Serving with Eyes Wide Open

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by David A. Livermore




  © 2006, 2013 by David A. Livermore

  Published by Baker Books

  a division of Baker Publishing Group

  P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

  www.bakerbooks.com

  Ebook edition created 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  ISBN 978-1-4412-4113-9

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

  The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Foreword by Paul Borthwick 7

  Preface 9

  Acknowledgments 11

  Introduction 13

  Part 1: Looking through a Wide-Angle Lens: Globalization and the Church

  1. One World: Snapshots of the Globe 21

  2. One Church: The Changing Face of Christianity 33

  Part 2: Conflicting Images: The North American Perspective versus the Majority World Church Perspective on Short-Term Missions

  3. Motivation: “Missions Should Be Fun!” 47

  4. Urgency: “Just Do It!” 59

  5. Common Ground: “They Don’t Fly Planes in India When It Rains” 67

  6. The Bible: “Just Stick to the Bible and You Can’t Go Wrong!” 77

  7. Money: “They’re So Happy” 89

  8. Simplicity: “You’re Either for Us or against Us!” 99

  Part 3: Sharpening Our Focus and Service with Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

  9. Try, Try Again: CQ Drive 113

  10. Seek to Understand: CQ Knowledge 125

  11. On Second Thought: CQ Strategy 141

  12. Actions Speak Louder than Words: CQ Action 153

  13. The Heart of the Matter: Shema 163

  Appendix: Recommended Resources 179

  Notes 183

  About the Author

  Back Ad

  Back Cover

  Foreword

  I’ve had the privilege of knowing about Dave Livermore and observing his dedication to cross-cultural ministry for more than a decade. As with many of the early devotees of short-term missions, especially trips involving young people, Dave’s interest in and commitment to short-term missions started with a view that focused primarily on giving Western Christians a great cross-cultural experience to foster their own growth.

  In the late twentieth century, churches across America (and other wealthier nations) jumped at this unprecedented opportunity created by the advent of long-haul travel to go, minister, and learn in a fascinating world of cultures and adventures. Short-term missions morphed from a primary avenue for missionary recruitment to a foundational way to provoke spiritual growth in the lives of the participants.

  Thankfully, Dave did not stay locked in this “missions for the benefit of me” mind-set. His long-term dedication to listening to and learning from brothers and sisters in the non-Western world transformed his perspective into what is now a commitment to genuine cross-cultural relationships and effective partnerships with the church in the majority world.

  I finally met Dave personally when he was well into this journey, and I deeply appreciated his willingness to be self-critical, to ask tough questions about some of our culturally insensitive assumptions, and to practice what he preaches in this book. He has slowed down, put his passport on the shelf for a while, and asked questions about rethinking and reworking short-term missions.

  This book is the result of his reflection and research. It will serve well any leader who is willing to ask questions about how short-term missions can best serve the global advancement of Christ’s kingdom—and not just the experiential advancement of Christians who are wealthy enough to participate in global adventures.

  Dave’s global overviews, careful research, and practical tools combine his skills as a youth worker, missiologist, and anthropologist. Like a news reporter in the helicopter above the highway, Dave gives us the “skyway patrol” view of short-term missions. While we are celebrating the sheer volume of short-term missions traffic, Dave takes time to give us a sense of the road ahead. He warns us of the culturally insensitive potholes that could keep us from joining the mainstream of God’s activity in the majority world. He gives voice to non-Western leaders so that we don’t continue on the road to ineffectiveness. And he points us in a direction that will keep us from taking the wrong exit, a detour into our own cultural self-absorption caused by our failure to evaluate our basic assumptions and listen to our non-Western co-travelers.

  Like Dave, I believe in short-term missions, and I encourage churches and ministries to get involved. But I also believe that our Western approach to short-term missions, behavior in relating to those from other cultures, and perspective on the purposes of short-term missions desperately need an overhaul and a reevaluation. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence provokes this overhaul. Any leader who is willing to take time to reflect on where short-term missions fits in our Western contribution to global Christianity will find this book an essential resource.

  Paul Borthwick, Development Associates International, author of A Mind for Missions

  Preface

  Since the first edition of this book was released in 2006, I’ve sometimes been approached at Christian conferences by someone who says, “Hey—you’re the guy who hates short-term missions, aren’t you?”

  It’s not exactly the way I want to be known. And it’s not really true. I don’t hate short-term missions. But I understand why some have heard my critiques about short-term missions without also hearing me say that I think there’s tremendous potential in short-term missions done well.

