formerly called MOP online

This course was created by Lisa E. Lisa and her husband Tom are members of SEND International and live in Farmington, Michigan. For several years, they served as missionaries in Asia before returning to serve in the US Office. Lisa is now a full-time teacher in the public school system in Michigan and she and her husband lead the Diaspora Ministry for SEND.

Bethany Reedy is one of the course facilitators. She first served in mainland China with her husband and daughter, studying Chinese, reaching out to unreached people groups, and discipling new believers. Then they packed their bags and moved to Taiwan, where they served with Global Chinese Ministries, building relationships with college students through teaching English Corners on several university campuses and leading Bible storying groups. Bethany now lives in Michigan and works on the SEND U staff full-time as the Dean of the Member Orientation Program. Bethany has a BA in Bible and Theology and an M.Div. from Moody Bible Institute, and a Doctor of Ministry from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Jenny Baker is also a facilitator for this course. She has served with SEND in Canada's Yukon Territory with her family since 2007, working in both church planting and field leadership. Jenny currently serves as the Acting Ministry Director for the Diaspora Field, and also enjoys her work on the SEND U staff as a training coordinator and creative consultant. Jenny is passionate about seeing her Christian brothers and sisters be equipped, encouraged and empowered to grow in Jesus and in the ministry to which He has called them.

MOP 201 is an essential part of SEND International’s Member Orientation Program. It is required of all those joining SEND and is a prerequisite for those who will be attending the MOP 202, either onsite in the USA or Quezon City (Philippines) or virtually. This course assumes that you have successfully completed the application process in your sending country, and are preparing to head to your area of ministry within the next 6 to 12 months.

This course builds the foundation and provides much of the preparatory content for MOP 202. It is designed to help you learn about and reflect upon many of the issues you will face as you head into cross-cultural life and ministry. The course will run a total of six weeks and will cover these main topics:

• Week 1 - Course Orientation & Introductions
• Week 2 - Defining Worldview
• Week 3 - Understanding Culture & Personal Cultural Values
• Week 4 - Cultural Stress
• Week 5 - Servanthood & Sacrifice
• Week 6 - Safety & Security

• Get to know other course participants.
• Distinguish between the concepts of worldview and culture and explain the relationship between behaviors, values, beliefs, and worldview.
• Identify the three common ancestral worldviews and describe how these worldviews have influenced how people view life, the Bible, and God.
• Identify the personal values you use to order your life and relationships with others and compare and contrast your personal values with those of another culture.
• Describe symptoms and cures for culture stress and Identify some personal strategies for dealing with culture stress.
• Identify principles from Christ's incarnation that have implications for cross-cultural ministry.
• Describe how attitudes of openness, acceptance, and trust can help a missionary in the process of acculturation.

We will be using two books over the course of the online course.

1. Cross Cultural Connections: Stepping Out and Fitting in Around the World by Duane Elmer. Both Kindle and paper versions are available on Amazon.
2. The Messenger, the Message and the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-Cultural Church Planter (4th edition) by Roland Muller. A PDF version of the book is available here.

SEND U will receive a small commission as an Amazon Associate if you purchase the books from the above links. Any other readings will be available on the course site. We will read most of the Elmer book over the course, but will focus on the middle section of the Muller book as part of our discussion of worldview. You will need the Muller book for Week 2, so if you want the paper version, please order the books in time.

The key to successful learning in this course is interaction. This interaction takes place both with the facilitator and with the other participants in the course. It is vital that each participant faithfully posts responses on time and replies to the posts of other participants as well as attend all scheduled video calls for the course.

You will not receive a grade or mark from your facilitator. Your success in learning will be measured by you when you notice the impact of the lessons learned on your cross-cultural living.

We want you to engage with each other as well as with the subject matter. Don’t be afraid to articulate your unique ideas, think critically, or ask challenging questions of others in a godly manner. Of course, your words of encouragement to fellow participants are always welcome.

The course will require about six hours a week of work for native English speakers. All the material is presented online and will be a mix of text, audio, and video. Please complete all weekly activities in the order they are presented. A main part of the course is the interaction between participants and the facilitator through forums and video calls.

Some of this course is asynchronous in nature. For many of the assignments, there are not specific times you need to be online. However, there will be a weekly required video discussion time in Teams with your discussion group. The assignments have due dates, and within the boundaries of those due dates you are free to complete those assignments according to your schedule (i.e., you can do them at night, in the morning, at lunch, etc.). Please note that all references to due dates and times refer to Eastern Time, USA (New York).

Please note that materials available through this course may be copyright protected by third parties. They are provided here solely for use by the participants enrolled in this course. Please do not distribute, post, or publish any materials in this course without the express permission of the copyright holders.

• What is Worldview > video clip
• Cross-Cultural Connections: Stepping Out and Fitting In Around the World by Duane Elmer
• The Messenger, The Message, and the Community by Roland Muller
• Honor & Shame 101 > a video clip explaining honor-based and shame-based worldviews
• 3D Gospel > a video clip explaining how to share the gospel with guilt, shame, and fear-based worldviews

• Understanding Culture by Lloyd E. Kwast
• The Cultural Intelligence Assessment > a self-assessment that measures an individual’s capabilities to work and relate effectively with people from different nationalities, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds
• Leading With Cultural Intelligence by David A. Livermore, Chapter 5
• Cultural Dimension: Me or We > video clip
• Gary Ridley's SEND U blog series on the ten cultural value orientations of Cultural Intelligence, Part 1 and Part 2

• Culture Stress > a video clip of a presentation given by Dan Fishel to incoming International Students at the Columbia Business School. This video shows how culture differences can result in stress. It is also interesting to hear a foreigner's perception of American culture. And find Part 2 here.
• Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity > video clip
• The Developmental MOdel of Intercultural Sensitivity > by Milton J. Bennett
• Questioning the Validitiy of "The 4 Stages of Cultural Adjustment" by Darlene Jovellanos
• The Change Cycle
• What Missionaries out to Know About Culture Stress > by Ronald L. Koteskey

• The Incarnation as the Foundation for Missions by Ernest Manges
• Sent like Jesus by Gary Ridley
• What to Carry/What to Leave Behind by Christine Jeske
• The Missionary as Cultural Pilgrim by Marcus Dean. One way of thinking about the journey of a missionary is as a “cultural pilgrim.”