The Power of Honor

This Month's Articles

Restoring What Was Lost Editorial

Restoring What Was Lost

From the Editor

I want to start out by thanking the four guest editors who filled in for me during my recently completed sabbatical. They all did a great job for which I am very thankful. Thank you also to those...

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Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Feature

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

The Gospel the World is Waiting For

As our team in Central Asia was preparing to host a training for national church-planting partners, I took advantage of the opportunity to dialogue with the six national believers on our team about...

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Tags: guilt, honor, roman road, shame, upgs

Why has the Church Lost “Face”? Feature

Why has the Church Lost “Face”?

Examining Our Blindspot About Honor and Shame

Once again I found myself in the same conversation. The missionary shook his head and said, “That’s fine if you want to talk about ‘face’ as a gospel ‘bridge.’ But, ultimately, you have to talk...

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Tags: blindspot, china, chinese, face, honor, shame

Honor and Shame in Latin American Culture Feature

Honor and Shame in Latin American Culture

The role of honor and shame in Asia and Africa has been well established.1 Yet a “blindspot” regarding the centrality of honor and shame in Latin American culture undermines our presentation of the...

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Tags: honor, latin america, shame

Good News! God Honors Us By Entering Our Story Feature

Good News! God Honors Us By Entering Our Story

ENTERING YOUR STORY

I brought some candy with me for the national staff of an NGO in Central Asia. They thanked me of course, to which I replied, “It was nothing.” And really it was a very little...

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Tags: central asia, honor, persian, story

Honor/Shame Sub-Cultures in the U.S. Feature

Honor/Shame Sub-Cultures in the U.S.

While shame may be primary in some societies, it is present to some degree in all cultures. And honor and shame are dominant influences in many pockets of American society in which public praise...

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Tags: american, church, gamgs, honor, shame, subcultures

The Gospel of Purity for Unreached Peoples Feature

The Gospel of Purity for Unreached Peoples

[Adapted from The Global Gospel: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World by Werner Mischke (MissionONE, 2015). Purity is one of nine honor/shame dynamics explored in this book.]

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Tags: gospel, honor, purity, shame, unclean, unreached peoples

Gospel Restores Honor to the Dishonored Feature
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Gospel Restores Honor to the Dishonored

[Editorial note: This article is based on the 1994 EMQ article "The Gospel for Shame Cultures" by Bruce “Thomas” Sidebotham and has been revised on Bruce’s own site in this 2002 revision.

...
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Tags: defilement, dishonor, honor, muslim, unclean

To Love the Glory of God Feature

To Love the Glory of God

At the dramatic crescendo of John’s gospel, Jesus makes a final appeal, that those who could perceive the light of the world would “believe in the light” to become “sons of light” (John 12:36)....

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Tags: fear, glory, god, honor, shame, trinitarian

The Right/Wrong Mindset Feature
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The Right/Wrong Mindset

[Editorial note: This article has been excerpted from the chapter entitled "Guilt-Based Culture" from the book Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door by Roland Muller.]

Right versus wrong is the...

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Tags: guilt, honor, right, shame, wrong

The Good News for Muslims in Honor-Based Cultures Feature

The Good News for Muslims in Honor-Based Cultures

THE GOSPEL: MORE THAN WE THOUGHT

We often present the Gospel simply as forgiveness for our sins. But Jesus died not just to take away our sins, but to take away our shame, our fear, our...

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Tags: good news, honor, islam, muslims, shame

Three-Story Method and Set of Bible Stories  for Evangelism Feature
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Three-Story Method and Set of Bible Stories for Evangelism

Theme: Shame and Honor

THREE-STORY METHOD

In Sustainable Church Multiplication Movements (S-CMMs), Christians start groups which discuss Bible stories. They also train other Christians to do the same. One effective way...

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Tags: bible story, evangelism, honor, shame

Honour/Shame Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa Feature

Honour/Shame Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa

“A thief is only a thief when caught with the goods”— Setswana proverb

My husband and I have been discipling and mentoring believers in Botswana since 2001. Like many others, we have been...

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Tags: collectivistic, fear, guilt, honor, shame, sub-saharan africa

Quick Guide to Honor/Shame Dynamics in the Bible Feature

Quick Guide to Honor/Shame Dynamics in the Bible

Click on the image.

Tags: bible, guide, honor, shame

Honor and Shame Beyond the Gospel Feature

Honor and Shame Beyond the Gospel

Back in 1999, I was sharing with a fellow missionary my struggles  in communicating the gospel with Muslims. His offhand comment completely changed my world: “That’s because Arabs live in a...

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Tags: arabs, gospel, honor, muslims, shame

T4T or DMM (DBS)? - Only God Can Start a Church-Planting Movement (Part 1 of 2) Kingdom Kernels

T4T or DMM (DBS)? - Only God Can Start a Church-Planting Movement (Part 1 of 2)

Kingdom Kernels

The Spirit of God is launching Church-Planting Movements (CPMs) around the world, just as he has done at various times in history. With Acts-like DNA disciples, churches and leaders are multiplying...

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Tags: church-planting movmenet, dbs, disciple-making movement, discovery bible study, dmm, t4t

David Platt Becomes New IMB President Other

David Platt Becomes New IMB President

Editorial Note: Over the last few years David Platt has become one of the most effective spokesmen on behalf of reaching the unreached peoples. His best selling books, Radical and Radical Together...

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Tags: baptist, david platt, imb, president

Mobilistically Speaking Further Reflections

Mobilistically Speaking

Further Reflections

The story is told of two shoe salesmen who went to a rural, undeveloped part of the world. One came back and said it was hopeless, “No one wears shoes...we can’t sell anything here.” The other...

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Tags: communication, contextualization, language, mobilization