and the way cultures differ”. Currently, I would say the cross-cultural communication of my ministry is effective; however, there is more room for improvement. As the assistant youth pastor of my church, one principle that I can use to make cross-cultural communication more effective is my understanding of cultural values. Ting-Toomey and Chung write, “Values are shared ideas about what counts as important or unimportant, right or wrong, what is fair or unfair…...”. Since cultural values can affect the effectiveness of intercultural communication, I would study in advance the cultural values of my audience so that I will be better prepared to communicate with them. Moreau writes, “Knowledge of the cultural values of the audience prepares the speaker for more effective communication.

Low-context and high-context communication styles are part of the elements of intercultural communication. To communicate effectively in an intercultural setting, we must learn to apply these elements. According to Ting-Toomey and Chung, “In low-context communication, the emphasis is on how intention or meaning is expressed through explicit verbal messages while in high-context communication, the emphasis is on how intention or meaning can best be conveyed through the embedded contexts”. As an assistant Youth pastor of my church, one way I can apply low-context and high-context communication styles to my interactions with members of my church is to first identify the cultural background of my audience, the use the appropriate communication style to get my message across. For example, when interacting with someone from a low-context culture such as the United States or Europe, I would use a low-context style to communicate with them. This is important because in a low-context culture, communication is usually direct and straightforward. Using a high-context style in a low-cultural environment will cause my audience to misunderstand or misinterpreted my message.

One day, Sam, a member of my church came to tell me that he had just finished praying for another brother in the church for financial break-through. Sam said Ted approached him and told him he was having some financial challenges, so he prayed for him. Ted was a Korean and Sam was a coaction. I explained to Sam that Ted was asking him for financial help, not prayers. I came to this conclusion because I knew that Ted came from a high-context culture and he could not communicate directly to Sam and tell him he needed some financial help. Also, because Sam was interpreting Ted’s message from his own cultural perspective and understanding, he completely missed Ted’s message. Sam gave Ted some money and he confirmed that that was exactly what he was looking for. I was happy my cultural intelligence Knowledge helped me to solve this problem.

2. Direct and indirect communication styles

Direct and indirect communication styles are also elements of intercultural communication. Direct communication, according to Ting-Toomey and Chung, “reveals the speaker’s intentions through tone of voice and the straightforwardness of the content in the message. In the indirect style, statements tend to camouflage the speaker’s actual intentions and are carried out with a softer tone”. Just like the low-context and high-context styles, the direct and indirect communications styles help individuals to communicate effectively when properly applied in an intercultural setting. For example, I lead the weekly Bible study session for my church. During these meetings, individuals are asked to contribute or share their thoughts, or the massages discussed. I have noticed that some of the members of the group use direct communication while others use indirect communication. I believe this happens because the group is culturally diverse. To make sure that everybody understands what is being said in the group, I will make sure that I take the time to comment on everyone’s contribution in a way that can be understood by people from both direct and indirect cultures. Nida writes, “Communication across different cultures has different meanings, therefore knowledge of other cultures is key to effective communication.

I will also apply a concept known as empowering and mentoring. In his book, Lingenfelter explains why it is important for leaders to empower their followers to become leaders themselves. He writes, “One cannot raise and empower leaders without creating opportunities for them to lead”. I can apply this concept by allowing the members of the group to lead the group in Bible studies occasionally. This will give the members the confidence to communicate effectively within the group.

Part 3

Challenges of communicating the gospel across cultures

1. Lack of CQ Knowledge

Communicating the gospel across cultures sometimes comes with challenges. One of the challenges or barriers to communicating the gospel across cultures is lack of CQ knowledge or low CQ knowledge. According to Livermore, “CQ knowledge refers to our level of understanding about culture and the ways cultures differ”. The more we know about a culture, the more we can communicate effectively with people from that culture. Each culture is placed into various cultural value dimensions such as individualism versus collectivism, corporative versus competitive, and power distance. Knowing the cultural value dimension that a culture belongs to can help us communicate more effectively to that culture. On the other hand, not knowing these cultural value dimension of a particular culture can be a challenge for communicating the gospel across cultures.

