Culture Shock 2

With experience and patience we can learn to live in the new culture, eat the foods and

like them, master the transportation system, make new friends, trust the

medical facilities and avoid getting “ripped off”. Most importantly we begin to see

some of the fruit of our labor.

Learning to Adapt to a New Culture

• Tourist and short-termers stay in hotels

• Culture shock is rarely fatal – we eventually adjust

• Individuals differ greatly to culture chock– Personality factor: some are flexible, and

some are rigid and need to control– The latter usually have more difficulty

Methods of dealing with cultural differences

1. Recognizing our anxieties – fear is normal– Many fears are unfounded– Some can be eliminated by changes in our lifestyle– Understood that cultural anxieties are normal and

must learn ways to deal with them, instead of covering them up and not dealing with them

2. Learning the new Culture– Warning Signs: if afraid of the unknown we will

draw into a small circle of friends– We will try to create an island of Western culture in

our home

Better alternative1. Explore, travel, learn the city and neighborhood

by all means of transportation (bus, train, guide, etc

2. Meet new people—they will be delighted to teach you their ideas

3. Be involved in culture—go to groceries daily, sit with people at coffee shops, invite them to your home, accept invitations to their homes

4. Involve yourself as soon as possible before routines block off your time—Remember: it is better to build friends among the nationals than to establish yourself with foreigners. Practice reaching out them. (Note: ethnic groups in the US act just like the American missionary overseas!)

More Alternatives

5. Communicate your desire to be a learner: People help people in need. Always be needy!

6. Learning the new culture is key to evangelism: as we study them, they are studying us.

7. Learning the language is critical to your future service—takes a great deal of time and practice—learn to sound like them. Feel like you are exaggerating the sound and you will be very close. Early errors become life-time habits, unless corrected early.

8. Learn culture in the first years in country, later on you will not have time.

Building Trust

• Only when people trust us will they listen to us

• Trust has to do with the value we place on a relationship

• Often we build relationships to accomplish some other objective – we only evaluate the relationship when things go wrong.

Steps to Build Trust

1. Trust begins with INTEREST IN and ACCEPTANCE OF those we serve– We have reasons for coming to minister, they have reasons for relating

to us. As these reasons are fulfilled the relationship continues.– Much later, the relationship will continue for its own sake as friendship

and companionship become priority.

2. Our interest in others must be GENUINE – if we use them for our goals they will feel “used”. True interest is…– Our sincere desire to learn about their lives and culture– Symbolically evident when we dress in their clothes, eat their food, visit

their homes, etc.– Demonstrated in hospitality—inviting them often to our house.– Shown in formal rituals, through official visits, exchanges of gifts, polite

introductions, constant inquiries of their family. A big mistake here is to have a public affront!

More Steps to Build Trust3. Acceptance begins when we love people as they

are, not as we hope they will become– Hard to do because of our strong desire to change them– Easy to unknowingly show rejection: interrupt their

speaking, laugh at their remarks, question their facts, talk down to them, compare their culture unfavorably with our won, or we avoid them, forget their names, fail to trust them with money or tasks, etc.

4. Building trust requires OPENNESS and vulnerability—before they can trust us we must trust them

– Reveal our weaknesses, fears and uncertainties5. Trust requires CONSISTENCY—we must be

predictable so they know what to expect. What we teach or say in private is what we do and say in public.

More Steps to Build Trust6. Trust must be NURTURED to maturity.

At the beginning it is fragile and easily broken or offended. We tend to agree with people we trust .

– Disagreement in early stages of relationship not just a difference of opinion, but a rejection of their person. Later it can withstand arguments and dissensions

– People must trust the messenger before they can trust the message!

7. Final stage of building trust is full trust and CONFIDENCE and willingness to entrust one’s self into his/her hands

Dealing with Stress

1. If signs of growing terse, irritable, inflexible or easily exploding responses on our part, then we may need to reduce our stress level.

2. SET REALISTIC GOALS –

3. Easiest key is to reduce expectations.

4. Treat Yourself

5. Share your burdens with someone

Learn not to take yourself too seriously

1. We are not as good or important as we think we are: remember—It’s not about you!

2. No one is called to carry the full responsibility of the ministry. We may be needed, but are not indispensable.

3. Humor is a great medicine –laugh with the others about your mistakes, if we see it as funny as they do, we are learning their culture! Try-fail-laugh-try…

4. Flexibility—We are unbending authoritarian when we are self-centered and uncertain. Every change in plans or things that go wrong create stress . We cannot control everything so hold things lightly.

5. Forgiveness—stress comes from false sense of self-importance, fed by spirit of perfectionism. Begin by forgiving ourselves, then others.

6. Thankfulness is contrary to stress

Beyond Culture Shock

1. Culture shock is a passing experience common in any new culture

2. Important to recognize what is happening to us and how to work through it

3. We are not on a safari, but a life among real people, not to be used, but to know and love

4. Soon their differences become minimal and their needs as real as ours.