Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said, "Mouse, let's have a party!" Animals gathered from far and near. They ate. They drank. They sang. They danced. And nobody celebrated more and danced harder than Elephant. After the party was over Elephant exclaimed, "Mouse, did you ever go to a better party? What a blast!" But Mouse did not answer. "Mouse, where are you?" Elephant called. He looked around for his friend, and then shrank back in horror. There, at Elephants feet, lay Mouse. His little body ground into the dirt. He had been smashed by the big feet of his exuberant friend, Elephant. "Sometimes that is what it is like to do mission with you Americans,"the African storyteller concluded.  "It is like dancing with an Elephant."   -Miriam Adeney 

The story of Elephant and Mouse is a sobering reminder for anyone involved in going to the world with the good news of Jesus. You are about to embark on an incredible journey of sharing the love of Christ- not just in spite of the cultural barriers you will face, but in the very midst of them. It is no small thing to enter into a culture where you are an outsider to reveal the most important message ever shared. 

And the difference between doing that poorly and doing that well...depends entirely upon the posture of the Elephant. You will either enter this experience of impacting another culture with the posture of someone who has come to teach and to "do," or with the humble posture of someone who has come to “be” and to learn.

You are about to carry a God-sized story worth being shared, through the story of your own life which is worth being told, into a culture full of individual stories worth being known. It is our prayer that this Module will serve as a reminder of how you can do that well, and be a light and force for good in a world steeped in darkness.

So what exactly IS culture, and how do you become a true Learner of the culture you will enter as an outsider?

cul·ture

ˈkəlCHər/

The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next. 

A Learner: of the Cultural-story you will enter.

“It is helpful to look at culture in two parts: external and internal. External culture is the conscious part of culture. It is the part that we can see, taste, and hear. It consists of acknowledged beliefs and values. It is explicitly learned and can be easily changed. However, this constitutes only a small part of our culture. The major part is the internal part, which consists of the unconscious beliefs, thought patterns values, and myths that affect everything we do and see. It is implicitly learned and is very hard to change.

A good image that can help us understand this better is an iceberg. An iceberg has a small visible part above the water and a very large and irregular part under the water. The part above the water can represent external culture and the part under the surface can represent internal culture. What I mean by the “instinct” of our culture is this internal part that is not conscious and is very hard to change.” - Eric Law, “The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb.”

As you journey into a new culture you may begin to notice some of the deeper things going on below the surface of the culture you are engaging. You will begin to notice the internal culture of how people relate, how time and space affects the rhythms and expecations of life and work, and how the inherent communication styles and goals for achievement may be quite different than in the culture you are from. To love people well, it will be important to be a student of both the people you encounter day-to-day, and the overall culture you are seeking to learn about and serve.

Take a few minutes to consider the culture you are moving to. Ask God to give you a heart that is sensitive to the story He is already writing through the unique culture you will enter and wisdom of how to humbly enter in. 

On a sheet of paper, sketch out a quick iceberg and then brainstorm all of the immediate things that come to mind about the culture you will be going to. Take a few minutes to pray through all that you know of the “cultural iceberg” both above and below the water line.

What preconceived notions might you be bringing into working with this new culture? What professional values on time management, styles of communicating, and expectations of work and achievement might be different than your own?

As you think through the Cultural Iceberg of this new location, you might feel like you have limited knowledge of the internal culture where you are going. And that is totally ok. 

We have also included “An Appendix of Cultural Research Questions” below if you would like to check out this additional resource.  This is a very comprehensive list of thoughtful questions to consider as you prepare to decode a foreign culture. 

How do you engage with culture on mission?

In his book, Robert Priest, a professor of mission and cultural studies, writes: 

“For most of my students their ethnic ancestry plays no role in their day to day lives- indeed it plays virtually no part in their self-identity whatsoever. As a result, it is difficult to get students to appreciate the foundational role such identities often play in the lives of people in much of the rest of the world and how these identities can affect almost every sphere of their lives—social, cultural, political, and economical. The assumption seems to be that since ethnicity is meaningless to the students, it is therefore meaningless for others as well.”

Priest brings to light two significant aspects to consider if we truly hope to minister well within the external and internal realties as an outsider: 

1. Knowing the culture you have been sent to, and how those cultural realities impact the hearts of those within it.

2. Knowing the cultural background- of the person being sent out. Where are you from? Do you see your ethnic ancestry having “any impact in your day to day life?” And how will you interact within a culture that almost certainly DOES?

A Learner: of the God-story you will share.

As you continue to pray for an awareness of the external and internal realities of the culture you are going to, we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the incredible importance of knowing your own heart as well. We believe you must know your story, to more authentically connect with their stories, to ultimately best share His story with this hurting world.

At a Cru staff conference in 2013, Renee Begay, a native American staff woman, was invited to share her story through an “I am From” poem. Begay was asked to speak on the unique experience of being one of only a handful of Native American staff, in a room filled with thousands of missionaries- most whose cultural identity was white, middle-class American. Renee’s courageous testimony was a simple, but powerful reminder that to love the people of any culture well, you must also appreciate where you are from and how that story shapes your view of the image-bearers God is calling you to love.

Please listen to the following 5-minute clip of Renee Begay’s testimony, and her beautiful “I Am From” poem. 

Then, grab a sheet of paper and spend some time writing your own, unique “I Am From” poem and plan to share it with us on our next Zoom call.

Below are a couple of helpful documents to get you started: the first document is a prewriting exercise to help you brainstorm some details from your childhood and the second document is a template to use in helping you get started in writing your poem.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelo