From IICM

Overview

NeoTribal Cultures Project

Missional Suite Project

Evangelscape Topography Project

Sitescape Location Project

IICM Projects Overview

The Intercultural Institute for Contextual Ministry, Inc. sponsors those projects that will contribute to the ministry success of our Missional Partners, Coaches, Faculty, Fellows and volunteer contributors. We endeavor to create both the infrastructure and the data content to enable evangelical believers and ministries to become interculturally focused and missionally driven.

Interculturally Focused

What does it mean for ministry to become interculturally focused? The dictionary definition of the word "intercultural" means "between or among people of different cultures." These "cultures" may defined on the basis of many different dimensions and their combinations including ethnicity, language, lifestyle, generation or lifestage, or religion. So for Christian believers and churches to become "interculturally focused" means that they become actively aware of the cultural dimensions of the society around them. Noting the differences between various groups is the first step to become proactive in dealing with the cultural barriers that block the communication of the gospel. Interculturally focused believers and churches take deliberate steps to overcome the cultural barriers that block understanding and acceptance of the gospel.

Missionally Driven

The word "missional" has become one of the latest "buzz words" in Christian circles -- and already its meaning is becoming marginalized by defining everything we do in ministry as "missional." The word "missional" is an adjective form of the noun "mission" -- so a person who is "missional" is one who is acting out his mission. Just as "missionaries" act out their mission, so too we must become "missional" or "missionaries" in our own communities. Being missionally driven means that we live our lives "adopting the posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the gospel message." ^[1]

Through our projects we conduct research, provide training, and develop tools and resources in order to facilitate churches and believers to become missional in their thinking, behavior and practices -- reaching out to their communities interculturally-focused and missionally-driven as missionaries.

References

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Missional living," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed March 29, 2009).