Reaching Your East Asian Neighbours CrossCultural Training Day

Reaching Your East Asian Neighbours Cross-Cultural Training Day June 4 th 2019

Understanding Your East Asian Friends (Part 2)

Face - Mian. Zi

• Face is a mixture of an individual’s selfrespect, confidence and honorable reputation in the public eye. • Face is “a concept of central importance because of its pervasiveness with which it asserts influence in social intercourse. It is virtually impossible to think of a facet of social life to which the question of face is irrelevant” www. swdsi. org/swdsi 07/2007_proceedings/papers/401. pdf

Loss of face China Youth Daily’s Survey of 1, 150 Chinese • 75% acknowledging that making a mistake in public was, by far, the most humiliating experience they could ever imagine (Shan, 2005) • "lying" to either save or give face is not viewed as a lie at all when it is obvious that the intent or underlying motivation was never to deceive. • Loss of face brings shame on yourself, family, or group.

“Saving” and “Giving” Face • Strengthens interpersonal relationships • maintains harmony • minimizes potential conflict • preserves community (family, tribal or group) • facilitates communication between the various levels of society

What could cause a loss of face? • Stating or implying blame • Suggesting someone has made an error or is wrong • Making a request that one feels they can’t say “Yes” to • Saying “No” to a request directly

Guilt versus Shame GUILT Results from: a violation, a transgression. A fault of doing– “the act” was not good. SHAME Results from: a failure, a falling short as a person. A fault of being. Resulting in a feeling of inadequacy, sense of worthlessness. “I” am no good.

Shame • In a shame culture one of the worst things one can do is cause another to be shamed. • It is considered an even greater tragedy if this shaming is done in public.

Relationships -- Guan. Xi • Insiders • Outsiders • Obligations

Politeness - Ke. Qi This is particularly concerned with how to treat guests and how to behave as a guest.

Non-verbal communication “High and Low Context Cultures”

Indirectness • Which is correct? – I broke the plate or – The plate fell and broke

• The passive voice – shows concern for people. – suggests that someone was acted upon and was not an active participant. – serves to protect "face, " a person's honour. • The Active voice – Shows concern for accuracy. – reduces ambiguity and uncertainty because it designates and specifies.

Japanese Proverb “The nail that sticks up will get hammered down. ”

Syncretism: consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. Wikipedia

Understanding the spirit world

Group Work • Take a few minutes to share anything you know about views of spiritual oppression in your own culture and your church. • What do you think influences these views?

Group Work • Luke 10: 1 and 17 -20, and Luke 11: 14 -28. – What do these passages tell you about Jesus’ attitude to and power over evil spirits? • Acts 5: 16; 16: 16 -18; and 19: 11 -20. – What do you learn from these passages about how the first Christians dealt with spiritual oppression?

What’s gone wrong?

“I grew up in a thought world wherein ancestral spirits, demonic powers, “gods” and miracles of all kinds abound. Modern education, the most powerful of secularization forces, almost succeeded in getting me to toss out everything as mere superstition. Some clearly are, but not all. Careful reading of the Bible and the sheer weight of empirical evidence eventually forced me back to a supernatural Christianity. ” Rev. Dr. Hwa Yung Bishop of the Methodist Church in Malaysia

Group Work Using the quote from Rev. Dr. Hwa Yung • How does he describe his change in attitude to the supernatural over the years?

Worldview Beyond this world God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit Angels, Demons Everyday Supernatural beyond this world but closer Spirit world Everyday life The senses The Sciences

The Supernatural Relating to realities beyond the “natural” world Western Eastern The supernatural God, Angels, Demons Sciences, senses Everyday supernatural Biblical?

Chinese - “Divination, the art of using omens or magic powers to discern movements in the supernatural world, has long been an important decision-making tool for the Chinese. ” * Beyond this life Everyday supernatural Everyday life

Chinese - “Divination, the art of using omens or magic powers to discern movements in the supernatural world, has long been an important decision-making tool for the Chinese. ” Korean – “Korean Christians did not think of their conversion to Christianity as changing from one religion to another, but as a release from the power of the spirits. A Christian was asked, 6 months after her conversion, what the benefits of becoming a Christian were. “Before I became a Christian, ” she said, “I could not sleep through a single night for fear of the demons were working some mischief among my grandchildren, or were setting fire to the thatch, or giving the ox some disease. I would lie awake till daybreak, perspiring with fear, afraid to sleep. Now at bedtime, I just commit myself, with all the family and the house, to my watchful heavenly father, and lie down and sleep right through till morning. ” South East Asia - Throughout the region, the prevailing business spirit has drawn the affluent urban population even closer to spirit and ancestor worship. Much as Tokyo’s dark-suited corporate heads put their trust in shinto worship. * Beyond this life Everyday supernatural Everyday life

Key points • • Lesser spirits concerned with the practical affairs of everyday life. It’s about getting what you want with the least amount of trouble. There are various degrees of power, none of it good. spirits are good to you if you are good to them and bad to you if you are bad to them. Fear is the driving force. Harmony in life, good things are desirable. This is not achieved by aligning with what is right and opposing and what is evil, but rather by seeking to control or appease people or the gods. Your EA friends will not likely bring these issues up with you-you will have to take the lead.

Prayer