APU Digital Archives (Azusa Pacific University)

Nehrbass, Kenneth R.

277great commission research journal
shared administrative costs and the unified leadership, although it could be 
argued that unified leadership is still achievable outside a multichurch set-
ting. The elaborate structure necessary, according to Allison and House, is 
a large undertaking, with many moving parts. Why would a healthy single 
campus church want to embark on that journey when most of the benefits 
can be attained through a quality network?
For churches that are already multisite, the transition makes much more 
sense, especially if the church has a desire to become more contextualized 
and provide a more incarnational ministry in its neighborhood. The looser 
affiliation and bottom-up authority structure free the churches to carry out 
the gospel vision in their own way without the micromanagement of a cen-
tral authority that might be more concerned with unified form or branding 
than contextual ministry. Even so, it seems like many churches will inevita-
bly make the full transition to autonomous, networked churches rather than 
remain in a multichurch structure. These loose connections of the collective 
model will begin to lose their hold. Allison and House themselves admit 
this possibility when they write, “A weakness of this model is that its success 
is largely dependent on avoiding conflict between the local church leaders. 
The minimal level of expected collaboration and contribution to the collec-
tive . . . is such that each church could easily spin off from the collective as an 
independent church” (72). 
In MultiChurch, Gregg Allison and Brad House have offered a great 
resource to advocates of the multisite movement, especially those looking for 
an ecclesiological “okay” for multisite. They have also provided some reasoned 
answers for moving past some of the questionable practices currently being 
carried out in multisite churches. Even more so, they have provided some 
thoughtful considerations for the next iteration of multisite church ministry. 
Multisite may never be completely dethroned, but as more churches recon-
sider the appropriateness of a cloned multisite strategy, multichurch may lead 
the way to a more thoughtful and theologically refined form of multisite. 
Davis, Charles. Making Disciples Across Cultures: Missional Principles for a Diverse World. Down-
ers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015. 236 pp. $18.00.
Reviewed by Kenneth Nehrbass. Kenneth earned a BA in classical civilization from the University of 
California, Irvine, an MDiv from Anderson School of Theology, and a PhD in intercultural studies 
from Biola University. He is an associate professor of intercultural studies in the graduate programs at 
Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. 
The field of intercultural studies has provided missionaries with some tools for 
describing cultural differences (e.g., power distance, event-versus-time orienta-
tion, collectivism-versus-individualism, high-versus-low context speech, etc.). 
Moreover, evangelical schools of intercultural studies typically equip students 
278 Book reviews
with the tools to study culture for the ultimate purpose of fulfilling the Great 
Commission. What is remarkable is that so few missiologists have explicitly 
shown how the vanguard concepts of intercultural studies can influence evan-
gelism and disciple making. Charles Davis’s Making Disciples Across Cultures: 
Missional Principles for a Diverse World makes a unique and long overdue con-
tribution to missiology by connecting theories within intercultural studies to 
the most important work the church has to accomplish: making disciples. 
Some missiologists have written on cultural value orientations, draw-
ing on Edward Hall’s work from the Foreign Service Institute, the GLOBE 
study, and Geert Hofstede’s study of more than 160,000 IBM employees 
around the world. Some authors have shown the usefulness of understand-
ing these cultural variables for effective cross-cultural leadership (cf. Sher-
wood Lingenfelter and Duane Elmer), for multicultural team building (cf. 
Roembke Liann and Sheryl Silzer), and especially for crossing cultures 
without experiencing culture shock (cf. David Livermore). However, few 
have attempted to show how theoretical concepts from Hall and Hofstede 
and others influence “best practices” for discipleship. Fewer have evaluated 
the various cultural value orientations in light of Scripture. Davis’s book 
looks at ten polar cultural value orientations, and it explores how Scripture 
calls us to live in the balance between these poles. For example, how can the 
church balance its call to minister to its own (individualism) and change 
the world (collectivism)? In what way is the church a lifeboat, and how is it 
a battering ram? In what way is discipleship a task, and how is it a process? 
How much of discipleship is related to knowledge, and how much is related 
to action or experience? Throughout the book, Davis uses the metaphor of 
sliders on a sound-mixing console to show how certain practices related to 
discipleship may need to be deemphasized in a given culture, whereas other 
practices should be enhanced. For instance, Westerners may need to tone 
down the myopic emphasis on discipleship-as-propositional-truth, and 
they may need to turn up the volume on the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Davis’s ontology is woven throughout the text. He takes it as a given that 
God, Satan, angels, and demons inhabit this world, exhibiting their influ-
ence on humankind. He regularly suggests a balance between seeing and 
feeling—between the seen and the unseen. Western models of discipleship 
that ignore the spiritual world are handicapped, but models that spiritualize 
and allegorize everything are also insufficient.
Discipleship is a lifelong process; it is not just “making a decision,” being 
baptized, or joining a church. Davis is skeptical of one-size-fits-all evangelism 
techniques. Furthermore, he argues that just as discipleship must be tailored 
to a cultural context, it often must be personalized for the individual. Ironi-
cally, Davis claims that the principles in his book are universals for all cultures. 
At times, especially in chapters 11 and 12, Davis conflates discipleship 
with the life of the church. For instance, he explores the way we would bal-
ance the institutional organization of a church with the need for flexibility. 
279great commission research journal
This conflation is not necessarily bad and may be intentional, because the 
local church is often the locus for discipleship. 
Davis’s discussion of truth and justice (chapter 3) leans toward holism as 
he argues for a balance between word and deed, propositions and actions, 
and personal and social transformation. This posture will be acceptable to 
many evangelical readers, but it will stretch prioritists. 
The book often touches on theoretical concepts that are extensively dis-
cussed in theology and missiology; yet, to remain accessible at a popular 
level, Davis does not introduce the readers to the vast background of litera-
ture on these subjects. For example, he does not take much time to reteach 
concepts that are now well known in missiology, such as the homogeneous 
unit principle, honor and shame cultures, or cultural value orientations. 
Additionally, his discussions on balancing private and public faith are born 
out of centuries’ worth of scholarship on Christianity and politics. Scholars 
would want to connect the discussion to Augustine, Abraham Kuyper, John 
Howard Yoder, and Miroslav Volf; yet, this is not the book for introducing 
higher-level theory. However, this is not to say that theoretical literature is 
absent in the book. Davis reveals his doctoral level missiological training at 
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School as he interacts with missiologists like 
Alan Tippett, Paul Hiebert, and Jim Plueddemann throughout the book.
Much of the book draws on Davis’s extensive experience overseas, as a 
youth in Pakistan, as a missionary in Venezuela, and as the international 
director of TEAM. Davis’s reliance on personal experience and anecdote 
makes the book readable at a popular level; but the lack of empirical research 
will leave missiologists a bit unsatisfied. For example, how are churches in 
places like sub-Saharan Africa heeding Davis’ call to balance the visible and 
invisible? What problems do churches in India run into when they balance 
individualism and collectivism in their discipleship efforts? Who are these 
disciple makers that balance justice and propositional truth? How do their 
communities receive them? Davis’s model comes across as more prescrip-
tive than descriptive, and it is now up to missiologists to see how the model 
plays out in actual discipleship contexts. 
DeYmaz, Mark. Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community. Nashville, TN: 
Thomas Nelson, 2017. 224 pp. $16.99.
Reviewed by Joey Chen. He has a passion for what God is doing in cities and is currently lead pastor at 
Sunset Church in San Francisco, California. He is also working on a DMin at Talbot School of Theol-
ogy. He earned his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and BA from Cedarville University.
The growing disparity between the diversity of Silicon Valley and the lack of 
diversity represented in technology companies has brought criticisms that 
companies have systemic cultures that discriminate against minorities and 


