This article focuses on the viewpoint and activities of Japanese cultural liaisons who host short-term mission (STM) groups from the United States to Japan. The hosts' description of their experiences in planning, financing, orienting, and ministering with STM groups shows a willingness of some Japanese to work with STM but also a frustration when their contributions in these areas are minimized by their STM guests. Based on my interviews with Japanese liaisons, I suggest that movement toward a host-directed approach to STM built upon listening to the hosts, thinking long-term, developing cultural awareness, and emphasizing relationships can promote a more missiologically responsible and effective partnership between STM guests and their hosts.Global connections of local congregations with congregations and ministries in different cultures have grown to include not just financial support and the sending of specialists, but direct, hands-on participation by increasing numbers of members-at-large. In the case of North America (NA), nearly two million people participate annually (Priest, 2010: 86) in short-term missions outside of NA at a cost of billions of dollars. 1 These trips create host-guest relations that are facilitated by cultural liaisons and, because the

Globalization has made it possible for local Christians to adopt resources from around the world. The adoption of these resources generates questions of cultural identity on the local level—What does it mean to be “indigenous?” These questions are significant for the formation and propagation of gospel-based communities lived out in specific contexts which, in turn, implies the need to refine our approach to contextualization. The uneven, multidirectional flows of ideas, resources, and people of globalization challenge both Western and Majority World Churches to exercise discernment as they attempt to live out the gospel authentically in their local context. However, approaches to contextualization must also take into account that “indigenous” is understood in a variety of ways by local Christians as they combine these global influences, their culture-at-large, and their faith to determine what it means to be Christians in their context. Based on this broader understanding of indigeneity, our approach to contextualization must be to empower local believers; to speak prophetically; to speak missionally; and to practice the same discernment that we expect of them.