“You wouldn’t understand. You just had to be there.”
Words such as these are often rooted in ignorance or insecurities that
destroy conversations before they’ve started. In truth, we’re all guilty
of such rhetoric at some time or another.Our youth return from
short-term mission trips and aren’t quite sure how to put their
experiences into words, or maybe they (and we?) are tempted to exercise
some sort of experiential superiority over their peers who were not on
the trip.Whatever their reasons for not properly communicating the
life-changing experiences of their mission trip, they have alienated
their audience in nine words.
Read the rest of the article: Contextual Youth Ministry in a Diverse World
I stumbled upon this article by Adam Cramer on the Youth Specialties website. He criticizes youth ministers for using their audience’s lack of context, as it relates to youth ministry, as a means of alienating those who are genuinely interested in hearing about the experience. Cramer’s response to that is: “Why? …It is out of insecurity that they distance themselves from a
conversation in which they could add much value.”
conversation in which they could add much value.”
Reflecting upon this, I thought about the implications this has for short-term missions. First of all, we can falsely believe that the impact of our outreach has to do primarily with how “culturally relevant” our message is. Having a healthy understanding of context can be good and useful, but we
need to not let the where dictate the what of our ministry. Let’s remember that the Gospel, which is a message that
supersedes culture and context, is relevant everywhere. This includes the African bush or our own backyards.
need to not let the where dictate the what of our ministry. Let’s remember that the Gospel, which is a message that
supersedes culture and context, is relevant everywhere. This includes the African bush or our own backyards.
Second, we can let the issue of “context” distract from the spiritual side of what transpired during the trip. If a young person spent significant time in Latin America, he may tell his church all about how much rice and beans his team ate or how colorfully-dressed the indigenous people are.
While it’s good to share cultural lessons learned on a mission trip, if not properly framed within the larger context of spiritual formation, these lessons can mislead your supporters and sending churches. You may cause them to think that only “culturally-enlightened” individuals ought to go on a mission trip or that deepening awareness is the key objective to the project (instead of furthering God’s kingdom).
This can be a significant stumbling block, if we don’t acknowledge the temptation here. Cramer says, “[I]f we let our cultures and our contexts dictate our ministries too
much, the message of the living Christ may lose its place as the central
message of our ministries.” Although it takes some time and patience to retell your stories in a new context, it is well worth it. After all, you have incredible tales to tell — both to those abroad and to those at home.
much, the message of the living Christ may lose its place as the central
message of our ministries.” Although it takes some time and patience to retell your stories in a new context, it is well worth it. After all, you have incredible tales to tell — both to those abroad and to those at home.
We sometimes forget that the same message of hope that transformed an entire community in Southeast Asia can be just as impacting to our friends and neighbors in the suburbs. Let’s not.
Remember that the next time you return from a trip and are tempted to say, “You just had to be there.”
What do you think? How much should we take into account context when it comes to missions and telling our stories?
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