Cultural Awareness... the key to effective mission and connection in todays world

You should "Read the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other".

That quote has been attributed for years to the great German theologian Karl Barth. While the Barth Center has been unable to authenticate that he actually said it, the quote lives on in theological mythology, t-shirts and numerous quote books.

Perhaps because authorship does not matter. What matters is the reality of what is being said.

Stop and think about that statement for a moment. We are to have an awareness of what is happening around us. For the sake of the Gospel!

The Mexican Chupacabra

Years ago I was in Baja California talking to a family I'd known for years. They had made me breakfast at their very "rural house." As we talked, Gloria told me a few of their chickens had been killed recently, probably by the Chupacabra. The Chupacabra is a legend in the rural areas of Mexico. It's famous for killing animals, babies and causing all sorts of general mayhem. Think of it as the Mexican version of the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot.

The truth of the legend did not, and does not matter. What mattered is that Gloria, and indeed, millions of Mexicans across the country were aware of the Chupacabra. 

Later that week I was walking with another missionary who knew Gloria and who had also served in her village for years. I shared with him her concerns about her missing chickens and that she felt it was the Chupacabra. I expected that we'd be able to share a little laugh together. What ensued has stayed with me to this day.

That missionary, after spending almost 20 years serving in Mexico, had no idea what the Chupacabra was. He said he tried to keep his focus on God and did not involve himself much with locals events, news or culture.

If I could've sued that missionary for malpractice I would have do so. How is it possible that a person serving a specific group of people for any length of time could be so willfully unaware of the things that animate, or matter, to that community? 

Recently we have faced a significant level of unrest in Oaxaca, primarily as a result of massive ongoing protests from the teachers union in that state. In response to a ton of questions about those protests, I decided to write an article providing some detail and background. You can read it here.

Thousands of people across the US and Mexico read that article, shared it and commented. But two specific Facebook comments stopped me cold. One said as he shared, "read this article, it is the ABC's of what is going on." I appreciated that a local thought I had a good understanding of the facts. But it was the second comment that really hit me... another person asked how it was possible an outsider like me could understand the issues and culture of Oaxaca as well as I did.

The answer is simple... it's my job! 

As a missionary, I need to know and understand the culture where I am serving. It makes me a better communicator of the Gospel and enables me to better love and understand my neighbor. I spend hours on this. Reading, thinking, studying. Because I believe effective mission demands it.

If the church is going to have a prophetic witness in the world today, I believe this approach can not just be relegated to missions work "over there." It must be part of how we act and live everyday in our local worlds too.

Being unaware of the happenings of the day, needing to catch up with happened last week, or choosing to ignore cultural events make us woefully unprepared to effectively communicate the Gospel in a rapidly changing world. 

Most of you will never be called to "the ends of the earth." But you are called to be a prophetic witness for Jesus in your local worlds. That means understanding the culture, knowing what is going on and being able to not just see both sides of an issue, but figure how Jesus fits into some difficult situations. 

If we really want to change the world around us for Jesus, the words ascribed to Barth are as relevant here in the US today as they are in my missions work in Mexico... 

Read the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other!

Missional? Yes! Missionary? Maybe Not... despite the rhetoric, not everyone is called to be a missionary...

Being a missionary is hard work.

Maybe that’s why not everyone is not called to be a missionary.

Please hear me out on this before you dismiss me as not knowing what I am talking about or as someone who is going to undermine your preaching that we are all called to go, evangelize and make disciples of all the nations.

I believe that everyone in the Kingdom is called to be missional in this great world of ours.  It is my sincere belief that God has set apart the church, in whatever way you understand it, to be living examples of His hands, His feet, and His skin.  All of us are called to be about Christian relationship, community and love in this broken world
where we live.

However, that does not mean everyone is called to be the ends of the earth kind of person that leaves his or her home, gets on a plane and travels to some f
ar off land to proclaim this truths to other cultures.

I have served in Mexico for over 20 years.  For those of you who are not aware, Mexico has historically served as some sort of gateway mission drug for the US church.  Since Carolyn Koons of Azusa Pacific University essentially jump started the short-term mission industry almost 50 years ago, millions of people from the United States have gone to our neighbor south of the border on mission to help “evangelize” people.

I was one of those millions and a little over 20 years ago, I Co-founded an organization called Adventures in Life to facilitate short-term work in Mexico.  Like many back in the day, I got my first taste of what I thought was being a missionary in Baja California.  Our ministry also started just north of Ensenada, in a little area called La Misión.

Over those 20 years I have become pretty good at navigating the local culture, proudly feeling comfortable moving from one part of the country to another.  It did not matter if I was enjoying a fish taco with friends in Ensenada or building a greenhouse with my Christian brothers in Oaxaca, I was at peace and content.  Frequently I have been told, by Christians and non-Christians alike that alongside my love for Christ, I had the heart and soul of a Mexicano.

