Missionary Kids

It snowed again last night.  Let's see - what's the date today... May 19th?  I hear that summer is bound to start sometime before the end of July.

Last night I taught from 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 where Paul talks about the issue of not putting a stumbling block in anyone's way, and he ends chapter 9 by saying that he is willing to become all things to all men, in order to save some.  Becoming all things to all men sounds a little like being a professional shmoozer, but that's really not the idea at all.  I think what Paul meant has more to do with being able to understand another person, or another group of people to the point that we can become an "insider" in their world, to bring the love and acceptance of Christ to their context.  Our Senior Pastor Michael Cheshire puts it this way:  "We don't ask the community to join our church; we want our church to join the community."  The question is whether I can relate to an un-churched athiest as well as I can to my local church community?  Am I able to step outside of my own way of thinking, my own lingo and my own Christian culture to befriend someone who is far away from God?  And not only befriend him/her, but actually enter their world in order to understand first-hand the challenges they face every day?

As I was thinking about what it means to adapt to another person's way of thinking, it occurred to me that there is one group of people who have mastered this art to the highest degree: Missionary Kids.  The very nature of our upbringing has created this chameleon-like ability to adapt to different cultures, languages and values.  All M.K.s grow up in a host culture (Kenya, in my case) that is very different from the birth-culture of their parents.  As missionary kids we realize early in life that we belong neither to our parents' passport country, nor are we 100% integrated into the host culture of the country where we live.  As a result we create our own, unique "third culture" that is a blend of both our passport culture and our host culture - with a mix of other cultures thrown in for good measure.  This is why (in recent years) we have become known as "Third Culture Kids".  We have learned to adapt to new cultures and new languages with amazing ease, more as a survival technique than by personal preference.  So, what does a missionary kid look like?

You know you're a missionary kid:

-  When your elementary school teacher asks you to state your nationality, and you reply "which one?"
-  If your childhood stories involve charging elephants, wild gorillas, or coup d'etats.
-  When you can imitate any English accent to near perfection
-  If you can be speaking to one person using a South African accent and terminology, then turn and greet someone else in perfect West African French.
-  If you can "fit" into virtually any culture in the world within 24-48 hours of arriving
-  If you've lived in five different countries and can speak four languages - but you don't know who Paris Hilton is.
-  if you've never driven a car with an automatic transmission
-  if you've ridden an ostrich, water-skied with hippos and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, but you don't know how to answer the question "Paper or Plastic?" at the grocery store.

C'est la vie pour les enfants des missionaires