What is a Worldview?

The term worldview is used to refer to the common concept of reality shared by a particular group of people, usually referred to as a culture or ethnic group. Worldview is an individual as well as a group phenomenon.
A person’s worldview is really ones perception of how the world around him works. Where many people share a common worldview, that view is considered the cultural worldview for that group of people. When approaching a people group evangelistically it is important to understand their worldview to avoid accidentally offending them as well as helping in developing a strategy to reach them for Christ.
Our team in West Africa this time is tasked with determining the worldview of the Mandyak people. This will be accomplished by answering approximately 70 questions which have been developed by the IMB for the purpose. Questions relate to family and marriage institutions, economics, religion, community, social hierarchy, etc. Some may be answered by observation, but most are to be answered by interviews with individuals.
All of this will require an extraordinary effort on the part of Sam, David and the students from SBU. Pray that the translators (John and Joseph) may do their parts seamlessly and efficiently and that much information may be gathered in the short time allotted.