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Cultural Perspectives
By Mike Fink
Culture is a perspective from which life is viewed and understood. This "way of seeing life",
changes from culture to culture. I often ask my fellow Americans, "What culture are you?" It's
hard for us to answer because it's just the way we are and we don't think about it. It's like the
Texan who thinks everyone else has an accent. To him his way of talking is normal and it's
others who have the accent. Here's some interesting cultural differences for you to take into
consideration as you get ready to embark on your mission trip to Mexico.
Americans tend to be "Time Oriented" - Mexicans tend to be "Event Oriented"
A time oriented culture focuses on time, they tend to be punctual, efficient and quick. Things
start on time and end on time. Church and most activities last a certain amount of time and
you can't add something to the schedule without taking something out. Time frames and
punctuality are important. Everything is orderly, neat and in its place.
An event oriented culture focuses more on the moment at hand and less on the future. They
think differently about time and put it way down on the scale of importance. Everything will
work itself out and there's no need to get undone about a schedule. The value of the event and
the moment is what matters. Activities and schedules normally start late and last longer with
no definite time frame to be kept.
In order for Americans to minister and have impact in Mexico they must adopt a flexible
mindset and not get frustrated if their schedule is not kept.
Americans tend to be "Task Oriented" - Mexicans tend to be "People Oriented"
A task oriented culture focuses on getting things done. They are productive and make things
happen. They are organized and have an eye to figure out how to get things done the fastest
and most efficient way possible.
A people oriented culture focuses more on hanging around and visiting. They would rather
spend more time just sitting and chatting than getting something done. They don't worry so
much about tomorrow and as long as they have a lot of friends and have a peaceful life,
consider themselves rich.
In order for Americans to minister and have impact in Mexico they need to relax if everything
isn't done as fast or efficient as they would like.
Americans tend to have more "Material Wealth" - Mexicans less "Material Wealth"
You are about go to a country where virtually nothing will be as good as America; food, houses,
clothes, education, roads, manners, cleanliness, medical attention, and a host of other things
too numerous to mention. A lot of what you see and experience might be painful, or appear
wrong, unjust, and difficult to understand. Your first instinct might be to try to fix these injustices
of life. True, there will be thousands of needs, more than you can comprehend, and at some
point you might even feel a sense of despair, frustration, heartache, and loss of hope. You
might even feel a sense of anger at what has caused their poverty, and as a result, you might
want to try to fix everything. However, even with these apparent injustices the Mexican people,
by and large, are as happy or happier than most Americans. The greatest conflict for each
group is understanding how these people can be happy with a tenth of what they have.
What should the focus of our mission trip be?
When considering the purpose of why you're going on a short-term mission trip you might
think of the following real story and use the gift of listening to try and understand the real
needs of those you're going to serve.
John and Amy Derrick, who coordinate mission volunteers for the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship, have learned that listening to the locals and putting their needs first is crucial
to a trip's success.
Once, while serving in Canada, they took a trip to Japan to plan future short-term church-
planting initiatives with Japanese Christians. The Derricks' education began in their first
meeting, which lasted five hours and seemed to accomplish nothing. “Our first meetings
were all about drinking tea, not talking about partnership,” says John. He said it was hard
for him to be relational with the Japanese Christians when his agenda was to talk about
partnership. He consciously had to avoid the topic of ministry. “They were fearful
because of bad experiences in the past of Westerners saying, ‘We know what you need,’”
explains Amy. “The point of our trip was to drink enough tea to ask, ‘How can we help
you?’”
The help Amy expected to give the Japanese wasn’t the help they wanted, she recalls. She
had thought the Canadian team would come to Japan and lead Bible studies and
ministry-training sessions. But the Japanese had a different plan. When the Derricks'
team arrived in the summer of 2000, they didn’t zoom in with a prepackaged evangelism
presentation or building project. They did just what the Japanese had asked them to do -
they hung out.
“They just wanted us to come be with them,” says Amy. “Come to flower-arranging
classes, visit senior citizen homes, play with the children. It was more about living with
people, staying in homes. They wanted our presence to be an impact.”
“A big part of the trip was just being there and having a cross-cultural exchange,” says
John. “We were the first Westerners that many of them had seen before, so it was a draw
to hold something at the church. The big emphasis was to be there to support their
indigenous work and enhance their profile within their community.”
Important factors to keep in mind
1) Materialism doesn’t bring happiness, so therefore if they don’t have all I have, it’s okay. The
vast majority of the world lives like they do.
2) The real need of their heart is Jesus. So love these people, touch these people, smile at
these people, and ask God to help them see Jesus in your life.
3) While you’re with these people, try to be a learner and pray that God will help you see blind
spots in your life as a result of your own culture and world view.
4) We need to understand the difference between relative poverty and real poverty. Relative
poverty means they just don't have as much as I do, but their basic needs are being met and
they're not being withheld anything regarding their happiness. Real poverty means they don't
have enough food, clothing or shelter and need help.
