Pastor Fong tells a story in which a decision about cleaning the church’s carpets surfaced different cultural values. Even seemingly unimportant decisions are arrived at on the basis of deeply held beliefs. Fong shows how their conversation about theology and values helped them gain better an understanding of their own frameworks while they also identified relevant theological issues. → On pp 190-192 Branson describes Habermas’ theory of communicative competence. Use this framework to discuss the video. On pp 198-206 Branson discusses the social dynamics involved in intercultural communication. By being aware of intercultural dynamics, Pastor Fong was able to draw the people to the theological heart of the matter. This is the 5th clip in the Fong interview.
