Déjà vu, spiritual style

It’s amazing how things in life can come full-circle rather unexpectedly at times. Theoretically, this blog entry begins nearly four years ago in my Research in Communication class at Denison with Dr. Amanda Gunn. As one of the core courses of my major, this course required that I develop an extensive research proposal on a specific communication-related research question of my choice. At the time, I had friends from Denison who had recently graduated and moved overseas to work with Campus Crusade for Christ (recently renamed Cru in the United States) in a couple different countries. With my own interests in religion and cross-cultural communication, I decided to develop my semester’s research proposal on whether the training these individuals received (to share important elements of their faith in a cross-cultural context) was adequate for the diverse cultural experiences they would experience in their international work for Cru. My proposed research questions made important assumptions that religious communication involves something much more than language, in the sense of the words that we say to one another. I assumed that religion, in fact, is steeped in the nuances of whichever culture that you may find it. As a result, I crafted a research proposal that asked whether Cru was effectively training its workers in culturally sensitive ways for their ministry work.

Now, we fast forward nearly four years and examine my life in Argentina under the magnifying glass. Last weekend (July 16-18) marked the beginning of my winter vacations. It also marked a chance for me to spend some time at a winter spiritual retreat with friends from the church I have been attending. We were sitting in a study on Sunday morning and I was reading some literature that the church had given to the retreat’s participants about the institution’s vision. It was then that I felt like I had been pelted with a cultural “snowball.”  I use the imagery of being hit with a snowball here because the realization was sudden, and maybe a bit painful for just a few seconds, followed by a slightly tingly reminder that lasts for quite some time after the initial blow.  Let me explain: Since first setting foot in this church’s sanctuary, I have experienced many moments of mental struggle over whether or not I agree with their doctrine. I finally realized in reading the church’s literature at the retreat that I have agonized so much over these issues because I define congregational needs in a very different way than does this body of Christian believers. You might say that, before, I believed a Christian is a Christian is a Christian, and, in some ways, this may be true. Yes, in the ways that I believe I should love, forgive, and selflessly serve others, I think Christians share crucial qualities of a most profound nature. However, I had this “oh wow” moment because I finally was able to recognize that religion, too, is cultural. 

All that I had researched four long years ago in Dr. Gunn’s class was actually materializing in my own life. In the same ways that I assumed my friends with Cru would need new, specialized, culturally-specific skills and knowledge to share their faith with individuals in another country, I observed that I had struggled at times over the last few months as I learned important cultural pieces and how to integrate my own experiences into this puzzle of religious context. Most importantly, and more specifically, I came to understand better the cultural contexts that differ regarding who is being taught, served, and commanded to serve in the diverse congregations of Argentina and the United States.

Understanding all of this for the first time has become the easy part of my spiritual beliefs of where I see myself situated within a church that is obviously situated in the larger context of its society. Now I have to take a few steps forward in faith and search where it is that I think I should be serving others (as an action step of my religious beliefs) both in and outside this church community.

More vacation updates to come…possibly sporadically as I may have sparse internet access while traveling. For now, I am with my parents who arrived on Friday, July 22^nd. It’s simply been awesome to spend time with them as we visit some beautiful places in the province of Córdoba. As translator, tour guide, long-lost daughter, etc., there are certainly already great stories coming soon from this trip…