Brazilians adapting to Arab culture

The following is excerpted from pp. 64-65 of Brazilian Evangelical Missions in the Arab World:

In chapters 2 and 3, we raise the question, what does it mean, culturally speaking, to be a Brazilian evangelical missionary in the Arab world? Forty-five past and present Brazilian evangelical workers were invited to comment and reflect upon their own “Brazilianness” and how they have adapted in the Arab world. The perspectives of ten Brazilian mission leaders have also been included. I have treated Brazil as an affinity bloc of cultures in which there is clear diversity as well as some elements of cohesiveness. I have approached the Arab world in the same way. Hence, the framework for discussing Brazilians in the Arab world has been to reflect upon two affinity blocs and to ask members of one group (Brazilians) to share their collective experiences living in a second group (the Arab world) specifically regarding aspects of culture that have clear missiological implications. 

In chapter 2 we . . . deal with four areas—race, economics, time, and communication—while in chapter 3 we . . . consider family, relationships, hospitality, and spiritual worldview. After first consulting the appropriate cultural and missiological literature and then listening to the experiences of Brazilian missionaries and mission leaders, it has become evident, culturally speaking, that Brazilians are not Arabs and that Brazilians must surely work to adapt culturally. However, it also appears that there is generally less cultural distance between the Brazilians surveyed and their Arab contexts than what is normally experienced by Western missionaries in the Arab world, allowing Brazilian evangelical work to be less intrusive.

At the 2012 SE regional Evangelical Missiological Society meeting, I gave a paper from this chapter entitled "Missional Hospitality: Brazilian ministering to Arabs" which can be accessed HERE.