In every nation and within every culture, you will find a wide variety of cultural extremes. Sometimes, however, those extremes become hidden within cultures, and they can only really be seen if you spend time experiencing a new culture. It really helps when you are able to see your own culture through the eyes of someone with a different perspective, i.e. someone from a different nation. This pretty well describes my life, and I thank God for it. Not only has living in India given me the opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of culture previously foreign to me, but I’ve also been able to see the extremes hidden within my own culture, and a lot of that has been made possible with the help of my wife.
A lot has changed in my own perspectives having spent as much time as I have in India, and I have definitely grown and benefited as a result. In many instances I have even developed a preference for many of the aspects of my new culture, and it’s not just American or Indian, it’s actually “Christian” American and “Christian” Indian because my culture is fundamentally rooted in Christ.
These new preferences have been developed as a result of the certain realization that, in every nation, and within every culture, you are going to find strong points and weak points of the Christian faith. In other words, Christian’s in other nations simply no how to do some things better than I do, and it is my job to find out what those things are and to change accordingly. This is where a lot of Christians who have followed the command to go into all the world fail because they are not becoming culturally relevant. Sure, they may dress accordingly, but that is just surface culture, and the real deal is much deeper. I believe those deeper issues are the real force behind strong connections, and they ultimately determine the success of international ministry.
In future posts, I’m going to share some of the cultural strong points and or weak points that I’ve observed and possibly become accustomed to after moving to India. These issues might prove especially helpful to anyone planning to serve Jesus here, and my ultimate goal is not just to fit in culturally but to become more Christ like.