Bridging Culture. Working Together.

There was a recent blogpost that was posted by A Life Overseas called you’re doing it wrong.   It gives a list of the various polarized views on how to integrate into a society and culture that is vastly different than your own.   Many of these things I have wrestled with myself and I still wrestle with.   I want to devote my next few blogposts to share some of my own thoughts regarding these various perspectives.    http://www.alifeoverseas.com/youre-doing-it-wrong : You missionaries living in guarded compounds, you’re obviously not really invested in your community. You alienate your neighbors with barbed wire topped fences. You missionaries living in houses and apartments in local neighborhoods, you are risking the safety and well-being of your family. Thank God for those missionaries in that guarded compound nearby that welcome you with open arms and shelter you in times of trouble.” The fence and the security post of the ACSI Nigeria office  Coming from the U.S, towe

Take possession of your stomach, before it takes possession of you. – St. John Climacus During the West Africa Summit on Christian Education that ACSI organized, one of the speakers emphasized the importance of teaching our students to fast from the age of three.  In that moment, I was quite concerned that he was advising schools to make fasting compulsory for students from the age of three years old.   Coming from the U.S, where fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines that does not get much attention and is often neglected, I quickly dismissed this idea.  However, here in Nigeria, fasting is a regular practice among  Christians in the church from a young age so I figured that before I jump to conclusions, I should do some research.  So I did the Reformed thing to do and consulted a friend who just graduated from Calvin Seminary.    It is very clear that Jesus has given us instructions to fast.   In Matthew 6:16, Jesus says “when you fast” not “if you fast”.   John Piper

Lagos is known as the city that never sleeps.  The day to day hustle and bustle of Lagos reflects strongly in the driving.  You are the only one whose time matters on the road.  No one else's time has any value to you.  I have been told that if you can master driving in Lagos, you can drive anywhere in the world. Yellow buses and kekes.  The first piece of advice I received when I arrived in Lagos is not to pick a fight with the infamous yellow buses and the three-wheeled kekes.  They believe they are immortal.  No fear.  Let them have their way because they think they own the road.  They pull off to the side of the road without warning, drop off passangers, and continue to merge with oncoming traffic as if no one else could possibly be driving on the road.  But, rumor has it that the current governor of Lagos State has a masterplan to get rid of the yellow buses. Lanes.  Lanes mean nothing in Lagos.  Wherever your car is, that is the lane.  You define the lane.  The lane does

A rural school in Sierra Leone I know sustainability is a buzzword right now and you are probably sick of hearing it but despite the word's overuse, it feels like nothing is changing.  Over the past few years, I have learned that in missions there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made.  North American Churches are still going on short term missions trips with suitcases packed full of North American resources, we continue to fund church buildings and school buildings in countries that we claim have few resources and in many cases we build the buildings ourselves.  We pay school fees for students and send a one-way stream of outdated, used books, we donate pencils and toothbrushes that probably cost three times as much to buy here, we ship hundreds of containers of used clothes to Sierra Leone, all with good intentions.  Our White savior complex is still on point.  Many of these good intentions continue to create a perpetual attitude of dependency. I came across an