This time last year my family had enjoyed a 5 week holiday traveling through China and Korea. We had been home for three days before I flew out for a three week study tour in America. One of the great things about being overseas for so long meant I really missed winter last year but I feel I'm making up for it this year LOL!
China was a great experience for us to remember what it's like to be in a country where we didn't know the language and had limited understanding of the culture and traditions. We learnt a lot about China in a week, things like how to tell which lion statue was male and which was female, how to cross the street without getting run over, (As one of my children prayed the mantra.."I don't want to die, I don't want to die...)how to use our hands to sign numbers the way they do in China, as well as the sign for toilet, and we found out how to say "I don't want it". We saw many famous sights and enjoyed being tourists.
Korea is almost like going home for us as we've visited several times. Although we are tourists we have a sense of familiarity, we know where things are, we can speak some Korean and we know what we're eating. We have friends there and it's great to catch up on each others lives. There are still times where we notice the differences in cultures and there are some occasional awkward moments but overall we feel comfortable.
America was where I experienced some culture shock. Maybe being another English speaking country I had expectations on the county and people that I didn't have for non English speaking countries. Why couldn't they understand me when I ordered a hotdog and coke? Why would they say my accent is "cute"? They eat scones and white gravy which is odd but they have it for breakfast!! The place I expected to be most comfortable ended up being the place that took me most out of my comfort zone.
I think of people who come into our churches and how we respond to them. Do we expect them to have some understanding of church when they walk through our doors? Do we expect them to understand our language? Do we expect them to do what we do? Do we expect them to know our culture and traditions?
I met a man this week who walked into the church who had just come to look around. He wasn't Christian but had visited a church before, although it looked different to this church. He was looking for friendship as he was new to Australia and wondered how he could meet people. He had stepped out of his comfort zone in search for friends. He was willing to walk into a building different from his own traditions and he was willing to make the first step. I'm hoping I came across well and that he saw me as someone who could be a friend. I'm hoping I said the right thing and didn't offend in any way. I'm hoping I showed hospitality. I'm hoping I will see him again soon.
What struck me afterwards was often when I meet someone from another country I try to be sensitive to their struggles with English and their attempts to understand Australian culture and 'isms. However, when I meet someone from another English speaking country or someone who identifies as Australian I tend to assume they have some prior knowledge of what church is. We can't do this anymore! There are many people in our community who have never been in a church and have never heard the gospel. We can't assume that the church is speaking a common language to our community. If we make assumptions like this then we may be alienating people in our community. When I was in America I may have looked similar and it may seem on the surface our cultures are similar but we are actually very different. People in the church may look similar to their local community but the cultures may be very different.
- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember people have their own culture and traditions whether they come from across the sea or across the road
- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember to explain what we're doing even if English (or whatever the language is of your country)is their first language
- When we welcome the stranger we should expect to step out of our comfort zone further than the person who has just walked through our doors
- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember how to be a friend
What would you add to this list?
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