A Cultural Tug-of-War

In times of old, missionaries who travelled long distances from home in order to spread the gospel to the unreached had to make the painful, but definitive decision to leave their families with little hope of seeing them again. Indeed, it is possible that some missionaries left for the field packing their belongings into coffins (although this may be apocryphal), knowing that they would never set foot on their homeland again. Letters from home would take months to arrive, news would often be out of date, and if there was ever the chance of a possible return trip then the missionary would find that the life and culture of home had moved on without them.

But now, more than ever, missionaries can stay uniquely tied to their home culture through a variety of ways, of course aided by the technological developments afforded to our age. The overseas missionary is able to check in regularly on their families and friends as quickly as when they were at home. We are able to keep abreast of even the local news of our hometown, let alone the national current affairs. If you are from the West it is easy to still follow the popular zeitgeist of your home country, your favourite sports teams, music, films and television shows. In fact, the recent coronavirus pandemic has normalised this practice - the Zoom/WhatsApp skills that I use to chat to my family and friends now in Madagascar were honed for a couple of lockdown years in leafy Hertfordshire! And the advances in worldwide travel means that missionaries can leave their host country for “home assignment” or conferences on a regular basis, or you can easily receive visitors from your home country.

Bittersweet Goodbyes

This is one of the reasons why this post is on my mind recently. We have just said goodbye to my parents who visited us in Madagascar for three weeks. It was a wonderful, blessed time with many cherished memories, especially as it enabled my folks to see their granddaughter growing and flourishing. But I should remind the reader, we have only been in Madagascar for six months. Whilst I loved our time with my parents and I have no regrets of their visiting (we are also due to welcome Miriam’s parents and sister in a few months’ time), the pain of their leaving was difficult to take after such a short time here in Madagascar. Not only that, but their time with us and their departing was an almighty tug back to our home culture. A strong temptation to try and cleave to what we have already said goodbye to.

I wonder if there is something bittersweet in the gifts that modern missionaries have been given for staying in touch to our home culture. Picture a missionary who has been on the field for a couple of years. They are becoming fluent in the local language, starting to immerse themselves in the culture of their host nation and enjoying fledgling relationships with the indigenous people. Then they receive a care package from home. Cadbury’s chocolate. A new novel. Pictures of friends from back home. Letters from loved ones. Each one of these presents are thoughtfully considered and a beautiful token of love from the precious people in our lives, it is certainly not good that they be forgotten. But if lingered on, they can possibly deviate the missionary from one of their key aims - to become a “belonger” in their host nation. The ways that a missionary can access home can also draw us away from those we have been called by God to proclaim his gospel to and make disciples, and redirect the love we should have for our new neighbours.

If I may state this in even stronger terms as I self-reflect, perhaps these tools actually provide another way for me to choose an easier life as opposed to the path that the Lord has laid out for me. Rather than what some missionaries did historically, which was to enforce their language and culture onto their host nations for the sake of ease and comfort, now the modern missionary can simply retreat to their own culture when times get tough or the host culture becomes too taxing.

What is the solution for the missionary? Is it to eschew all traces of our culture and fast from the advancements that enable easy access to home? Or perhaps it is to continue living a double life on the field, having feet in both cultures? Is there a third way?

Taking an eternal view on culture

As I reflected on the anguish of saying goodbye to my parents and the sweet aroma of home that they brought to us, I have needed to cling to God more tightly of late. I’m reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus regarding all Christian disciples in the Upper Room Discourse:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world [John 17:14]

Whilst followers of Jesus are born, live and die in this world, this verse highlights the unique “otherness” of God’s elect. That our citizenship lies not in England, Madagascar or anywhere else on this earth, but in heaven - for we are in Christ and identify with him. Yet this truth should not encourage us to be isolated hermits, awaiting the day when Jesus will take us from this cultural dislocation and bring us home. Indeed, Jesus continues in his entreaty to the Father:

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world [John 17:15-18]

To be situated in heavenly citizenship means to remain in our earthly contexts as Christ’s ambassadors. Thus if we are to represent the heart of Christ to the world, it means to show love for all peoples, nations and cultures. God is not culture-less, but culture-full. Each person in the world is imago Dei - “that in man which constitutes him as him-whom-God-loves”¹. Therefore, the more I embrace heavenly citizenship and biblical culture as defined by Holy Scripture, then the more I am able to both cherish the home culture I have left behind and love the beautiful aspects of my host culture. As I understand who I am in Christ, this enables me to rejoice in how he has shaped me up to this point, including how he has used my upbringing, family, friends, language, culture and much more to achieve this. And as I understand who I am in Christ, this empowers me to advance his kingdom where I am now, filling me with an indelible passion and focus for who and what swells his heart in Madagascar.

Final Reflections

Going forward, I will aim not to pit one culture against the other, for it does me great harm to compare the two, especially in those moments when I am struggling to adapt to Malagasy life. Instead, I hope to learn how to give thanks to God for both cultures that now influence me, for they each manifest God’s divine goodness and the richness of their diversity is an immense blessing to me. Furthermore, as human fallenness mars what the Lord has made good, I must remember that both cultures are also flawed. Both societies are in need of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. I must recognise this especially with British culture, so that I don’t view home with rose-tinted glasses.

Although, I certainly won’t be turning down a care package from home anytime soon…especially if it has Cadbury’s chocolate in it.

¹ Piper, John., "The Image of God: An Approach from Biblical and Systematic Theology" Studia Biblica et Theologica (March 1971). Found on desiringgod.org/articles/the-image-of-god