OCTOBER 3, 2005

GLOBALIZATION
by Pastor Connie Larson DeVaughn

I am a TCK. When I was growing up, this label did not exist. It was only when I was a young adult that I discovered a burgeoning body of research and literature on TCKs, along with the development of support groups and practical help for those in my position. What am I? A Third-Culture Kid. Immigration, mass transit, economic opportunities, and in my case, missions, all lead people to choose cultures different than their own in which to raise their children.

As missionaries, my American parents raised me in the Argentine culture. I was neither fully American nor truly Argentine, thus the "third culture" label. As this third culture hybrid, my ignorance of slang and pop culture betrayed me in the United States. And in the Argentine public schools whenever we studied the Argentine claim to the Malvinas Islands (which are also claimed by the British as the Falkland Islands), I received dirty looks. Argentines don't know their geography either, so every time the tender subject of ownership arose, anyone who spoke English was suspect. No matter how well I tried to blend in Argentina or in the US, when a line was drawn in the sand, I was usually alone on the other side.

Because of my TCK status, as a person who traveled and lived internationally, the world has always seemed small to me. Yet when I was a kid, I often visited in churches where not only had most people not traveled outside of the United States, they also had not seen many foreigners, or for that matter, many ethnically diverse Americans. Maybe that's why I was so instantly comfortable in the greater Los Angeles area. The minute I set foot in Pasadena, I breathed in the different accents, different languages, people of different color, DIVERSITY, and knew I was "home."

The world has grown smaller for all of us in the past few decades. TCKs are more common than ever, and even DCKs (dominant culture kids) are exposed to the bigger world in a way generations back were not. National boundaries are blurred for the sake of economics. Isolationism is not a viable option. There is more of an awareness that what happens "over there" affects me "here."

A story on National Public Radio captured this for me. Josh Rushing, former marine who fought in the current war in Iraq, joined El-Jazeera International, the dominant newspaper of Arab language speakers. In explaining his career move, he said: "You send your tax forms in. Your company sends it to the CPA in India who mails it back to you the next day. You have to care about what happens in the world."

A shrinking world has political, economic, and social implications, which has spawned tensions, debates, and a great deal of change. Christians are not exempt. In fact, we should be on the frontline of these changes. All Christians, whether we recognize it or not, are TCKs. Our main culture is not the one we live in or grew up in; instead, it is the Kingdom of God, which is always counter to the culture around us. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). As Christians we must be aware that we owe our loyalty first to God, and only secondarily to our country. We must rejoice in our unity in Jesus Christ across the differences of culture. Patriotism has a place in our lives, but not nationalism, no matter if we're North American or Middle Eastern Christians. As the world shrinks we Christians must grapple with our own attitudes, views and lifestyles in light of God's mandate, "Go into all the world…"

This Sunday we will have an opportunity to explore our shrinking world and our place in it at ABC's G-3 Summit: God, Gospel and Globalization. We've invited Dr. Doug McConnell, Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, to speak to us on the cutting-edge thinking of Christians engaged in the whole world, and to challenge us in our particular corner of the world. We invite you to come and pull out all the international stops: dress in your most colorful ethnic clothes, bring your favorite ethnic dish to share at our potluck afterwards, and celebrate the whole wide world that God "so loved that he sent his only Son to save."