update #6 - cross-cultural training & reflections

"I want to travel the world and breathe the air of new places." --unknown

Some reflections of the time I spent in the cross-cultural training this past month:

Culture is a beautiful and unique mosaic that I believe is a picture of the diversity and creativity of Christ. He makes Himself known in all cultures, people groups, and countries across the world, not just one. He is not limited to our simple understanding of a design for living. He is bigger and greater than we can imagine. He encompasses all cultures, never changing who He is by nature, but revealing Himself in different ways to different people.


We can stand to learn a lot about Christ by visiting and immersing ourselves in different cultures. Each culture’s unique explanation of the purpose of the animals, plants, landforms that fill this earth reveal just a bit more of who God is. In my opinion, culture is a picture of the Body of Christ – each part unique and necessary for the Body to function properly; parts of each culture are a reflection of who Christ is and when we learn more about other cultures, we are able to see new and different parts of Christ.


However, while there is much beauty in the unique creativity God has in forming countless cultures throughout the world, our human brokenness is also made evident in certain parts of these cultures. There is no right or wrong culture, but there are clear parts of each culture that are simply not Christ, but the flesh. In those parts, however, there is a story of redemption waiting to be seen.


And that’s the beautiful thing: Christ is in every culture because He is a mosaic of cultures, and culture is a mosaic of who Christ is. Though He may have spent His time on earth in the Middle East, He now relates to all people in all cultures. His love is bigger than cultural divides. He is greater than the differences that can blind us humans. And it’s His love that must be taken across these cultural barriers. It’s His love that can be communicated across the cultural barriers because He is the one constant that remains true in all cultures. We just need to look for Him with a different perspective. There may be different ways of seeing Him, relating to Him, understanding Him in each culture, but one thing remains constant: Jesus is there.


I think this is something truly evidenced in culture: His love, glory and power are understood in various languages and experienced by people all across the globe. There is not just one culture that understands and experiences Christ. He is present everywhere. He might look different, but I think people are just seeing a different part of His face. It’s still Christ. It’s all Him. This outward expression of who a people group is shows just a portion of God’s marvelous creativity. What a wonderful gift it is to have multiple perspectives of the things God has created – and of our Father Himself!


Given our discussion of the multiple views of culture, I believe that one’s attitude towards a given culture will be positively impacted by having a high view of culture because there will be an openness and willingness to learn from the people of the host culture. Having a low view of culture, however, can negatively affect one’s attitude towards a given culture and its people by allowing a preconceived notion of right vs. wrong to dictate all interactions a person has with people in the host culture. It would prevent one from being able to have genuine, trusting relationships with people of the given culture because there would not be a willingness to understand the reasons behind why people do what they do. There might be an assumption that if it is not done the same (“right”) way, it is wrong and therefore sinful. I also think that having a neutral view of culture will negatively affect one’s attitude towards a given culture and its people because that person won’t see the need to actually understand the culture of the people before building a relationship. There would be countless misunderstandings based on cultural differences that could be avoided if that person valued culture.


Having a high view of culture can affect one’s approach to missions by seeing that Jesus is the one who makes culture beautiful, unique and diverse. Understanding that He is revealed in different ways throughout the cultures of the world will help the missionary’s approach in sharing the gospel. Being culturally aware allows us to share Christ in a way that is understandable to people in our host culture. Having a low or neutral view of culture would likely lead to many difficulties in sharing the gospel with the host culture because there is no value for, or understanding of, the need to contextualize the gospel for the sake of the people in the host country.

♥ mk