Sometimes providences [of God], like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards.
– John Flavel (1627–1691)
Category / Faith
Culture shock: why don’t you understand?
I’m an Australian-born Cambodian-Chinese (aka ABC). I have thick, black hair; dark brown eyes; and a fairly tanned skin tone. No, this isn’t a dating advert, but it’s a pretty standard description for most South-East Asians.
It’s almost a month since my family and I moved to Taiwan to serve here with OMF International. One of the challenges of living and ministering in Taiwan is my Asian appearance. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, stay with me.
The locals
If I walk down the street on my own, Taiwanese locals will look at me and they don’t think anything of it. I look enough like a local, that is, until I open my mouth. Whether it’s ordering food, trying to open a bank account, or sort out health issues at the hospital, I get this look—Why don’t you understand?
Additionally, even though I grew up in Australia there are elements of Asian culture which I’ve inherited from my parents. As such, I feel an unspoken expectation and pressure to conform to the Taiwanese culture. What are those expectations, I don’t actually know. Still the whisper comes: Why don’t you understand?
It is all too easy to become judgmental and look upon my Australian upbringing. It is all too easy to begin comparing the West and the East. It is all too easy to shut myself and retreat from the world. None of which would be at all helpful. After all, the purpose of coming to Taiwan was to be part of reaching these people with the gospel.
However, it’s not only with the locals where this issue arises.
Co-workers & expats
On the other end of the spectrum, expat co-workers can overlook or forget that Western naturalised Asians are not necessarily equipped with the language and culture of their ethnic origins. While my experience of this is fairly minor, it does happens. Whether there are cultural expectations to act or behave in a certain manner, or language expectations where I completely miss what’s going on. Why don’t you understand?
I remember working back at home in Australia where the office culture was casual and friendly, but in a public setting, the culture was prim and proper. I was completely caught me off guard! And that’s in my “home” culture.
Here in Taiwan, I work with a team of people from different countries with their own language and culture. There are Swiss, Germans, Singaporeans, Americans, Australians, just to name a few. While English is the working language, only a few call the English culture their own.
The cultural expectations from expat co-workers is probably more dangerous than the cultural conflicts with local people. Why? Conflict with co-workers is one of the most common reasons for missionary attrition.1 I don’t expect any major conflicts, but I expect there will be some. Missionaries need your prayers for their relationships with their co-workers.
Biblical identity
So, how do we to respond to culture shock? How do we deal with the ensuing cultural conflict? Where do we define our identity in the midst of all this transition? What keeps us going?
As we undergo these transitions, we can’t define ourselves from our “home” culture, nor can we define ourselves from our new “adopted” culture. If we continuously define ourselves from the changing world around us, we are tossed around like leaves in the wind.
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
— Mark 8:27-30 (ESV)
If you’re familiar with the Gospel of Mark, one of the driving motifs is the identity of Jesus. Mark opens his Gospel, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1) Peter declares Jesus as the Christ, and the Gospel will climax with a Roman centurion declaring Jesus as the Son of God (Mark 15:39).
What’s my point? Jesus knew exactly who he was. His life and mission, culminating in his death and resurrection, is driven by a solid knowledge and acceptance of who he is. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God. The opinion of people around him didn’t sway him from his path to redeem humanity from sin.
The Bible sets out our identity in Christ. We are adopted co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), sons and daughters of God. We are saved by grace and we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are a holy priesthood for the worship of God (1 Peter 2:5). This barely scratches the surface.
As I wrestle with culture shock, the one thing that keeps me grounded and gives me strength to move forward each day is knowing who I am in Christ. Satan seeks to chip away at this foundation, but he cannot. It is a firm foundation on which I will stand. I belong to Christ. He purchased me with his blood. He gave me life, and he gave it abundantly (John 10:10).
- Too Valuable to Lose: exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition by William Taylor Find it on Amazon ↩
The blessing of support ministries!
We’re new field missionaries. We’ve served for the past couple of years as support missionaries on the “homeside”, but now we are serving on the “field” in Taiwan for the next 18 months or so.
As new cross-cultural workers, we are in the midst of transitions. We’re dealing with culture shock, faced with the limited ability to communicate effectively, learning how to manage day-to-day life in a culture and society different to our own.
These last few days, we were faced with a frustrating situation. Sickness. As we struggle with all the challenges of transition, we now need to figure out the medical system of this country. It’s not like going to the supermarket and figuring out what’s fresh milk, soy milk, or yoghurt milk…
After a misdiagnosis yesterday, we contacted our medical advisor (who happens to be in New Zealand) for a second opinion. We were able to get the opinion of a medical profession who understands our home culture and our adopted culture. While Taiwan certainly provides excellent medical care, there are cultural differences which result into slightly different approaches to patient care.
Just the ability to speak to someone who “speaks our language” and understands our situation without getting things lost in translation is a huge relief. As a result, tomorrow we’ll return to the hospital to get one small detail adjusted to see if we can’t get an improved care plan as we deal with sickness in the family.
We’re fortunate we work with an organisation which believes in supporting its workers to enable long-term effectiveness and survival (it’s already hard enough to survive in cross-cultural ministry without the added stress). Our organisation enlists the help of various people with suitable gifts to support its workers. Some of these roles you would find in any typical organisation: finances, HR, IT, etc. Some, however, are unique to the cross-cultural sphere: language & culture, prayer, TCKs, etc.
There’s more which can be said about the importance of support ministries (check out this article). I just wanted to say thank you!
Culture shock: the early days
Well, it’s Day 4 of our new journey in Taiwan. We arrived safely last Wednesday and we were warmly welcomed by a fellow co-worker.
To date, there are daily communications in the form of personal visits, phone calls, and messages from one or more of our new co-workers here in Taipei. All of them are truly happy to have us as part of the team here, and all of them empathise with our daily struggle as we transition into life here.
However, the culture shock is setting in quicker than I expected. It just hit me in the face. Honestly, it’s probably a good indication of how stressed and tired I am from these last few months of preparing for this current transition.
I could entertain you with the things which frustrate me, but that’s the danger of culture shock, entertaining those frustrations about differences—not failures or mistakes, between my home culture and my current adopted culture—which fuel bitterness and anger, defeating the whole purpose of coming here in the first place.
Rather, my prayer and desire turns to Jesus:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
He is the reason we are here. He is my hope and my salvation. He is the hope and salvation for all peoples.
I’ll still have days where I will struggle with the culture, but I know that my Lord and Saviour is able to carry me through.
The Lord of the Sabbath
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
— Matthew 12:6-8 (ESV)
The Sabbath day is not a religious day. It is a day where the mercy of God is demonstrated: to remember the forgiveness we are given; to show mercy to those around us; and, to intercede for the lost in need of His mercy around the world.
Live in the world: a warning from John (Part 3)
I have a tendency to hoard. I’m not as a bad as I used to be, because I’ve come to learn one very important lesson: it might come in handy one day, but if I’m not using it now why hold on. Part of this realisation is the worth of materials. Do I really need to keep this box? Do I really need to keep this bit off my car? Do I really need to take up more space?
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
> — 1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
Most people like things that are tangible. There are those who like the metaphysical perspective on things (like me), but I’m not most people. We like information provided by time and space. We like things we can see, hear, touch, smell, and (if you’re like me) taste. We like tangible.