Don’t Assimilate Too Much?
Posted by C. Holland on Nov 07, 2008After being in the mission field a while, one of our mothers came to visit. She had never been to Europe before, so it was a chance to introduce her to the new things here that have become familiar to us. Because she is one of the few family members that are supportive of our ministry work, both when we were in the States and now as missionaries, her take on the experience was pretty positive.
Late in the visit as I made her a cup of tea, she was reflecting on all the lifestyle changes we’ve had to make in such a short time. “I noticed you seem to get along well with the people here,” she said. “You even use the words that they use.”
“Yeah,” I replied, “we’ve really studied their manners and customs, made sure to dress like they do. You know, ‘when in Rome’…”
“Well, that’s great,” she said, taking the cup of tea I offered her. “Just don’t assimilate TOO much.”
The comment caught me by surprise, and before I could address it, she quickly moved to an unrelated topic. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable at how different we had become and wanted to state as such but did not want to explain or discuss it any further.
Honestly, I’m not sure how much assimilation is “too much” assimilation. So many stories abound of former missionaries to our field that held their American ways so closely that it brought a wedge between them and the nationals. Some missionaries became constant commentators about how everything done here was wrong; the ways of the States were always superior, even if it wasn’t true. However, we were also told cautionary tales about one American missionary who, in an endeavour to reach an impoverished subgroup here, became so much like them that he lost all sense of morals and laws. I am suspicious that is a puffed-up legend.
I believe assimilation has got to be God-led and Holy Spirit-discerned. A lot of people have told us “be who you are,” but what if that is in direct cultural conflict with your mission field? In other words, some of my American traits are misinterpreted as extremely rude here, thus impeding my witness. I’m not talking about shifting morals or values, this falls more into the realm of different styles of clothing, mannerisms, vocabulary and food choices. I have to think that 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 has a bearing on this, and it remains a constant learning process.
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