The Third Culture

One family lives in Brussels. They study French so they can function in the Belgium culture, and then so they can communicate with French speaking Muslims.

Another guy lives in London. He travels into the neighborhoods highly populated by Pakistanis.

The family who lives in Spain use as much Arabic as they can with the Moroccans they know, however they use Spanish most of the time as they work with 1st and 2nd generation immigrants.

It's one thing to move your self across the ocean and plant yourself in another culture and language. It's an even harder thing to plant yourself in a different culture, then minister to a people group from yet another culture.

This is the reality of reaching immigrants in Europe. For Westerners, they usually need some kind of bridge to connect with the immigrants. Often times this comes by means of a cultural center, food distribution, or English classes. However non-Westerners are able to connect with the immigrants differently. A Lebanese Christian working in Europe discussed how his Middle Eastern backgroud makes it easy for him to fit into the culture and community of Muslim immigrants. He is able to focus more quickly on doing Bible studies in Arabic. Latin Christians usually can be living testimonies as they work along side North Africans in the construction and domestic industries.

This week, please pray for workers all over Europe who constantly deal with the pressures and blessings of working within 2 very different cultures.