  But what has surprised me far more is the way this book has been generously received by so many people. Many readers have said things like, “These were things I always wondered about but never really voiced.” Or “This doesn’t apply only to a short-term missions trip. I see the same things in how we interact with culturally diverse people at home.”

  Here’s the deal. I don’t hate short-term missions. I’ve been participating in short-term missions for more than twenty-five years—as a participant, a leader, and a researcher. And even to this day, I travel overseas several times a year to minister and teach in various places around the world. It’s because I think short-term missions can be such a transformative experience for everyone involved that I’ve been motivated to examine the good and the bad of our North American endeavors.

  The second edition of Serving with Eyes Wide Open includes the core of what was in the first edition: a wide-angled look at the realities of our twenty-first-century world, a focus on some conflicts between how many North Americans describe their short-term missions experiences and the perspective of the locals who receive them, and an introduction to cultural intelligence as a way to improve the ways we learn and serve.

  The second edition also includes many additions and changes from the first one. I’ve updated the statistics and research as needed. And I’ve incorporated some of the things I’ve
learned from additional reflection and interaction with people about this topic.

  On the whole, I’m encouraged by the direction short-term missions is moving. Growing numbers of groups are working hard to develop reciprocal, honoring relationships with the communities and churches they visit. Orientation and even debrief sessions have come a long way. And there’s a spirit driving the short-term missions movement that appears much more thoughtful than what I observed when I first began researching and talking about this fascinating phenomenon in the contemporary church.

  We still have much more we can do. Not all groups are equal. There are compelling, missiologically sound pictures of short-term missions happening in countless churches and organizations. And there are still plenty of appalling examples of seemingly thoughtless, adventure-seeking groups.

  I invite you to join with me in taking a careful look at the world in which we live and zooming in on how short-term missions can be a part of what God is doing for such a time as this.

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, I’m grateful to my friends scattered in places around the world who have confided in me the joys and challenges of interacting with the North American church, including me. One of my driving agendas in this book is to allow more North Americans to hear their voices.

  Second, I’m grateful for the benefit of many conversations with readers of the first edition of this book. Your input provoked me to think deeper and at times differently about certain aspects of short-term missions. A growing number of researchers are now investigating this topic, and several ministry leaders are rising to the challenge to do short-term missions with cultural intelligence. It’s one thing to write about these ideas. It’s another thing to do something about it. Thank you to those who are actually improving short-term missions.

  I have immense gratitude for my editor and friend, Bob Hosack, who took a chance on me a few years ago as an unproven author because of his shared interest in these concerns. He and the rest of the team at Baker continue to be wonderful publishing partners.

  Most of all, I’m grateful for my precious daughters, Emily and Grace, and my soul mate and wife, Linda. Not only do they give me the space, inspiration, and encouragement to write, but they also embrace these ideals with me. I’m not worthy of you dear women!

  Introduction

  On a cool November evening in London, I was roaming the winding streets of Piccadilly Circus with my African friend Mark. This was Mark’s first trip out of Africa. Experiencing the multisensory experience of the night scene in Piccadilly Circus with him is a memory I’ll never forget. It was the perfect way to view a culture—Mark and I each coming from unique cultural vantage points. I’ll also never forget our conversation that evening. We had just finished dinner and an orientation meeting with a group of American[1] youth pastors who had just arrived in Europe for a two-week tour during which they would conduct youth ministry training in several churches across Europe.

  Mark said, “Dave, that group was just so American!”

  “Wait a minute. You’re talking to a full-blooded American!” I replied.

  For the time being, he assured me, I was exempt from his tirade. “They didn’t ask me a single question all night long,” he continued. “They were loud and brash. And they have prepared for this trip just enough to make them dangerous.”

  Mark’s first two accusations were nothing new to me. I had observed and heard those criticisms all too often about my culture. However, his concern about preparation making them dangerous intrigued me. I’ve spent the last several years moving in and out of many different cultures. I’ve participated in and led dozens of short-term missions trips, and I’ve always made preparation and orientation nonnegotiable. Still, was Mark onto something? Could preparation actually hinder one’s ability to be effective cross-culturally?

  Cross-cultural encounters used to be reserved for an elite set of jet-setters who traversed the international date line like the rest of us moved from one county to the next. Today, however, cross-border interactions are an everyday part of our lives. The American pastors who joined us in London are among millions of North Americans who participate in short-term missions trips each year. Some estimate that as many as four million Americans take short-term missions trips out of the country annually, and North American churches now spend as much on short-term missions trips as on long-term missionaries.[2]

  Add to the ever-growing mission trip industry the business travelers who hop between Montreal, London, Beijing, and Sydney all in a matter of days. International travel is at an all-time high. And you don’t even have to travel outside your own town to encounter the phenomenon of people living on opposite sides of the world but linked in ways previously unimaginable. Sitting at home in St. Louis, you can play chess on the internet with someone in China.