One night recently I found myself on a road to a new area of Oaxaca.  I did not choose this area, rather God sent me there, using some respected ministry partners to issue that call.

After a long ride, we arrived late in the city of Tlaxiaco, tired and hungry.  When we called our hosts for the week, we were told where to meet and soon found ourselves seated in a blue painted taco stand.  As plate after plate of food was being brought to the table, Roberto, our host, told us to eat, that the food was not simply there to be admired.

The extrañeros with me, one a Christian from another area of Oaxaca and Brother Joe Ramirez from San Diego were digging it.  Great food, new friends and lots of stories to share and to hear.  As relationships were reignited my mind started to race.

How would the average short-term missionary enter into this area.  Some of the best people who have ever served with me would have struggled that night.  None of our hosts were Christians.  We had mountains of deep fried food, and when I say deep fried, I mean in lard.  Not that 100% vegetable stuff we use in the states. Fat... and when we finished the fried food, the grilled tacos arrived.  That great Oaxacan cheese mixed with mushrooms and jalapenos, topped with a smoking hot habañero chile salsa and then the classic flor de calabaza.  All of that was wonderful, and a sort of a prelude to what was next.

Tacos de sesos.  Cow brains.  Served just for you by people who are watching your every move.  And that’s when I was reminded that being a missionary is hard and that not everyone is called, equipped, or ready to be a missionary to another culture, in spite of all the books and literature out there saying otherwise.

Things like your ability, or even desire to relate to non-Christians on their turf suddenly come into play in this type of setting.  Is the missionary versed enough in the culture to even carry on a conversation about secular stuff like economics, education and politics with locals?  Is he or she aware enough to pick up on social cues as they are being offered on how to eat and act around the table?  Is it possible to look at a plate of food you’ve never eaten, not frown or look disgusted and take it all in without a clue that you are scared stiff at the prospect of eating the brains of a cow or a bowl of pork skin soup and chile?

Have you thought about how to not run from your faith when you are confronted with some of the ugly realities of previous missionary outreaches to the very people with whom you are sharing a meal?  Do you have the skills to navigate a conservation that can be very critical of your home country and do it in a way that allows a budding relationship to continue?  Can you decline a shot of tequila, or scotch or vodka, depending on where you are serving in a way that does not offend your host?  Or perhaps even more difficult, can you drink a shot of mezcal or a glass of wine that is served for you by your hosts and newfound friends?

These are the questions that have been coursing through my veins the last couple of weeks as I have struggled to reflect on the rhythm, culture and ethos of this new place where I am serving.

Yet there is another question that is also dogging me and that question is this.  Given the reality of the above types of situations, is there a role for short-term mission work in the life of the long-term missionary?

I believe that there is, but only if we are willing to acknowledge and accept certain realities and make some changes in our approach.

The first place we need to start is with the sober realization that not everyone is called to be a missionary.  I know this goes against the current rage that we are all missionaries, but hear me out.  We are all called to be missional in our approach, but not everyone is called, or gifted to be a “ends of the earth” missionary person.

Here’s what I mean.  As you live your life day in and day out in your normal sphere of influence, you need to be living Christ out in an incarnational way that draws people to the Kingdom.  It needs to be part of who you are and how you live your life, where you are planted.  So what I am talking about here is being living witnesses for Jesus in your school, work, house and neighborhood.

For me, when I speak of being missional, I am talking generally of how we relate to and serve others in the name of Christ where we spend 90% of our lives or to put it bluntly, our home country.

When I speak of being a missionary, I am talking about getting on a plane and crossing borders of culture, geography, language and understanding.  I am talking about someone who essentially lives within the culture to where he or she has been sent. Naturally, there are exceptions to these broad strokes, but that is how I see things.

It is this reality, that not everyone is called to the “ends of earth,” that has led me to conclude that while short-term mission [STM] should certainly be in the tool box for any long-term missionary, most people on these mission experiences are simply not equipped to be incarnational on the foreign mission field.

Missions is hard.  Being a missionary is hard, requiring a skill set few young people with no cross cultural training will ever have.  Short-term mission participants are by their very definition, only in a country for a few days or months.  This is hardly enough time to get their feet wet, let alone begin the laborious process of assimilating into another culture.

Should we abandon short-term mission in favor of an approach solely tilted to long-term work?  Only at our peril because I believe that short-termers do indeed bring many needed assets to the work of the log-term missionary.  But we must live in reality and make sure we are not expecting more from short-term work than it is realistically able to give, or do.

What are your thoughts?