Acculturation Strategies: Navigating Between Worlds

Missionaries face many complex situations when seeking to adapt to new cultures, especially when they are working among immigrant communities. The theory of acculturation strategies (Berry, 1997, 2001) provides insights into various approaches different people use when responding to new cultures. Different combinations of the desire to maintain one’s home culture and the desire to adapt to the host culture produce different acculturation strategies that have important implications for church planting.