How to stay in Afghanistan legally (part one and two). Classic-paints a great picture of what the immigration is like in some parts of the world!
Christian radio-I tuned out a long time ago.
Evangelicals and universalism.
Mountain biking in Indiana. An oxymoron no more.
This week we cleaned and painted our room, which took a little more time than I anticipated. It was a mess! One of these days I’ll have to write an epic post about all my thoughts after four years of living in community-the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s probably a good thing I’m not writing that this week!
After the room was cleaned up, we had to get some essentials: bed, mattress, wardrobe, dresser, pillows, curtains, etc. Nothing fancy-just functional. So we went to IKEA, where the word “functional” is uttered in hallowed tones by blue-shirted priests of furniture and household items. It’s an interesting place: ultra-modern European meets Walmart-style American consumism. I’ve had more than one person tell me that there is a philosophy (or a “strong and living reality”) behind the IKEA “experience”; some kind of mystical union between utility, modernity, and responsibility. That may be true, but Ingvar Kamprad has a very tangible union with a whole lot of $$$.
And our visit just helped him buy another economy class ticket. We settled on one of the cheapest bedroom sets. I assembled it today, and came to the conclusion that IKEA is no worker of miracles. You get what you pay for, and we paid for some nicely finished plywood. But it is funtional, and it doesn’t look bad at all.
Now our focus has shifted to how we can arrange the room to maximize space and store all our stuff. We still need to add some kind of desk/workspace and shelves, and at that point we will be at full capacity. But there’s one problem: Aidan’s bed! His pack’n play takes up a lot of space, and the only place it will fit if we get a desk is smack in the center of the room. True, we could take it down every morning, but that might get old. We were discussing all of this tonight, and then-inspiration struck. Functionality…Aidan….Dresser. I was thinking about the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer has some Asian friends stay the night and they sleep in his dresser. Perfect:
Unfortunately, Becka did not see the brilliance of this solution. So the pack’n play it is. But I will be marketing this concept to IKEA.
We are moving (at the end of the week). Back to a little room! Yes, it’s a bit hard to swallow (after spending the last three months in a gigantic apartment!), but that’s life. It was such a blessing to be able to stay in the apartment, but I’m sure the family returning from outreach will be glad to be home! Our residency is still in process, so we wouldn’t be able to move into the city yet. And we realized that it would be quite a stretch for us to rent and furnish an apartment at this point. After feeling really discouraged about this, we both felt God reminding us that He is fully capable of providing what we need whenever we need it, and that we are in the right place at least for now.
We’ve started meeting with our team leader to plan out our time in Amsterdam. For the next three months or so we will be focusing on language learning. It’s something that we believe is really important, even if we aren’t fluent by the time we leave. We may even do a home stay if the opportunity opens up. Our mentor is helping us develop a study program based on the LAMP method and we’ll probably end up taking some government courses as well. It’s going to be fun! I had my first conversation entirely in Dutch the other day, which was very encouraging!
I started teaching English again. I’ve been meeting with a couple from N. Africa and we’re having a great time getting to know each other. (We try to fit some language learning in there, too!) Both of them are fairly new believers who hope to get further bible training and discipleship so they can return one day and invest in their home culture. It’s currently illegal in their country to share Christ but they are looking forward to the day when they can bring their newfound hope to those they love. They are an amazing couple and it’s been an honor to be a small part of their lives.
Last night, I thought Aidan was sleeping in his crib while Chris and I talked. Just as we turned out the light, Chris called out, “Good night, tot!” and he answered right away with a little squawk. Chris and I both laughed at his timing and I got out of bed to resettle Aidan. I was surprised to find that he was sound asleep. He must have been talking to Chris in his sleep!
Good advice for short-term mission teams.
A great interview with Alan Hirsch, a leading thinker in the world of mission. He defines missional and incarnational (two buzz words these days) and concisely sums up some of the paradigm shifts in mission.
Why young adults are leaving church.
Sailing around the world-a great story.
Time’s 50 best websites of 2008.
Hell will be full of…sports fans!? Or maybe just people who make signs like this.
Big and small: a cross-cultural moment.
Why stealing wifi isn’t stealing. Interesting perspective.
Ronald McDonald in Thailand: do you see Jesus?
Here’s a few notes from the intercultural trainers workshop. It was a full-on week with a lot of teaching, group discussion, and application. Becka and I were busy with logistics and serving but we sat in the sessions as much as we could. (From a logistics point of view, the workshop felt a little last minute.But everything came together in the end, and no one died or got lost, so that’s a success in my books!) What stood out to me:
-We ended up with a group of 35 people, representing multiple organizations, from 15 or so different nations, including America, Australia, Canada, Korea, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Venezuela, and a number of European countries. The diversity of the group made the “intercultural” part of things very tangible!
-We had some brief sessions on the biblical foundation for culture. I won’t go into the details but it was very interesting. One thing that stuck out was a discussion on “Kingdom culture”: this popular belief encourages everyone to throw their culture into the melting pot and hope that out of that comes “Christian culture”. In reality, this merging of cultures takes on a predominantly Western/American form, especially in missions. This was contrasted with the biblical model of each culture being created and valued by God and each individually purposely place in a specific culture. Heaven will be multicultural; every language spoken on earth will be spoken in heaven.