English

Book Review: Making Disciples Across Cultures: Missional Principles for a Diverse World by Charles Davis

https://digitalarchives.apu.edu/barfield-images/1345/thumbnail.jp

Kurtz, L. W.

Unidentified Group 5 [reverse]

Hill, Mary; Training School for Christian Workers Presidenthttps://digitalarchives.apu.edu/presidential-portrait/1003/thumbnail.jp

Hill, Mary

Mary Hill - Portrait

Hill, Mary; Training School for Christian Workers Presidenthttps://digitalarchives.apu.edu/presidential-portrait/1008/thumbnail.jp

McLaughlin, George A.; Training School for Christian Workers Presidenthttps://digitalarchives.apu.edu/presidential-portrait/1020/thumbnail.jp

McLaughlin, George A.

George A. McLaughlin - Portrait

Haggard, Cornelius P.; Training School for Christian Workers President; Pacific Bible College President; Azusa College President; Azusa Pacific College Presidenthttps://digitalarchives.apu.edu/presidential-portrait/1032/thumbnail.jp

Haggard, Cornelius P.

Cornelius P. Haggard - Portrait

Haggard, Cornelius P.; Training School for Christian Workers President; Pacific Bible College President; Azusa College President; Azusa Pacific College Presidenthttps://digitalarchives.apu.edu/presidential-portrait/1037/thumbnail.jp

Azusa Pacific University

Not a member yet

Book Review: Making Disciples Across Cultures: Missional Principles for a Diverse World by Charles Davis

Unidentified Group 5 [reverse]

Mary Hill - Portrait

Mary Hill - Portrait

George A. McLaughlin - Portrait

Cornelius P. Haggard - Portrait

Cornelius P. Haggard - Portrait

Keith, Tom, Famous Edinburgh doctor [reverse]

1885, June 3, [Douie, Helen] Maud’s Mother, [Douie, Maud], approx. 3 months,

Unidentified Man 13 [reverse]

716

1,556