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.
