Is Cross-Cultural Studies Only For Missionaries?

I am forever trying to explain the work of cross-cultural training.  Recently a good friend of mine had an epiphany of sorts.  I was explaining how important cross-cultural discipleship is for church workers in their own city, community and country.

“You mean cross-cultural training is not just for missionaries” he asked?

Certainly cross-cultural training is vital for those settling into foreign countries, but the study of cultures is every bit as relevant for those who live in a small town in Georgia as it is for those going to the country of Georgia (which by the way is a former Soviet Union state nestled between Russia, Turkey and Black Sea). 

On my website one of the first quotes you will see is by Donald McGavran, former missionary to India, professor at Fuller Seminary, church growth expert in the 1980’s and missiologist until he died at the ripe old age of 93.  His famous quote is,

“People will not easily cross-cultural boundaries to hear the Gospel.”

The implications of that statement are enormous.  First, we need to understand that in EVERY cultural context, whether it is Odessa, Ukraine or Odessa, Texas, we live in communities of cultural boundaries, which include:

            Ethnic Boundaries

            Socio-economic Boundaries

            Linguistic Boundaries

            Gender Boundaries

            Generational Boundaries

            Religious Boundaries

In every town, village and city in the world people will not easily cross cultural boundaries to assimilate into the community or go to church.  It does not matter if you have the best music program in the city or the best youth program in the county or you are the best preacher in the state, most people in your community will not cross the cultural boundaries to hear the music, have pizza with the your youth group or hear your dynamic sermons. 

The second implication of McGavran’s statement is that for the followers of Christ, our job is to Go and Take the Gospel, which implies that WE are to cross the cultural boundaries, go into their cultural setting, to present the Gospel.  We cannot, we dare not, expect people of different ethnicities, education or economic background to feel comfortable in our churches.  The mandate of the Great Commission is for us to go to them…not build a program and expect people to come to us.

Yes, it’s true, cross-cultural training is for people going to far-away countries.  The reality is, however, 90% of the nationals I teach in India, Ukraine, Ecuador, Kenya, Senegal or China, will never leave their countries.  They will remain in their homeland.  If, however, they are going to reach all the people groups in their countries someone is going to have to cross cultural boundaries to take the Gospel.

I wish every pastor in the U.S. would learn the importance of cross-cultural studies.  It’s not just a quaint specialized discipline for anthropologist working in the jungles…it’s a relevant issue for those who live in the land of Wal-Mart and Starbucks.

You Make The Call: What To Do About FGM?

Thirty-five years ago I began my work among the Pokot people of Kenya.  A semi-nomadic tribe, the Pokot practice initiation rites for both and girls.  For the boys, circumcision is the first of two initiation rites into manhood.  Unlike other tribes in the country, Pokot males do not perform this ritual every year but once every decade (give or take a year or so) and therefore the age of the boys for circumcision range between ten and twenty years old.  This group is identified throughout their lives as an age-set, which would include a specific name identification (equivalent to baby-boomers or millennial’s).

For Pokot girls, their initiation into adulthood is called lapan.  For those outside of Pokot this ritual is called FGM (female genital mutilation, or female circumcision).  The average age of girls who take lapan is around fourteen years.  After the procedure they are in seclusion for a month and under the care of older women.  During this time of healing the girls are instructed in the ways of proper behavior as a wife.  After the healing period the girls are then eligible for marriage.  There is usually a joint celebration at the home of relatives, a coming out party, so to speak, where gifts are brought to the parents and prospective grooms attend to inspect this year’s crop of eligible brides. (below is picture of my daughter Becky with Pokot lapan girls).

When I was a resident working in Pokot my approach to FGM was latent, meaning I was not a social activist.  As a student of anthropology I first wanted to know the meaning of lapan.  As I tell my students, before you condemn people on what they do, you should know why they do it.   I also did a great deal of field research how Pokot girls felt about this ritual as well as the Christian community.  My conclusion was that, though a disgusting and potentially life-threatening procedure, lapan is a non-salvation issue.  Working with unreached people with the Gospel, it is my opinion that every issue, no matter how repulsive it may be, is not the main thing Christians are to do.  Challenging behavior rather than confronting people with the Gospel may, in some cases, cause more harm than good.

I have been criticized because of my non-engagement in social issues.  Though I am quick to point out that I am opposed to FGM practices and talk at length with parents about its harm, it is not a cause I feel I need to champion.  I have in the past, and believe today that it is the responsibility of the local church, not a foreigner or foreign organization that should lead the charge on social issues.  The government of Kenya has made FGM illegal and it is a dying practice in Pokot, though held out by a few and vehemently defended among the Masai.

On my most recent trip to Pokot I met a local Pokot Christian who has started an organization called Exodus Rescue Education Centre.  The five targeted groups for rescue are (1) FGM (2) early forced marriage (3) cattle rustling (4) children from poor families and (5) orphans.  They now have ninety-five kids in this program, five which I interviewed (left to right).

Cheroto (15) ran away from her home because her parents wanted her to marry.  She said she didn’t want to be married to an old man but wanted to go to school.

Kamarinyang’s mom died and she was living with her grandmother.  She left her grandmother because she was insisting her granddaughter take lapan and marry. 

Celestine (16) was the third wife and has a child.  She was willing to run away and leave her child because, as she told me, “I was treated as a slave and abused.”

Loremoi (back row) was a cattle rustler, which is the main occupation for Pokot boys who don’t go to school.  He told me that he regrets those days as he was involved in killing people in cattle raids.  He wants to go college one day.

Mnangai left his grandparents applied to Exodus because they were too poor to help him go to school.

I am inclined to help this social project, but I still have questions.  What is your opinion?  This is one of those case studies where I challenge missionaries…You Make The Call.

Anthropology of Religion: Polytheism and Animism

Polytheism is the belief or worship of many gods/goddesses. Pantheism is the belief that many objects could possess certain powers, e.g. a tree, animals, river. Animism concludes that spiritual powers reside in inanimate objects like the wind, rock or clouds.

In all religions we find animistic practices, even in monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam. In a India, a polytheistic religion that claim there at least 330 million deities, one can easily see a combination of practices of animism and even pantheism, as show in these clips below.

The first is a shrine, built to a deity, which I filmed on the side of the road outside the city of Nagpur.

In the center of Kota, Rajasthan there is a tree, which the people seemingly believe has some spiritual significance. Not only do they have garlands of devotion on the tree, but also have pictures of the greater gods of Shiva and Vishnu tacked to this tree.