So what is Cross Cultural Training, part 1

This was the last picture my camera took before dying.

When we were talking about coming to Peru for Cross Cultural training, our friends were asking just that was and as you recall we were a little bit vague on the details, not because we were being secretive, we just didn’t know.  Now we have a clearer picture. 

One of our instructors told us about a conversation he had with a young person sitting next to him on the flight down here.  She was a successful businessperson, returning to Peru from a business trip.  They talked along familiar themes, about business, family and hopes for the future.  She was successful in all that she said about her life, and it was something she had worked hard to achieve.  “She was,” he said, “like many of the young people I know in the states.  They are working hard to be successful, but what they long for is significance.”

The Plaza near our hotel during the day.

The goal of our training here is to learn effective ways to connect God’s Word with God’s World, in cultures beyond our own.  By God’s Word we mean more than The Bible, and in connecting this to God’s World, we hope to help people find the significance that is a natural longing each of us feel for the lives we lead.

The Cross Cultural training that we are receiving here is Peru is hoping to address some of the mistakes past missionaries made, mistakes that were sometimes disastrous to the receiving culture because the gospel was not clearly articulated from the sending culture. 

According to Bronislaw Malinowski, humans have seven basic survival needs:

1. Food and drink (Metabolism)

2. Housing and clothing (Bodily comforts)

3. Movement and transportation

4. Safety and injury prevention

5. Health, hygiene, and healing (including rest and recreation)

6. Sex and reproduction

7. Growth and maturity

We toured some Wanka-Inka Ruins, and this overlooks the valley

These needs are supplied by a culture in ways that are unique to the society, and ultimately come to define how life is lived within that culture[1].  If missionaries (or Cross Cultural Workers) come bringing a  gospel that is not clearly articulated from their own culture they can mistakenly introduce a lot of baggage that is not relevant to the message of the gospel, and especially not helpful in connecting God’s Word with God’s World. 

So in our Cross Culture Training we are learning about ourselves, learning to be learners in the different places we plan to serve, and hopefully beginning to understanding the influence our culture has had on us.  

The Plaza at night is quite a happening place.  

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[1] http://language-and-culture.neddanison.com/culture3.html