Living In The 3rd Culture: August 2019

Over the summer I have thought a lot about those who have been part of our church but for some reason or another no longer attend. Of course, there are many who have relocated out of the area and others who have found another church more suitable to their taste. But my concern is for those who no longer worship at any church; many who have walked away from the faith altogether, angry, hurt, and disillusioned. The problem is not unique to our church as statistics show there are a lot of young men and women who have given up on the church. An infamous example of this is Josh Harris, pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye which sold almost a million copies and had a profound influence on many Christian families. In July he announced that he was no longer a Christian.

Josh is not unique, just more well-known. He is not the only one who has come up through a system that seems like it should have prevented something like this. In Josh’s case, he grew up in a Christian family, was home-schooled, part of a solid church, it seems like the perfect formula! I recently interacted with someone who like Josh grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school, and faithfully attended Sunday school, was involved in the youth group, went on missions’ trips. They feel like they were “brain washed” and now want nothing to do with the church.

I am not done with my inquiry on the matter because it is far too important to ignore, but what I have discovered so far is that many of these young people simply did not feel like the church was a safe place to struggle with issues of life. They felt alone in their doubts and did not find people who would simply listen, grieve, or walk with them through the challenges of life. They didn’t find people who would admit they also struggle and have doubts too. Far too often they found judgement rather than grace.

I wish they could have met my grandma Lena. Her husband R.J. was a tall and distinguished preacher while she was half his height stooped over by osteoporosis. My favorite picture of grandma is her sitting at a table in her old kitchen with her hand on her well-worn Bible. She didn’t pose for it, that was her! Over the years there were many broken people who sat grandma’s kitchen table and poured out their heart out to her. There was young man thrown out of his house for struggling with same-sex attraction, unwed pregnant girls, a washed up one hit singer who in his forties never couldn’t move on in life, and of course a grandson who later would become a preacher. Lena let people struggle, doubt and confess, but always pointed them back to Jesus.

My prayer is that our church would become like grandma Lena’s kitchen. A place where you just don’t hear the gospel but experience it. A place where God’s people are committed to living out the teachings of Scripture in an authentic community marked by sacrifice, honesty, and forgiveness. A place where it is safe to talk about our struggles and know that we will be loved rather than shamed, we will be prayed for rather than talked about, and cared for rather than shunned. A place where we laugh a lot, and celebrate what God is doing in each other’s lives and of course since we have new kitchen, share a lot of meals together! I don’t know about you but that sounds like a great place to hang out.

Third Culture Defined

The term “Third Culture” has been used in various ways. One “Third Culture” group “consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectuals in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”Another common use of “Third Culture” in fact describes my personal experience. The term was first coined by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem, professor emeritus of sociology and education at Michigan State University. She used the term to describe children growing up outside their citizenship countries because of a parent’s work abroad. A “TCK or Third Culture Kid has since been defined as, “someone who as a child has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture" Though I am a TCK, it is my desire to use the term in referring to the people who make up the true Christian Church (Theologically defined as the “Invisible Church”). In other words, the Church is a Third Culture. Scripture teaches us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law and the punishment of Hell, and through faith in Him we become citizens of His Kingdom, receiving not only the full benefits of citizenship in His Kingdom, but indeed the right to become sons and daughters of God. The moment, we step into this Kingdome we experience a new and different culture. We are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, but now live in the kingdom of light and that changes everything! At the same time we never went anywhere physically as we continue to work, live, and play with the same people as before, we see the world differently, we no longer truly fit – we are “in the world, but not of it” -- we have a new culture. For most of us this life changing experience occurs within our birth culture and our Christian experience is saturated by those influences. For those who grew up in non-Hispanic White North America, Christianity is uniquely different than those who grew up in an African American context. Our birth culture effects how we live out our faith in the Kingdom of Christ. Yet the Kingdom of Christ requires one more cultural shift and that is away from birth culture and into a culture made up of people of every ethnic and cultural group that has ever existed on the face of the earth. This Kingdom is no more North American than it is Tanzanian or Tibetan. It is a unique or shall we say a “Third Culture” that integrates elements of all cultures into one new and better one, where there is no Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-298). In fact Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a description what this will look like one day:“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." A Third Culture Perspective is one that understands and appreciates that God gathers people from every ethnic and cultural group and brings them into the new culture of His Son Jesus Christ. It is a perspective where birth cultures are appreciated and respected as coming from God, but none are superior. It seeks to have a deeper understanding of the Gospel, pays attention to culture, our own as well as others, and then attempts to bring them together. It is a perspective that “seeks first His Kingdom and His Righteousness” and lovingly and passionately enjoys and glorifies God in all we do. It is a perspective that welcomes immigrants….

Grandma Lena's Kitchen