- One of the major themes of the week was the importance of listening to each other’s stories. The miracle of Pentecost was not just a miracle of tongues (i.e. speaking), but also a miracle of hearing. There is a lot of conflict and hurt between cultures in missions, and a good deal of it is because we aren’t listening to what other cultures are saying. Even when we are listening (hopefully with the right attitude), we are hearing the wrong thing (this is about the practical skills needed to relate cross-culturally). For me, the highlight of the week was listening to people from different cultures tell their stories.
-Much of the teaching focused on the power dynamics that occur in multicultural teams. We talked about low and high power distance cultures, and the practical tools and understanding needed for mixed culture teams to be effective. It is so important to understand that high/low power distance cultures and high/low context cultures have very different approaches to leadership. Eric Law’s book The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb was the focus for many of our discussions; it’s one of the better books on multicultural spirituality. Law discusses the importance of understanding that in a multicultural group some cultures are powerful and others are powerless. As followers of Christ we want to see each culture find its identity and voice, but this requires living in a cycle of death and resurrection. The powerful must become powerless so that the powerless may become powerful. But the now powerful-once-powerless can easily fall into the role of the oppressor, so the cycle must be repeated. In this way each culture is valued equally (ok, maybe you better read the book!). I know discussing power in the context of Christians working together may seem strange, but this is a huge issue. Without the right attitude and the skills to interact with different cultures, it is inevitable that one culture will dominate the other and this is when conflict and wounding occurs.
-We had a group of Koreans take part in the workshop (including one of the speakers), and one of the highlights of the week for me was hearing them share their experiences in mission. In the last ten years, Korea has emerged as a major mission sending nation. I meet Korean missionaries everywhere (seriously, I can’t think of a single place I’ve been where I haven’t met a Korean.) But this movement has not been without cultural challenges; Koreans have at times struggled to integrate into western multicultural teams/organizations, and other cultures have likewise struggled to work with Koreans. There’s been hurt on both sides. But it was so interesting to hear the Koreans share their perspective and some of the cultural reasons for why misunderstandings occur. We talked about “group culture” and Asian style of leadership among other things.
-I had a great conversation with a new Korean friend about open source mission. We started talking about blogging, online resources, generational differences in how information is accessed, etc. I went on my rant about how behind the world of mission is in utilizing the internet, thinking I was being original; he just nodded and proceeded to outline an open source model he had developed and submitted to leadership in Korea! We had a great chat about the possibilities and I left convinced that it will probably be the Koreans who will be the first to make this happen. As we ended the discussion, he gave me a pat on the back and a little smile and said, “Get a Mac”!
- As I listened to the stories of hurt and healing between cultures, a question that I’ve been struggling with for a long time resurfaced: What does it mean to be an American in mission? Americans have dominated global mission for the last fifty years. That doesn’t mean that mission hasn’t been birthed in other places; of course it has. But a good portion of the influence, money, and personnel has come from America. There are a number of reasons for this; one being that we have always been a pioneering people, and that combined with our global economic influence makes us vulnerable to thinking we know best. There’s been a lot of hurt and injustice but also a lot of good brought by the American mission movement. I wish I could identify myself with just the good and not take it personally, but here’s the reality, folks: the color of your skin and the letters on your passport will put you in a box, even in the world of mission. Honestly, it was pretty hard to listen to the stories of different cultures struggling to find a voice in a Christian world dominated by well-intentioned Americans/Europeans. As these nations take their place at the table, their voices have to be heard. And that requires listening. Not all that will be heard will be pleasant so it will take a lot of grace and forgiveness from all sides.
One encouraging story related to this: At one point during the workshop, as the American in me was sinking lower and lower while the stories were being told, a Mexican woman (a missionary to the Netherlands) spoke up and said, “Mexico has seen the worst of American missions. Wasted money, vacation “mission” trips, patronizing attitudes, token orphanages-you name it we’ve seen it all. But you know what? I was saved through one of these “bad” missionaries, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him. I love America like my own country, because they loved me enough to come and share the gospel. Now that I am a missionary myself, this is what I’ve learned: everyone makes mistakes. Every culture fails in some way, misrepresents Jesus in some way. But we need to get beyond this and see people’s hearts. Then we will see Jesus.
-Amsterdam is such a great city for this type of training. We did some historical walks through different ethnic quarters, visited a slavery monument, and gave the participants an opportunity to explore the city for themselves.
-I think the most amazing aspect of the workshop was the group dynamic that emerged as the week progressed. At the beginning of the week, some people expressed a sense of hopelessness toward working with other cultures. Too many hurts, too much misunderstanding, etc. However, as the week progressed, it was like a complete turnaround. As we listened to each other stories, it was impossible not to recognize both ourselves and the person of Jesus in the cultures around us. This created an atmosphere of recognition and unity: I may not understand you yet, but I see Jesus in you. Towards the end of the week, we had a time of worship where everyone brought something valuable from their culture (a song, prayer, dance, food, etc.); they explained it and asked the rest of the group to join them in worship. It was a great way to end the conference.