This week saw the first week for my Long term missionary (LTM) training, and what a good first week it was! I started the drive out last Thursday, stopping in Kansas City the first night (big shout out to Tara and John for their hospitality!) and Nashville the second before the final leg to the mountains of North Carolina. The whole second day of driving and much of the third was hampered a bit by rain, especially around Nashville. But otherwise the drive was uneventful and went well.
The first official day was on Sunday, which is when I met the three other guys I’d be sharing a dorm floor with, and the 40 other missionaries at the Center for Intercultural Training. On Monday, we talked about transitioning from our previous lives to life overseas as missionaries, and the awkward time in between that some of us are in (myself included). Tuesday and Wednesday was devoted to discussing effective teams and mind styles, how the two work together, and the challenges that come along with differing mind style. It was interesting when we split into groups of the four mind styles and answered a few questions. Each style made their poster differently, which in and of itself offered some insights into how everyone thinks and are different from one another, and yet there are still some similarities between them all.
On Thursday and Friday, the main topic was Culture; what are different views on culture, ethnocentrism, and tools for cultural awareness. This was particularly helpful because American culture is vastly different from cultures around the world, and we, as Americans, tend to think that our culture is the best. But the reality is, American culture may work in America, but it doesn’t work in Africa, or Asia, or much of Europe. It isn’t better than other cultures. Every culture has good and bad elements, and so none is better than another, just different. A good quote in regards to christianity in different cultures:
“One’s evaluation would not necessarily be wrong if in fact one’s own culture was the only ‘correct’ perspective on reality. The problem with this idea is that two or more different cultures can in fact vary a great deal in many respects and yet both be ‘correct’ in that they provide the respective society with a coherent system to explain reality. Often varying cultures are merely contrasting or complementary attempts to explain the same phenomenon from different perspectives. This is not to say a given culture should not be judged by biblical standards. Holding to a position of cultural relativism is not the same as a belief in moral or ethical relativism. But it is to say that another culture should not be judged by our understanding of American evangelical standards as if those were the absolute standard which all cultures should be held to. The assumption in that was is the false understanding that our standards are by definition equivalent with biblical standards – ethnocentrism at its best… or worst, and an all too often preconception of missionaries.”
It was also good to recognize how different cultures interacting can cause tension because of cultural differences if the people of the two cultures are unwilling to bend their ways. Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the Law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may care with them in its blessings.”
Don’t forget to subscribe and donate! I am still looking for Monthly donors, and every little bit helps! Next week, the topics are Spiritual Warfare, Cross-cultural communication/social context and What is truth/Worldviews. I’ll be posting another blog next weekend with some sum up’s and takeaways from the week. If anyone has any questions, feel free to send me an email with your questions!
