We were discussing cultural differences yesterday. One thing that we all must deal with is the innate tendency to view our outlook on life as normal and every deviance from that as abnormal. It’s easy to spot the strange things that others do while overlooking our own foibles.
I firmly believe that travel helps with this or can help with this. I don’t like it when someone says, “You’ll never really understand ____ until you’ve experienced what I experienced.” Therefore, I don’t want to say that the only way to escape our provincialism is to visit foreign countries, but I do think that seeing other peoples in their context can be a shortcut to better understanding.
There’s a great quote from G.K. Chesterton that I often repeat: “The purpose of travel is not to set foot on foreign land, but to set foot on your own country as foreign land.” I very much agree with Mr. Chesterton. Our increased understanding of others helps us to understand ourselves all the more.
Nick made a very good observation yesterday when he noted:
Volume of worship… ways of expressing agreement… ways of expressing joy… ways of expressing reverence… ways of expressing WORSHIP! All these are different manifestations of heart language, and it pains me to see one culture’s method of expression become, through unexamined assumption, fossilized as “The Pattern.”
I cringe a bit when people say, “We went to church while overseas, and they did things exactly the way we do them. We even knew the songs, just the words were different.” It’s not easy for Americans or Europeans to go to another country and plant a church without leaving behind a bit of their culture; the problem is, we tend to leave much more than a bit.
Bringing the discussion back home, I want to discuss over the next few days some of the things in our churches that reflect our tendency toward provincialism. Feel free to run ahead of me and point out some things, especially those things that I may be blind to. And I’d like to hear your reactions to Nick’s comment. (Sorry to put you on the spot, Nick)
mark twain has a great quote about travel as well:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” —Mark Twain, 1857
You are so spot on about what we consider normal and abnormal. We used to live in Bangkok, Thailand and worshiped at the English language service of a Baptist Church. They did things pretty much the same as Baptists in the USA. We visited Chiang Mai in northern Thailand one “Easter” Sunday and went to a Thai church that was charismatic (as we normally use that term). It was different – people jumping up and down for joy, everything in Thai (which I spoke – somewhat) with one guy translating to a small group of us westerners – but also ecstatic utterance/tongue speaking. It was different. I traveled all over most of east Asia and spent a lot of time in Pakistan and that region as well. It was an education in itself. In Islamabad there is actually a Christian ghetto.
Hesed,
Randall
I often tell my children, “Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s wrong.” It’s dangerous to think that just because we’re used to something or something has always been a certain way means it’s the correct and only way.
I am glad your taking this topic on because the entire concept of being cross-cultural, planting indigenous churches, etc… is difficult. I once traveled to a country in South America where I visited two different churches. One appeared to be indigenous to a certain extent. The other church appeared to be cloned right from the Bible-belt.
I tell you what I’d like – an explanation of ‘heart language’ from someone with a deeper understanding of the concept than my own.
Nick,
I don’t know that I can fully explain heart language, but I can share my understanding. To me, heart language is tied into the emotions. It’s the language whose words can stir us to an instinctive response.
Take profanity, for example. When I was in junior high, we learned some of the Mexican cuss words. They meant nothing to us, but they made the Mexican kids giggle when we said them. Later, I went to Argentina and learned Spanish. I learned some of the bad words (I’m not as profanity-fluent in Spanish as I am in English). When I hear a curse word in English, it makes me react. It catches my attention. In Spanish, I still have to think a moment: “Oh, that’s a bad word.”
Can you have multiple heart languages? I know a Hispanic man who is extremely fluent in English, probably spends most of his day speaking English. But he likes to sing Spanish songs at church. He explained to me that when he was young, the only place he didn’t get in trouble for speaking Spanish outside his home was at church. Because of that, the old Spanish hymns speak to him in a way that the English hymns don’t (and praise songs in Spanish don’t either… which may negate the language part).
Some random thoughts.
Tim
How many of the problems in the church in the US come from this provincialism? In our congregation, one of the bigger challenges we face in how the assembly comes from trying to reconcile the traditions we’ve grown up with. We have people from different parts of the country. We’re also roughly 40% African American: integrating the “black church” experience with the “white church” experience is quite interesting and forces each of us to consider how our backgrounds affect our view of “acceptable” worship. The cultural mix is forcing us to consider how much of our doctrine of worship is actually our traditions of worship.
On a related note, this is one of the problems I have with small group ministry: too often, it’s built around interest groups. While useful in theory, in practice, it tends to create its own form of provincialism. In my best of all worlds, small group membership would be assigned by drawing names out of a hat and marvelling at the work of the Spirit as He forms a disparate group of people into a family of God.
Robert, I knew a church of about 100 where the preacher would announce who would be getting together: “Jones family, Davis family, Herrera family, you guys find a time to get together for supper this week.”
Not exactly out of the hat, but it does lead to some mixing and mingling.
Tim, my current church and previous church have hosted “Guess whose coming to dinner” (you sign up to be a host or a guest at dinner and only get told on the day where to go) and that does force those who participate to mix out of their usual cliques. Our ladies ministry also has prayer partners where we are teemed with someone in the congregation we might not know, and we pray for one another.
I think Nick offers some great thoughts.
It is a great struggle to be a church focused on community impact in a culture that divides over worship style or background.