Let us take power distance as an example. According to Livermore, “power distance refers to the distance leaders and followers”. He goes on to explain that most countries from Africa and Asia score very high in power distance, while countries from western cultures such as the United States and Europe score high in power distance. Pastors and leaders of every church must know these cultural differences. I hear a story from a friend about a missionary from England who went to a tiny country in West Africa called Togo to start a church for the local people. One day he brought in a lot of clothing, shoes, and other supplies to be given to the people of the village. He gave all the items to the elder or leader of the village to distribute to the people of the town, some people got a lot of the items while some got nothing. The missionary questioned the leader of the town about the method used to share the supplies, and that created a big problem for him. He ended up losing many members of his church because the elder told the people not to go to that church. This goes to show how lack of knowledge on cultural difference can be a challenge to communicating the gospel.

2. Misapplication of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is not necessarily a bad thing because we communicate nonverbally either voluntarily or involuntarily. According to Ting-Toomey and Chung, “Nonverbal communication is defined as the message exchange process involving the use of nonlinguistic and paralinguistic cues that are expressed through multiple communication channels in a particular sociocultural setting”. Nonverbal communication can be in the form of physical appearance, gestures, haptics or touch behaviors, and boundary regulations. When a church or its leaders fail to handle nonverbal communication appropriately, it can create a barrier or a challenge in sharing the gospel across cultures. Let us take physical appearance for example. Every culture has different norms and rules about physical appearance, so churches must be aware of the cultural differences regarding physical appearance so that they can effectively share the gospel across cultures. I came across a YouTube video a couple months ago about a female pastor who came under heavy criticism because she dressed inappropriately while preaching. She wore clothing that revealed her thighs and cleavage. Many people commented on the video stating that they will never attend her church or listen to her preaching. The Bible says in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship”. Not only is this preacher’s behavior breaking God’s commandment, but it also violates the dressing code for several cultures. This is an example of how dressing, in the form of nonverbal communication, can be a challenge for the church in communicating the gospel across cultures.

Bridging the communication gap across cultures

There are several ways that churches and Christian organizations can partner together to more effectively communicate the gospel to all nations. One of the ways this can happen is through neighborhood block parties. Churches and Christian organization can collaborate together and have a party in a neighborhood that is culturally diverse. In their book “Family to Family”, Jerry pipes and Victor Lee suggest that block parties are a great way to bring people in a community together and share the word of God with them. Pipes and Lee write, “Whether in a rich, poor, or middle-class neighborhood, the evangelistic block party can be very effective”. An example of this kind of collaboration occurred when my church, Grace City Church, in Irvine, partnered with the Campus Ministry for Foreign Students at the University of California in Irvine (UCI) to match foreign students with American Christian families and share the gospel with the students. Secondly, churches and Christian organizations can come together and sponsor missionaries financially to go to faraway countries to share the gospel. This will help fulfill the great commission.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we notice that churches face several challenges when communicating the gospel across cultures and worldviews. Lack of knowledge about the values, worldview, belief systems, norms about another culture makes it difficult for us to communicate effectively to people of that culture. Before a church or a leader of a church interacts with another person from a different culture, they must do some research about that culture so that they can effectively communicate with a person or people from that culture. Nonverbal communication can also become a barrier or a challenge for a church to effectively communicate the word of God across cultures. People judge us by our physical appearance, such as clothing, so we must always be conscious of our environment, audience, and culture whenever we have the opportunity to share the word of God with people from different cultures. In her video presentation, Harper writes, “Physical appearance plays a major role in nonverbal communication”

There are many ways that the church and Christian organizations can come together to effectively share the gospel to all nations. They can organize a neighborhood block party for the culturally diverse community. These events create the opportunity to share the gospel with the community and help churches to invite nonmembers in the community to attend church. Churches and Christian originations can put their financial resources together to sponsor missionaries to go on mission trips and share the gospel. It becomes difficult for missionaries to do their jobs if they don’t receive the consistent sponsorship from their sponsors, and that is why more groups and individuals come together to fund missionaries.

Bibliography

Harper, Melody. 2018. “Nonverbal Communication” (video). Lecture, Liberty

University, Lynchburg, VA, Accessed May 11, 2018.