SQJ Taipei

Faith Without Borders - 7 Ways to Become a Cross-Cultural Christian

This… from Today’s Christian Woman

Um… yeah…. Today’s Christian Woman.

Angie’s sister came for a visit last week and she brought an issue… and it was on the back of the toilet… and… well… anyway…….

This is a really great article and not just for women!

Personally, I believe that God has called all people to follow him. To be “God-Followers” or “Christ-Followers”. To me… it matters little where a person follows… so long as he or she follows. Since God loves the world… doesn’t it also make sense that those who follow him should also love the world? Sadly, many Christians have a limited view of this world that God sent Christ to die for.

In this wonderful article by Siri L. Mitchell, you’ll read of “7 Ways to Become a Cross-Cultural Christian”. She’s not asking you to become a missionary to the Amazon Basin… and neither am I… although if you suspect that God is asking you… I suggest you follow.

These 7 tips (with my Taiwan slanted comments following each one) are:

1. Read a Different Newspaper
   This is a pretty simple thing these days. The internet makes it so easy. I get news from home on the internet and you can get news from Taiwan. Bookmark these links and take a look once in a while.
   Taiwan Times
   China Post
   Taiwan News
   Asahi.com Asia Network
2. Take a Personal Interest
   I’m guessing that most of you reading this already have a personal interest in us and/or in Taiwan. Let’s take it further.
   *Get to know a student from Taiwan or China or another Asian country
   *Celebrate Chinese New Year (without the ancestor worship, OK?)
   *Even though he’s a Yankee… follow the career of Wang Chien-Ming (he’s out for about a month with an injury)
   *Go to a local Chinese restaurant and make an effort to get to know the workers.
3. Vacation Somewhere New
   While Taiwan has relied on its electronics exports over the last several years… increasing labor costs here are causing those jobs to go to other countries. This should not be a big problem for Taiwan as the tourism industry is massively underwhelming here. Once people begin to make large scale efforts to bring in tourists from around the world, Taiwan’s economy should keep rockin’. Why not consider coming to Asia for a vacation? Sure… it isn’t as close as Branson… but I guarantee you there are NO Baldknobbers in Asia. Actually, I can’t speak for all of Asia I suppose… but I know there aren’t any in Taiwan.
4. Enjoy International Art and Music
   Perhaps a local museum will have a touring gallery of Chinese art. Perhaps you consider language an art and you could jump on the bandwagon with the rest of the world and start learning Chinese! Maybe you just want to stay at your computer and check out some of the items in the collection at Taipei’s own National Palace Museum. Hey… its a start!
5. Check Out Foreign Books and Movies
   If you are into reading… be sure and check out the “Four Great Classical Novels” which are: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin (Outlaws of the March), Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber. Others you might like are: Analects of Confucius, The Art of War, and The Classic of Filial Piety.
   As for movies… I’m probably not so helpful. If you like martial arts films you’ve probably already seen anything else I could recommend. Of course Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won many awards and deserved them. One Angie and I really liked was The Road Home. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is a good look at family relations and the importance of food in Taiwanese culture. The Joy Luck Club is one in English from a while back exploring the relationships between mothers who grew up in China and their daughters who grew up in the USA.
   Hey… let me make sure and tell you that I’m not necessarily endorsing all of the content or ideas presented in the books or movies… I’m just giving you a few places to start if you’d like to broaden horizons a bit.
6. Practice Your Hobby Internationally
   If you like scuba or snorkeling… come here and we’ll go to Green Island.
   Do you run? Come for the Taroko Gorge Marathon.
   But what about locally? I’m not really sure but you’ll figure it out.
7. Picture Jesus
   It is fun to do this. Imagine if Jesus were on earth today… where would he be? Where would he see the greatest need? Where would he see the greatest hypocrisy? I’d really like to know what Jesus would do when he passed a Taoist temple. Thinking of Jesus encountering various cultures does help give us a much bigger picture of God’s concern for the world.

I hope you like the article. Here’s the link again.

Faith Without Borders - 7 Ways to Become a Cross-Cultural Christian