How To Look Like A Tourist In Africa

Sleep when you get home!

One evening a few friends were getting together for dinner and a movie and I was invited along. On the menu was a traditional Namibian meal of mahangu. Mahangu is a fine millet ground into flour and used to make a thick loaf of porridge. Guests share from a community loaf and with their hands pull off a hunk of mahangu, roll it into a ball, dip it in a flavoring sauce, and then eat. This is a typical Namibian meal because it is inexpensive and a crop easily grown in the dry environment. While, honestly, mahangu must be an acquired taste, this is definitely an experience you would never have in the States.

Cross-cultural experiences will provide countless opportunities for you to try new things. From eating new foods to befriending new people, the adventures are endless. When faced with these opportunities you can either engage them to the fullest, or shy away into your own little comfort zone. But remember what we’ve learned from the past few discussions: the greater the adjustment needed, the greater the tension, and thus the greater the learning opportunity. Based on that equation, I cannot encourage you enough to take full advantage of every new cultural experience you have the opportunity to pursue!

On one of my first trips to Namibia our team developed a catch phrase which still rings in my mind today: Sleep when you get home! Obviously that doesn’t mean spend your entire two week mission trip without a wink of sleep. On the contrary, you need to be rested enough to be alert and involved in all our daily activities. Rather it’s simply a way of saying, ‘Take full advantage of every opportunity afforded you.’ When you return from your trip will you be more satisfied for taking in the beautiful new scenery or for taking a nap on that 3 hour van ride? Will you more regret having that late-night conversation or passing it up to get a little more sleep? The opportunities for relationship and conversation, even with your own team members, could be among the most deep and impactful experiences you have on this trip. This simple phrase just means we’re only there for a few weeks. Don’t miss out on the opportunities right in front of you. You’ll have plenty of time to sleep when you get home.

But after returning from one such trip I came to a startling realization. Even though I was back in America, I still wasn’t home. Paul says “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:19). Peter calls us “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Pet 2:11). For me, ‘sleep when you get home’ took on a further, eternal meaning because everyday I will be faced with opportunities to share God’s love and the Gospel of Christ with people around me, but will I be too caught up in my own comfort to take advantage of these opportunities?? When I get to heaven will I more regret the conversations I didn’t have and the missed opportunities to serve and love people, or losing a few extra zzz’s or vacation days? Our culture has come to love its sleep and rest. But we’re only here for a short time so by all means, take advantage of every opportunity! Sleep when you get home!

How a sweatshirt is like a rubber band

In the previous post we observed that cultural differences require us to make adjustments in how we interact with and think about situations. We saw that the adjustments we need to make in any given situation are directly proportionate to the amount of differences involved. The more different a situation is, the more adjustments are required. But that's not the only equation that applies to cross-cultural ministry. Additionally, tension is directly proportionate to adjustment. The greater the adjustment required, the greater the resulting tension. And conversely, if little adjustment is required, then only a small amount of tension may result. Consider a rubber band. In its original state there is no tension and no reason to snap. But as you stretch the band out you increase the tension. The further you stretch it, the greater the tension, until finally the tension becomes too great and it snaps.

This is similar to what happens in cross-cultural situations. As we experience differences in culture and make adjustments, our way of thinking (our paradigm) is being stretched. For example, one afternoon a group of short-term missionaries was playing on a soccer pitch with some children. As the sun went down the temperature began to drop. One team member went to the van to grab her sweatshirt and then realized that none of the children had sweatshirts to put on and it was only getting colder. This experience stretched her thinking in regards to wealth and poverty. It’s one thing to hear about it on the news, but to actually experience it forces you to engage the tension.

Now it is important to remember, tension itself is not a bad thing. If it weren't for tension, how could the rubber band hold anything together? Tension is inevitable in cross-cultural situations, and is in fact part of the reason we engage in cross-cultural ministry. The tension is the indication that we are being stretched beyond our current way of thinking. It opens our minds to new ways of understanding the world. If it weren't for tension there would be no learning. However, too much tension can be a bad thing. It is the job of your team leaders to help you process the tension and make sure it doesn’t become so great that you snap.

As you work through these inevitable experiences there are two potential results. The first, as we have mentioned, is that you learn and grow from it. Allow your mind to be stretch and you will come to a fuller understanding and appreciation for this new culture. The other potential result is frustration and misery. The primary factor in determining which result you will experience is the attitude with which you approach the situation. If you approach your cross-cultural experience with an open mind, a humble attitude and a willingness to learn and adapt to the situations around you, then you will likely experience growth and become enriched through the process. However, if you approach these new experiences with a close-minded arrogance, an attitude of superiority and an unwillingness to change, then you will likely endure a frustrating, aggravating trip. Reflecting on our rubber band analogy, it’s the older, more fragile rubber bands that break. The more flexible ones can undergo great tension without snapping. Thus the second steadfast rule in cross-cultural ministry is: Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility!

