While at OMS, we received a book that we are finding absolutely incredible. The title is "Cross Cultural Partnerships, Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission" by Mary T. Lederleitner. It takes up where "African Friends and Money Matters" left off. It is new (2010), it is current, and it is relevant to how we live as well as how we relate cross culturally, whether it be here (for there are many sub-cultures we operate in wherever you live) as well as for those in other countries.At the risk of being a little vulnerable, Ann and I went through tremendous culture shock and continue to wrestle with this phenomena of working in what we call Majority World cultures. We have done some things well and some things very badly and we continue to learn every day. However, we find the book to also be a challenge as to how we see the world around us and even better yet, how we respond to it.
The last 10 years or so we have been learning, and today's events in Japan really bring home the fact that the American culture is not the predominate culture in the world. We Americans come from a very individualistic culture where it is about the individual. There are other countries like this, but I'll leave that for others to debate. The majority of the world is more collectivistic. That is why we don't see looting in Japan when people are in great crisis, for example. In the collective / community cultures, the community is more important than the individual.
Thus the great tension.
Ann and I have gone through great culture shock just going from middle-class America and work cultures that were very precise with clearly defined lines of authority and responsibility to a missionary culture where things are very undefined and imprecise. I have always associated responsibility with authority - for how can you be responsible for something if you have no authority to do anything about it? The mission world doesn't work that way and honestly, that culture shock has been greater than the shock of moving from America's individualistic culture to Mozambique's collectivistic culture. I really think this is a significant subject that deserves a book that can help Finishers (second career people who go into missionary work later in life) understand and navigate this dramatic change. Maybe I need to do that, but I'm still working through it and that last chapter isn't yet clear in my mind. But this book on Cross-Cultural partnerships to me is a big part of working out that last chapter.
When I read this book and reflect upon our first term in Mozambique, it is sobering. It helps to explain why we felt the way we did, react the way we did, and personalize things the way we did. By the end of the term, we felt like we'd come full circle and as we read this thought-provoking book, I think it will help us in the coming term.
I believe with all my heart that each of these cultures (recognizing that we are broad-brushing things in a major way here to only 'two' general cultures) are biblically neutral. The Bible speaks to both, warns both about the issues each has to deal with, and points us to relationship with Christ. No one should ever say one way (culture) is better than the other for both have tremendous virtue as well as tremendous opportunities for sin.
At the root of this is something that really spoke to us, called "negative attribution". We all have a lifetime of experiences that dictate how we will respond to things we experience. However, our response may or may not be logical actually based upon our experiences, although we are most certainly sure that they are! (Where is Dr. Spock (Star Trek) when you need him?). So, when we experience something "new", we have three choices as to how we respond:
1. You think it is right.
2. You think it is wrong.
3. You think it is different (neutral).
The bad news is that generally, we don't take a neutral position and we often will ascribe some negative attribute to whatever it is, and over time we subconsciously build cases against (you pick the topic) that may or may not make any sense at all. (Thus the need for people you can talk to openly and help process these kinds of things without judgement!). This results in great conflict over time and people entrenching into their "I'm right" kind of thinking regardless of whether it makes any sense or not.
This can be applied in individual relationships, business relationships, family relationships, and cross cultural relationships.
We need to take a deep breath and NOT seek to quickly to ascribe value to things that are different. It is not something humans do easily and but for the grace of God, go I.
And what is underneath all of this? The books says, "Control." We all want to control our lives, our situation, and others. I have experienced it and am guilty of that as well. If the ongoing catastrophe in Japan has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that we have very little control and we need to release that control to the God who cares for us each individually and collectively. He is the God of all cultures and situations and it seems to me we need more than one life-time to figure it out, which is probably why He offers us eternity through faith in Jesus!
There is so much more in this book that speaks so strongly to what we have experienced in our first term and that I pray we can apply in our second. I think it even challenges the fundamental basis of some of the programs we execute across the world with good intention but flawed process. I personally think it should be required reading for every missionary, every homeland support person, and everyone with even a passing interest in missions, because as in all of these things, it comes down to how we respond personally. Not just read it, but maybe even write a book report on what it means to me and how I need to improve the way I live before a holy God! It just rings true.
Have a great day! He is full of Grace and Mercy!
Dave & Ann
"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Luke 6:41
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