  Even in sleepy, Midwest cities like Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I live, cross-cultural encounters abound. Just this morning I stopped at the grocery store, where a Sudanese man who arrived here a few months ago bagged my items. A couple hours later, I made a phone call to my credit-card company and ended up being routed to a call center in New Delhi, India. At lunch I overheard the couple behind me at the restaurant talking about their trip to Capetown, South Africa, next week. When I returned to my office, I opened the internet browser on my computer. It defaults to BBC News, so I was immediately viewing images from Gaza, North Korea, England, Libya, and more—all accompanied by current updates! I have more up-to-date information on what’s happening in Libya right now than on how my girls are doing at school today. Cross-cultural encounters are all around us.

  Neither my parents nor my in-laws have ever had a passport. I don’t expect they ever will. However, my girls are on their third editions. The vast majority of the students at the universities where I teach not only have passports but also have multiple stamps throughout them. We’ve never had greater accessibility and opportunity to cross over cultural lines, whether in our own backyards or twelve time zones away. We’re traveling as never before.

  Sadly, however, our increased accessibility to the globe doesn’t seem to have dwindled our colonialist[3] tendencies. Much of the way we interact cross-culturally continues to be filled with an “our way is best” mentality. An awareness of the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity is certainly greater than a couple decades ago. However, a subtle sense among North Americans that we have the “right” culture and thus need to “convert” others to our ways still permeates much of our cross-cultural perspective and practice—whether it’s work we’re doing as part of a multinational corporation, a university study-abroad program, or a mission trip.

  This book is an attempt to open our eyes to existing blind spots in global missions, specifically short-term missions. I want to change the way we see and therefore do short-term missions. My own cross-cultural work has often reflected the weaknesses described in this book, so I do not write as one who embodies the perfect approach to cross-cultural interaction. However, exposure to my own neocolonialism and that of others has transformed the way I interact cross-culturally. Just as important, it’s altered my perspective of myself, of others, of the world, and of my faith.

  That’s what I desire through this book—that we pause long enough amid our life in a global village to see what we may have missed before. I want us to question our assumptions and hear the voices of locals who have received our mission trips, consulting, and training modules. I want us to be open to the idea that our overall perspective may need altering. And after sharing some of the hard-hitting perspective about where we need to realign our efforts, I promise a more solution-oriented, hopeful approach to short-term missions in the latter portion of the book.

  This book applies to anyone who wants to be more effective cross-culturally—whether in preparing you for your upcoming mission trip or tour abroad, helping you relate to an immigrant at work, or enhancing the work you do overseas as part of your job. But Serving with Eyes Wide Open is particularly focu
sed on those of us who engage in short-term missions—either at home or abroad. In addition to the millions of North Americans going overseas on short-term missions trips, as many or more participate in cross-cultural projects at home in their own communities and nearby states. The material in this book applies to both international and domestic cross-cultural encounters.

  The short-term missions movement has had huge buy-in from other developed nations as well, including places like the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, and Singapore. My own research has focused primarily on those of us from the United States, and in some cases Canada, who participate in cross-cultural mission work. However, my friends from other developed nations tell me that much of what’s reported here also applies to their cross-cultural practice, though I can’t begin to assume its relevance beyond my own context.

  Due to the ever-growing number of people doing short-term missions work abroad, an increasing number of resources are available to assist in these endeavors. Some helpful works deal specifically with the logistics and planning of such trips. Other more technical and scholarly works take a strongly theoretical approach to intercultural practice, and still others offer a more devotional approach to short-term missions and its transformational impact on the participants. Many of these are worthwhile resources, some of which I’ve included in the appendix.

  This book, while being informed by those other helpful resources, takes a different approach—specifically examining the perspectives and assumptions we bring into our cross-cultural practices. The biggest problems in short-term missions are not technical or administrative. The biggest challenges lie in communication, misunderstanding, personality conflict, poor leadership, and bad teamwork. All too often we try to respond to these challenges by attempting to change surface-level behaviors rather than getting at the assumptions and convictions behind our behaviors. We learn the dos and don’ts about how to act when we go somewhere, yet it seems to make little difference in how we actually interact cross-culturally. We come home with zealous descriptions of how we’ve changed, yet within a few weeks, our lives look pretty identical to how they looked before the trip.

 

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