In our prior lesson we began to address this attitude by recognizing that different is not necessarily wrong. Now we add to this the willingness to adjust to new situations and try new things. The combination of humility and flexibility will go a long way in helping you have the best cross-cultural experience possible.

The Trouble With Differences

In any cross-cultural situation you will find similarities and differences. The similarities are easier to handle because it's what you're already used to. You don't have to make as large an adjustment to fit it into your current paradigm of thinking. When you walk past a KFC in Namibia you'll say to yourself, ‘That looks familiar.’ When you walk in you see the same logo, the same menu, you smell the same fried chicken. It's almost as if you're back in America again. You don't have to make adjustments in how you interact with that situation because it's so familiar. Similarities are easy to handle.

It's the differences that cause so much trouble in cross-cultural situations. The differences between cultures force us to make adjustments on how we think about and interact in various situations. Adjustments are directly proportionate to differences. The more different a situation is, the more adjustment it requires. The more similar a situation is, the less adjustment it requires. This is easily illustrated as you walk out of the airport to your vehicle. As you look around you see a fairly arid environment with mountains in the distance and small shrubbery dotting the landscape. You've seen pictures of deserts before or perhaps been to a desert, so this experience is somewhat familiar and requires little adjustment. You then load your bags into the back of the kombie and make your way to the right side of the vehicle to get in. You are embarrassed to find no passenger door and everyone else climbing in on the other side. In Namibia, the driver’s seat is on the right side while passenger sits on the left. This is a minor difference that requires a minor adjustment every time you approach a vehicle to make sure you go to the correct side. In Namibia, they drive on the left side of the road. This is a much greater difference and requires more adjustment from the driver. At every intersection he must consider which lane he will pull into. He must adjust his thinking on who has the right of way and which direction cars are coming from. He must make adjustments for new road signs and markings, and adjust from miles to kilometers. So it's easy to see that the more significant the differences between cultures, the more adjustments are required.


When interacting with two different ways of doing things our natural reaction is to think that our way is right, while the other way is wrong. However there are many problems with this tendency. Is there really only one right way to do it? And if so, how do you know that yours is the right way? How do you know that there isn’t a better way? Or perhaps there are two or more equally good ways of doing it? What are the motivations behind them doing it that way? What are the motivations behind us doing it our way? The reality is by presuming that our way is the only right way, or even the best way of doing something we prove our own arrogance and risk alienating those from other cultures. That is perhaps the easiest and fastest way to ruin your cross-cultural experience and your ministry.

That said, the number one rule in cross-cultural situations is this: Different is not necessarily wrong. That phrase should be permanently burned into your memory because it is counterintuitive to how you naturally think and it will make or break your trip. There is not one right way to print money. You’ll see bills and coins of all different sizes, colors, and denominations, and not one of them is wrong; it’s just different. Driving on a certain side of the street, or using a certain system of measurements is not more right or wrong than another; it’s just different (In fact, most of the rest of the world drives on the left and uses the metric system!).

One potent example is to consider how people use their money at the grocery store. In America, someone might buy the large box of cereal or the large jar of spaghetti sauce because even though you spend more at the moment, you’re saving money in the long run because it costs less per ounce. In Namibia, they are far more likely to purchase the smaller, cheaper box or jar because it satisfies what they need at the moment and it’s less expensive. When they run out, they will come back and buy it again. As a result, over time they will actually end up spending more money on the same amount of product as the American. To us that may sound foolish and wasteful, but remember – it’s not wrong, it’s just different. Africans tend to be much more focused on the present than the future. Historically, because of war, disease, famine, etc., Africans had shorter life spans and were never guaranteed tomorrow. Additionally, they may not have the space or storage capacity to keep food over longer periods of time. And paychecks only stretch so far, so they must buy only what they need. Buying in bulk is a luxury we take for granted. Perhaps we as Americans have much to learn from this example of a different culture.

Notice I do say that different is not necessarily wrong. That means, in some cases different is wrong. Typically these situations are in the areas of morality and religion. For example, in Namibia you will see that alcoholism and drunkenness is much more prevalent than in the States. Child abuse and neglect are common place. The state of families and marriage is in shambles. These are issues that must be addressed. But they must not be addressed from another cultural standard of morality (namely ours). We don’t say their morality is wrong because it’s different from our morality. When dealing with moral issues, God is our ultimate standard of right and wrong. We judge their culture (and our own) based on God’s perfect standard. This is, in fact, why we do missions. We are spreading the truth of the gospel to areas of the world where they have it wrong. But I can not emphasize enough, that does not exclude our own culture! No culture is perfect. America has immorality of its own that must be addressed (pride, materialism, greed, gluttony, etc.). So as we approach some of these differences we must do so from the standard of God’s truth and not the standard of Western culture.

