Strangers No More Training Module

One of the great challenges we face as Christians in an increasingly globalized world is understanding how to share the love of Jesus and the good news of the gospel cross culturally.  As if language barriers were not enough, deep cultural differences in worldview, in customs, in values and history all have the potential to create barriers to good communication and open up wide avenues for miscommunication. Debbie DiGennaro, in her book Acclicmated to Africa: Cultural Competence for Westerners, shares a humorous story that highlights this challenge:

There was once a certain British man who went with his company to Nigeria.  He immediately noticed about Nigerians that the men did not step back to allow ladies to enter a room ahead of them.  This bothered him very much.  As a proper gentleman, whenever he approached a doorway at the same time as a Nigerian woman, he courteously motioned for her to pass through the door ahead of him.
     After several months of this, he mentioned it one day to a Nigerian male colleague. “Don’t you know how impolite it is,” he said, “to barge ahead of a lady?”
     His colleague looked at him strangely.  “Sir,” he said, “It’s a matter of snakes. The man must enter first so that, if there are snakes behind a doorway, he will get bitten but the lady will be safe.”

It is not hard to imagine why, in a country where for thousands of years families most likely  lived in grass huts with snakes being an ever present issue, the custom of how to enter buildings developed differently than it did in England.  It's also not hard to imagine the looks of confusion and even disdain this British gentleman must have received from Nigerian women as he emphatically ushered them into their potential death by snake bite.
  
This cultural nugget of difference is multiplied thousands of times with every new cultural context we enter.  Some issues are minor while others can lead to tremendous damage to relationships and potential opportunities to share the gospel. As disciples of Jesus it is important to first realize that those differences, both the deep and the shallow, will always be present when we move into cross cultural settings.  We then must do the hard work of trying to understand these differences to see where God is  already at work and how we can join him there.  This is hard work.  Just when we think we’ve figured something out we’ll run into nuances that will confound us once again.
  
If cross cultural ministry is something that you are or will be a part of then it is vitally important to do some homework.  Cross cultural ministry can happen in varying degrees wherever you are.  Crossing the ocean to engage with people from a different religious background that speak another language is of course more complex than a midwesterner traveling to New York City, but both are cross cultural ministry.
  
Regardless of the complexity and depth of difference between cultures, we can train ourselves to do better at recognizing both the differences and the opportunities they present.  Part of that training could be reading books like Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier or Global Humility by Andy McCullough.  Context specific books like the one shared above can be a next step.  There are also great trainings for missionaries preparing to move overseas at places like Mission Training International and the Center for Intercultural Training. 

At Everywhere to Everywhere, we are dedicated to equipping and empowering the local church for cross-cultural ministry in their own communities. To support this mission, we’ve created a fun and interactive one-day training called the Strangers No More Training Module. This engaging experience, which can be done in any city in about 5-6 hours, includes:

• A Discovery Bible Study
• Interactive lectures and activities
• Lunch at an ethnic restaurant
• A cross-cultural scavenger hunt, where participants visit three to four immigrant-owned grocery stores
• A debrief session, enjoying snacks purchased during the scavenger hunt

This training has been a powerful way to help local congregations move beyond fear and build relationships with their new American neighbors—many of whom come from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Animistic backgrounds and have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel.

The goal of the training is twofold: first, to raise awareness of the diverse cultures around us, and second, to provide a foundational understanding of cultural differences. By doing so, participants can learn to love well and share the gospel with greater confidence and effectiveness.

If you’re interested in hosting your own Strangers No More Training Module, you can find a full event description and all necessary resources by clicking the button below.

Strangers No More Training Module Facilitator Notes

image credit

Did you find this post helpful?  Share it with a friend.