On the first day of my first class in my master\u2019s program, I learned an important lesson, namely what it feels like to cross cultural boundaries. The professor of this Intercultural Communication class ran a simulation. Students were divided into groups to play a silent card game. At the end of each round the winner from each group moved to a different table and began playing with that group, all while remaining silent. Frustration quickly ensued as the newcomer realized something wasn\u2019t right; the new group was playing the game all wrong, in ways that sometimes felt like cheating. As you have probably guessed, unbeknownst to us students, each group had received a different set of rules to this made-up game. This simulation went on for probably 45 minutes before the professor stopped us for discussion and analysis. There were two main take-aways that day.<\/p>\n
What does Intercultural Communication have to do with evangelical culture in North America? Professor Geert Hofstede, pioneer in the field of cross-cultural dynamics, defines culture as \u201cThe programming of the human mind by which one group of people distinguishes itself from another group<\/em>.\u201d[1]<\/a> Personally, ever since the day of that simulation in class, I have always thought of culture like the rules to the game that we\u2019re all immersed in. Here’s the rub: for us as Christians we are playing by two sets of rules simultaneously.<\/p>\n As I read Russell Moore\u2019s Losing Our Religion<\/em>, I kept seeing these two sets of rules playing out. Since the first century, the church has been grappling with this reality. We are unavoidably influenced by the culture in which we live. Moore cites examples of this when he discusses individualism[2]<\/a>, materialism[3]<\/a>, and tribalism.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n While we all swim in the water of our cultural environment, the call of Jesus is to faithfully live out Kingdom values first and foremost. This is essentially what Moore is calling the church to and is the premise of his book. He describes it using phrases such as \u201cmake Evangelicalism be born again\u201d, \u201cre-find the Way\u201d, and be \u201camazed by grace.\u201d[5]<\/a> Moore is reminding faithful Christians that their primary allegiance is not to any person on this earth nor to any political party or ideological camp, but to the Kingdom of God. In the chapter entitled \u201cLosing Our Identity\u201d, he puts it poignantly: \u201cMake peace with homelessness, it’s ok to feel disoriented and like you don’t fit in.\u201d[6]<\/a> This is another way of talking about our citizenship in heaven, as Paul writes about in Philippians 3. This is a favorite topic of mine, and I\u2019ve written about it in a previous blog.<\/a><\/p>\n Moore goes on to discuss a truly alarming phenomenon that blurs the lines even further between national culture and Kingdom culture. He describes a shift he has seen in which the label \u201cChristian\u201d is used in a way that is totally separate from faith in Jesus for salvation. He calls this a post-Christian right which is emerging, claiming “Christian values defined as Western civilization and white identity” without any call for trusting Jesus for forgiveness of sins or relationship with Jesus.[7]<\/a> I find this particularly disorienting, to return to Moore\u2019s word, because it seems to muddy the waters even further.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll circle back to the framework of cross-cultural interactions to conclude this post. I appreciate that Moore uses the word \u201cdisoriented.\u201d It reflects perfectly how cross-cultural interactions often feel. Landing in a new culture and not understanding the \u201crules of the game\u201d, as I experienced in that simulation all those years ago, engenders frustration and disorientation. In the same way, living by Kingdom values in this world can (and I would argue should) engender frustration and a feeling of \u201cnot fitting in\u201d as Moore puts it. As faithful Christians we are living by a different set of rules, a wholly different identity that many around us cannot understand. Despite seeming obvious, perhaps, I keep coming back to this concept for one important reason. When I feel the dissonance between who I am and the culture around me, I need this reminder of my heavenly citizenship. It reminds me that the feeling of dissonance, of disorientation, is a good thing. It is to be expected because of our Kingdom allegiance to Jesus, a King who is not of this world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a>[1] \u201cWhat do we mean by culture?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Moore, Russell. Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America<\/em>. New York: Sentinel, 2023. 18-19.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid., 44.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid., 69.<\/p>\n