To summarize, when you interact with cross-cultural differences you’re going to have to adjust your way of thinking. Sometimes it will take great adjustments, other times, not so great. But your way of thinking needs to be stretched; that’s one reason we go on these trips. If something falls outside your paradigm and you don’t adjust your thinking, the natural tendency is to degrade or insult the difference. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, ‘Well that’s stupid,’ when in reality it’s just different. In areas regarding preference, we must extend grace. But in areas regarding God’s Word, we must extend truth. Sometimes things really are wrong, but sometimes they’re just different. We must learn to distinguish between the two.

Conversational Evangelism

I was recently asked if in Namibia we would have opportunities to bring people to Christ. What seems to be a simple question actually relies on culturally conditioned language that makes it much more complicated than it seems. It was this very question many years ago that challenged my understanding of how I share Christ with people and led me to what I now call conversational evangelism.

The difficulty comes in how Christianity has come to define what it means to “bring or lead people to Christ.” Typically it involves sharing some form of multi-point gospel presentation then leading someone through a pre-fab “sinner’s prayer” and suddenly they’re “saved.” That seems to imply that salvation is contingent upon saying the prayer, which is no longer salvation by grace but by works. And more than that, that’s not how we see people coming to Christ in the Bible. Instead we see people having an experience with Jesus that causes them to put their faith in him. Philip told Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote…Come and see” (Jn 1:45-46). The Samaritan woman told the rest of her village, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (Jn 4:29). In the Gospels, “bringing people to Christ” literally meant introducing people to the person Jesus. Perhaps it shouldn’t be so different for us. Perhaps instead of, “Pray this after me,” our gospel presentation should be, “Come and see” (Ps 66:5). Now let’s place that understanding in the context of evangelism in Namibia.

In Namibia the "official" statistics will tell you that about 80-90% of the population is Christian, but all that really means is that they go to a Christian church. It doesn't necessarily mean they have a relationship with God through Jesus. If you ask someone if they are a Christian they will likely say 'yes,' but many of those people are trusting in their good works (like going to church or saying a prayer) to save them rather than trusting in Christ. They have a false understanding of what Christianity really is and believe in a works-based salvation that is no ‘good news’ at all (Gal 1:6-7). As a result there are many people who call themselves Christians who still need to hear the true good news about Jesus. (Side note: The situation is not so different in our own country!)

Most of our team’s ministry activities will involve supporting the local church and the orphan ministry. Whether we are interacting with non-Christians or working alongside other Christians, our mission is to bring Christ into whatever situation we find ourselves. We probably won't be doing any big revival meetings and inviting people to come forward and talk to a counselor, but rather most of our opportunities to share Christ will come in the context of conversations. Our evangelism will take place through relationships that YOU build and through conversations that YOU initiate. The everyday conversations and interactions we have with children and other people can help teach them what being a true Christian means and how it looks to live that out in life. That's why we go through exercises like sharing our testimonies, so that in a conversation you can share what Christ has done for you and through your experience you show them what the gospel really is. Your personal story beats a 3-point outline any day.

So the simple answer to our original question is an abundant YES! Everyday, in every interaction, we will have opportunities to bring people to Christ. We won’t necessarily be the ones leading them in a sinner’s prayer, but we will be introducing them to who Jesus is and the saving power he can have in their lives. And when all is said and done we will do well to remember Paul’s words to the church at Corinth: one plants the seed, another waters it, but only God makes it grow (1 Cor 3:6).

What will we do?

This is probably the most common question that arises as you prepare to leave home. Typical short term mission trips begin with a task that they plan, prepare for and implement when they arrive at their destination. This is a very "western" way of thinking that tends to bring the senders' agenda to another place. This does provide measurable goals and an ability to assess success quickly. One difficulty with this strategy is that it makes it difficult to incorporate the strengths of team members. That said, our trip will not be typical.

We are preparing to spend about 2 weeks building relationships, not churches or houses or schools. Relationships take time and are much less "measurable", but are key components to successfully encouraging and supporting those we go to serve. We each will bring strengths and weaknesses as we step out of our comfort zones and into another culture. We will serve the orphaned, the lonely, the confused, the student, the teacher, the parent, and the pastor, just to name a few. One thing you can count on is that you will see God, and yourself, in new and exciting ways.