Today's photo was taken during recreation time at the VBS in Romania. The children were orphans at the VBS and it took a while for the children to trust the team members. Today is day six of our study to prepare for going on a mission trip.
Are you an American first or a Christian first?
How can you really get to know the people you’re going to serve? It can take years to really understand people from a different culture. You know you won’t be there for very long. Let’s press the pause button and consider this approach first. The experts tell us that understanding other cultures can begin with having an understanding of our own culture.
First we have a few words that represent some positive stereotypes or traits of North Americans.
*friendly*outgoing* hardworking*generous*well-educated*reliable*confident
Sounds great! Makes you proud to be an American! In fact some of these qualities may be among your personal motives for wanting to go on a mission project in the first place. These qualities may have their roots in your cultural heritage.
Take a moment today to ask someone to describe an American. What terms did he or she come up with?
There are other not-so-positive stereotypes attached to North Americans:
*materialistic*wasteful*domineering*arrogant*disrespectful of authority*
First we have a few words that represent some positive stereotypes or traits of North Americans.
*friendly*outgoing* hardworking*generous*well-educated*reliable*confident
Sounds great! Makes you proud to be an American! In fact some of these qualities may be among your personal motives for wanting to go on a mission project in the first place. These qualities may have their roots in your cultural heritage.
Take a moment today to ask someone to describe an American. What terms did he or she come up with?
There are other not-so-positive stereotypes attached to North Americans:
*materialistic*wasteful*domineering*arrogant*disrespectful of authority*
These more negative traits come from the darker side of our culture. They come from sinful patterns through the years. This may be an important time to look a bit deeper within your self. Is your life influenced by some of these negative traits? Ask your self a probing question, are you an American first or a Christian first?
Much of the success of fitting in and serving those in another culture will be related to how we deal with these negative stereotypes. As we accept and grapple with these harmful traits, as Christians, there is good news…we do have the power not to be controlled by them through Christ.
We know that God is in the business of transforming our lives as we give ourselves to Him. In Romans 12:2, Paul pleads with Christians not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Therefore, let’s get some help from a powerful passage in Philippians.
Read Philippians 3:7-21. If we desire to become everything God wants us to be, what encouragement do we find in verses 12-16?
We read in verses 18 & 19 that some have their minds saturated with the attitudes and values of today’s culture. Yet verses 20 & 21 remind us that as Christians, our citizenship is in heaven. What does that mean to you personally?
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