God's Mission Matters
Check your bags
Cultural baggage: what we bring with us as we engage in mission
March 15, 2010
By Sherron George
“There is no longer Jew or Greek” (Galatians 3:28)
Every human being and country has a “culture” or many “subcultures.” Culture is the way we grow up doing and understanding things. It includes our language, thought processes, emotions, art, food, values, principles, sports, economy and social organization. We grow up with “culture” without realizing it. The Protestant work ethic and Puritan morality profoundly influenced American culture in the United States. Likewise, our cultural values and attitudes continue to impact our religion.
One of the early pillars of American Protestant culture was that America was a “light on the hill” with a responsibility to “enlighten” the whole world. This noble idea with religious roots led to an attitude of cultural superiority. We began to believe that the “American way of life,” the American values of freedom and democracy made us more “civilized” than other countries. Our government began to intervene in other countries with “the big stick.”
When missionaries from the United States went to other parts of the world, they took the only kind of Christianity they knew, the American way of being a Christian, the American way of worship, of Puritan morality, of interpreting Scripture, of building and organizing churches. Unconsciously, this American Christianity was “imposed” on Christians around the world.
Today the majority of Christians live in Africa, Asia, and Latin American. Christianity has African, Asian, and Latin American faces. When we go to other countries, we must respect, adapt to, and learn from their way of being Christian. We can share our culture, but never impose it on others. We must empty ourselves of all attitudes of superiority and control.
Listen to this month’s episode of “God’s Mission Matters” 
and hear stories by Tracey King Ortega, mission co-worker in the Nicaragua since 1999, and by Charity Thompson, a Young Adult Volunteer in Guatemala from 2003-2004.( MP3 file — For best results, right-click the link [or click and hold for Macintosh], select "save target as" and save the file to your desktop.
Note this is a large file and may take several moments to download)
Get past episodes of 'God’s Mission Matters'
Februrary 2010 — Just be there
January 2010 — Listen up!
Subscribe to 'God’s Mission Matters'
Subscribe to "God's Mission Matters" with iTunes.
(Download iTunes for free if you don't have it.)
Subscribe to "God’s Mission Matters" with Google.
Subscribe to "God’s Mission Matters" with Yahoo.
Or subscribe with your favorite podcasting tool or other feed reader. Clicking on the RSS button to the left will generate the actual URL that you can paste into your feed reader.
'God’s Mission Matters' March episode toolkit
Use these resources to equip your congregation, network, youth group and other groups in your church for mission involvement. You may use any of these for activities in the context of Bible studies, Sunday Bible class, Sunday worship service and committee or session meetings.
Unless noted, these items are PDFs. You will need adobe acrobat reader to view these documents. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select " save target as" and save the document to your desktop.
- God’s Mission Matters: Check your bags!
Prefer printed? Download and read this ready-to-print booklet including the text of the podcast, a study guide for group leaders and a reflection on popular culture. This is a great tool for a learning session in your congregation or mission group context. - Cultural Baggage Claim Handout— a supplemental worksheet of the study guide designed to help the students evaluate different areas of their lives where they may have cultural baggage.
- Matters from Pop Culture: Outsourced and Wicked
Reflections on the movie Outsourced by Shadowcatcher Entertainment. Todd Anderson is relocated by his company to India where he deals with culture shock.
Print version
Reflections on the Broadway musical Wicked. By examining the story of the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch’s perspective, we can examine our own preconceived notions and misconceptions about other cultures.
Print version - My Story Matters
Watch and listen to other stories on "Check your bags!” as a good practice in mission.
Video — Veronica Njoki Muchiri: Veronica, the National Women’s Guild Organizer for the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, describes how Americans and Kenyans have different perspectives on how a project should be completed. ( .mov file — For best results, right-click the link [or click and hold for Macintosh], select "save target as" and save the file to your desktop. Note this is a large file and may take several moments to download)
Audio — Hunter Farrell: Hunter, Director of Presbyterian World Mission, tells about a time he brought a friend home from college and how both he and his friend learned about cultural differences in church. ( .wma file — For best results, right-click the link [or click and hold for Macintosh], select "save target as" and save the file to your desktop. Note this is a large file and may take several moments to download)
Audio — David Hudson: Hudson, Area Coordinator for Asia in Presbyterian World Mission, tells how when his family packed their bags for Pakistan, it became a metaphor for leaving our cultural baggage behind. ( .wma file — For best results, right-click the link [or click and hold for Macintosh], select "save target as" and save the file to your desktop. Note this is a large file and may take several moments to download) - Matters of Worship
Closing prayer statement
Hymn suggestions from the Presbyterian Hymnal:
“Help Us Accept Each Other”, page 358
“Blest Be the Tie That Binds”, page 438 - Forum
Tell us how YOU learned to “check your cultural baggage.” Post your story in the “Check your bags” forum. You may also share your reactions to the podcast and related articles (note: you must be a member of the Mission Crossroads interactive community to participate in the forum. We invite you to join the community today!).
What is 'God’s Mission Matters?'
"God’s Mission Matters," a monthly podcast of Presbyterian World Mission, helps you learn how to engage more faithfully and effectively in God’s mission. "God’s Mission Matters" brings you insights from mission workers and scripture based on a guiding “tip of the month” for mission involvement.
- Hear true stories from long- and short-term mission workers about guiding principles for mission practice
- Listen to scripturally based reflection centered on the mission tip of the month
- Share your own stories showing how you learned “best practices” for mission involvement
- Use the "God’s Mission Matters" Toolkit for additional resources for deeper study and reflection.
Podcast contents
"God’s Mission Matters" highlights lessons from the Bible and true-life mission stories:
- Parables that Matter — long-term mission workers telling stories about mission, in their own words
- Matters of the Word — the Scripture teaching us valuable mission practices
- Short Mission Matters — people of God telling stories from their short-term mission experience
On upcoming episodes of 'God’s Mission Matters,' released the 15th of each month
- Ask and tell
Building mutual accountability into your partnership - Open your eyes
Faith stories: Encountering Jesus with new eyes - Stand by me
Dependency to independence to interdependence with our mission partners - Bridge the gap
Partnership communications: Bridging here with there