A Lesson in Cross Cultural Ministry

We made it through 10 days in the Mozambiquan Bush-Bush. Imagine 23 people piled in the back of a pick-up truck riding from Alabama to Texas on poor roads and you will have a good understanding of our trip. We started with 12 missionary students and 11 Mozambiquans. At different points in the journey we also transported chickens, sugar cane, corn, rice & beans, and other random items we received as gifts from visiting the locals. If we had been in the States we would have been crying and complaining but because we are in Africa we considered this to be part of the experience and just laughed at our seemingly ridiculous situation most of the journey.

As westerners we never really had a clue as to where we were going or what we would do next. We got an upclose view of cross cultural ministry. The Mozambiquan culture is not time oriented. For one, almost no one owns a watch. Therefore, any event we did we had to start playing music really loud so people in the villages would hear it. Once they heard the music they would slowly start making their way toward us. Then after about an hour we would begin showing the Jesus film.

We also realized that Mozambiquans are not crisis oriented. We plan for potential problems that may never happen. They appear to wait for the problem to occur and then seek a solution. This cultural difference was most apparent in our food preparation. We would want to plan our meals for the day so we did not go hungry in remote areas. They tended to want to wait till they were hungry and then solve the problem. Such differences easily cause frustration between two cultures and it definitely began to wear on us. We know there is no right way but the tendency is to assume that our western culture is the best way.

We read a book required by our school regarding ministering cross culturally. It spoke on how Jesus left heaven, His culture, and came to earth humbly as a baby. He had to learn to speak a language, learn the Hebrew culture, and then minister within this context. We too must come into this Mozambiquan culture humbly as a baby, not as an arrogant person who knows the best way to do things. Our bush-bush experience helped us better realize the reality of cultural differences and how they can hinder ministry. We must always come in humbly.