Case studies and scenarios of ministry situations

• This webpage offers a collection of global case studies and scenarios for applying principles in real situations.
• The case studies cover missionary work, cultural conflicts, religious practices, economic aid, and personal dilemmas.
• Effectively using case studies requires an understanding of the context, identification of the central problem, consideration of multiple perspectives, and the development of viable solutions.

Looking for a case study to use with a class or group?

What would you do in this situation? What does it mean to put your faith into action?

Case studies -- examples of thorny situations -- are very effective in a problem-centered learning approach. Case studies help students practice applying principles and concepts in real situations. These real-life case studies and scenarios -- used by Howard Culbertson as classroom teaching/learning aids -- are available on this site:

Missionary case studies: The links with an asterisk (*) are situations in which a foreign missionary is directly involved.

Case studies: Aids for problem-centered learning

Seven steps to effective case study use

1. Case studies involving short-term mission trip teams
   • Mixed drinks: A prank backfires -- unity on a multicultural mission team
   • *"Don't tell Shari": Conflict over entertainment choices by a short- term mission group
   • *Giving Jeff a thrill: Flirting on a short-term missions team
   • Reentry from short-term mission
   • Salvage job -- short-term mission team problems during a summer mission experience
2. Battling racism in a congregation -- a church divided by prejudice
3. *Breakup of a missionary team -- Tough times
4. Ancestor veneration/worship
   • Bowing at the ancestors' tombs -- Korean celebration of Chuseok (or Chusok)
   • *Ancestral feast in Africa -- Should Christians participate?
5. Case studies involving Animism
   • *Communal feast -- protection from evil spirits in Java
   • Group conversion -- a village wants to become Christian
   • *You must purify this house — Demands to a missionary who killed bees
   • Sacrifice to the smallpox goddess -- What should new Christians do?
6. Case studies involving Buddhism
   • *Buddha pedestals in Thai church leaders' homes. Should the missionary say or do anything?
   • *Buddhist parents' objections to a young lady's baptism
   • My son is marrying a Buddhist!
   • Should I accept? Food that has been offered in worship
7. Case studies involving Hinduism
   • *Bible translation: Choosing a word for God
   • Can a Christian celebrate Diwali? -- a clash between Christianity and Hinduism
   • Food offered to idols: Should food offered to a Hindu shrine be eaten by Christ-followers?
   • Hindu/Christian marriage proposal
   • *Roberto de Nobili: A case study in accommodation involving a missionary in India
8. Case study involving Islam
   • How should Bashir be buried? Islamic versus Christian funeral for the infant of new Christ-followers
9. Case studies involving Shintoism
   • *Neighborhood event at at a Shinto shrine -- a Japanese Christian faces ostracism in her neighborhood
   • U.S. President visits a Shinto shrine -- Japanese believers offended
10. Case studies involving Development / economic aid
    • Helping without hurting -- a U.S. congregation wants to subsidize a pastor in Mexico<>/a>
    • *Onions and wives -- becoming a successful change agent
11. Conflict during the Lord's Supper -- cultural change polarizes a church and even tears a family apart
12. *Kidnapped missionary: Should the ransom be paid?
13. Male stripper -- attempted joke at a youth group sponsori's birthday party
14. *Obi's death -- missionaries in New Guinea
15. Pastor under attack -- dealing with hidden agendas
16. *Peacemaker or patsy -- Missionaries caught in the middle of to tribal warfare in Papua New Guinea
17. Sunday school class in decline
18. They only knew my name -- An outsider tries to plug into a church
19. To drink or not to drink -- a teetotaler in France finds himself in over his head
20. Walking away: Witnessing/soul winning
21. When trust erodes -- a congregation loses faith in their pastor
22. Inappropriate touching -- Is it sexual assault or just funny improvisation during a skit?

Seven steps to case study discussion Several of the above cases also have specific study guides linked to them.

Brief scenarios or examples with less description than a typical case study

1. Cultural anthropology scenarios: Gulliver's travels and ethnography in a McDonald's restaurant
2. Theology of missions scenarios: Are the heathen really lost?
3. Witnessing scenarios: How would you respond?
4. Using case studies as a learning tool

What's the best way to use a case study?

Case study exploration guide

Case studies are effective educational tools whose use was pioneered by Harvard University's business school. The best case studies are not made-up, one-upon-a-time stories. Rather, even though names and places may have been changed, these are descriptions of real situations.

For Christian workers heading into situations where they will be cultural outsiders, discussions of case studies can stimulate and hone critical thinking skills for situations where they will be carrying "foreigner" baggage.

Want to know how to process a case study? Follow these seven steps to reflect on and profitably discuss case studies.

How to use a case study

Seven steps to transforming a case study into a learning experience

1. Read the entire case study narrative.
   • Get acquainted with the cast of characters.
   • Who is involved?
   • What are their historical relationships?
   • What constituencies do they represent?
   • What might be the agenda of each character in this narrative?
2. Understand the flow of events
   • How did the problem arise?
   • Is there a deadline for a decision?
3. Determine from whose perspective the events are described.
4. Formulate a clear statement of the problem.
   • What values or interests are being challenged?
   • What should be the central or focal question?
5. Identify the issues at stake.
   • List factors relevant to comprehending, facing and solving the problem.
   • What ingredients have compounded the problem or perhaps have even created it?
   • Which area has some negotiating room in it?
   • Can some of the negative concerns be re-framed positively?
6. Clarify facts as well as feelings.
   • In your initial reading, some of the case's facts, elements or issues may not have seemed very important. As you reflect on the case, are there items which have grown in importance in your mind?
   • What details need clarification? In order to effectively process the case study, will you have to make some assumptions about some unstated details?
   • What feelings did you and others have after the initial reading of the case study?
7. Consider the case study from different angles. A jewel's facets show up best as it is turned to let light hit those facets at different angles. Approach the case study in the same way. Look at it from several different angles. That is, consider it from the points of view of each person involved. What would be the solution each would lean toward?
8. Dig around for resources.
   • What assets are available to resolve the problem?
   • Are there opportunities to partner or network in some way?
9. Make some assertions:
   • What ought to be going on?
   • What needs to happen to set that in motion?
   • To implement the most viable solution, what must be done and by whom?

    -- Howard Culbertson,

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