Credible Multicultural Teams
During the first day of the workshop we spent a fair amount of time discussing “credible”. People won’t readily accept our message unless they perceive us as credible people. We also talked about trust, what it is and isn’t, and how it affects team dynamics.
This, the second day, we have been talking about bonding with the new culture. (Do you remember the story of the young girl who raised geese from chicks in Canada? When migration time arrived, the geese wouldn’t leave this girl. They had bonded to her as their mother. She, with help from her father, flew by ultralight to the Carolinas where the geese could survive for the winter. And the geese followed.)
A healthy bonding experience allows a new missionary to… adjust well to the loss of leaving their home culture and adjust well to the new patterns of living in the new culture. And when the community bonds to the missionary, the message also becomes much more credible.
One key “trick” to facilitate bonding is to live with a host family for 2 weeks to 2 months. Use their language. Be dependant upon their lifestyle, transportation systems and foods. Leave your iPod and cell phone at home. Don’t be a tourist. Become a resident. Find a quality “cultural guide” who can help you understand what is happening and help you navigate this new ocean of relationships. Eat their food. Attend their celebrations. Shop in their shops. Play their games. Learn to enjoy life in this new context.
But not only does the new missionary need to bond to the host culture, the missionary needs to also bond to the other missionary team members. This second set of relationships is also very important to a productive ministry.
Having “been there, done that”, most of the information wasn’t really new information. But it is good to think through these things again. For example, I recognize that Christians from certain subcultures in America (especially Korean-American, Hispanic-American, and African-American) are not readily attracted to work with existing Bible translation organizations. Why?
I believe that God is calling people from these ethnic backgrounds into Bible translation. Are those of us “inside” the mainstream Bible translation movement creating unnecessary hindrances to their involvement? How can we help people from such subcultures come to us, actively participate in Bible translation, and know that they can become a valued member of the Bible translation team?