5) Try to relax and not be uptight if your schedule and tasks aren't rigidly followed. Yes, you
want to be punctual and work hard, however, not to the degree that it might cause problems.
By Mike Fink
Culture is a perspective from which life is viewed and understood. This "way of seeing life",
changes from culture to culture. I often ask my fellow Americans, "What culture are you?" It's
hard for us to answer because it's just the way we are and we don't think about it. It's like the
Texan who thinks everyone else has an accent. To him his way of talking is normal and it's
others who have the accent. Here's some interesting cultural differences for you to take into
consideration as you get ready to embark on your mission trip to Mexico.
Americans tend to be "Time Oriented" - Mexicans tend to be "Event Oriented"
A time oriented culture focuses on time, they tend to be punctual, efficient and quick. Things
start on time and end on time. Church and most activities last a certain amount of time and
you can't add something to the schedule without taking something out. Time frames and
punctuality are important. Everything is orderly, neat and in its place.
An event oriented culture focuses more on the moment at hand and less on the future. They
think differently about time and put it way down on the scale of importance. Everything will
work itself out and there's no need to get undone about a schedule. The value of the event and
the moment is what matters. Activities and schedules normally start late and last longer with
no definite time frame to be kept.
In order for Americans to minister and have impact in Mexico they must adopt a flexible
mindset and not get frustrated if their schedule is not kept.
Americans tend to be "Task Oriented" - Mexicans tend to be "People Oriented"
A task oriented culture focuses on getting things done. They are productive and make things
happen. They are organized and have an eye to figure out how to get things done the fastest
and most efficient way possible.
A people oriented culture focuses more on hanging around and visiting. They would rather
spend more time just sitting and chatting than getting something done. They don't worry so
much about tomorrow and as long as they have a lot of friends and have a peaceful life,
consider themselves rich.
In order for Americans to minister and have impact in Mexico they need to relax if everything
isn't done as fast or efficient as they would like.
Americans tend to have more "Material Wealth" - Mexicans less "Material Wealth"
You are about go to a country where virtually nothing will be as good as America; food, houses,
clothes, education, roads, manners, cleanliness, medical attention, and a host of other things
too numerous to mention. A lot of what you see and experience might be painful, or appear
wrong, unjust, and difficult to understand. Your first instinct might be to try to fix these injustices
of life. True, there will be thousands of needs, more than you can comprehend, and at some
point you might even feel a sense of despair, frustration, heartache, and loss of hope. You
might even feel a sense of anger at what has caused their poverty, and as a result, you might
want to try to fix everything. However, even with these apparent injustices the Mexican people,
by and large, are as happy or happier than most Americans. The greatest conflict for each
group is understanding how these people can be happy with a tenth of what they have.
What should the focus of our mission trip be?
When considering the purpose of why you're going on a short-term mission trip you might
think of the following real story and use the gift of listening to try and understand the real
needs of those you're going to serve.
John and Amy Derrick, who coordinate mission volunteers for the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship, have learned that listening to the locals and putting their needs first is crucial
to a trip's success.
Once, while serving in Canada, they took a trip to Japan to plan future short-term church-
planting initiatives with Japanese Christians. The Derricks' education began in their first
meeting, which lasted five hours and seemed to accomplish nothing. “Our first meetings
were all about drinking tea, not talking about partnership,” says John. He said it was hard
for him to be relational with the Japanese Christians when his agenda was to talk about
partnership. He consciously had to avoid the topic of ministry. “They were fearful
because of bad experiences in the past of Westerners saying, ‘We know what you need,’”
explains Amy. “The point of our trip was to drink enough tea to ask, ‘How can we help
you?’”
The help Amy expected to give the Japanese wasn’t the help they wanted, she recalls. She
had thought the Canadian team would come to Japan and lead Bible studies and
ministry-training sessions. But the Japanese had a different plan. When the Derricks'
team arrived in the summer of 2000, they didn’t zoom in with a prepackaged evangelism
presentation or building project. They did just what the Japanese had asked them to do -
they hung out.
“They just wanted us to come be with them,” says Amy. “Come to flower-arranging
classes, visit senior citizen homes, play with the children. It was more about living with
people, staying in homes. They wanted our presence to be an impact.”
“A big part of the trip was just being there and having a cross-cultural exchange,” says
John. “We were the first Westerners that many of them had seen before, so it was a draw
to hold something at the church. The big emphasis was to be there to support their
indigenous work and enhance their profile within their community.”
Important factors to keep in mind
1) Materialism doesn’t bring happiness, so therefore if they don’t have all I have, it’s okay. The
vast majority of the world lives like they do.
2) The real need of their heart is Jesus. So love these people, touch these people, smile at
these people, and ask God to help them see Jesus in your life.
3) While you’re with these people, try to be a learner and pray that God will help you see blind
spots in your life as a result of your own culture and world view.
4) We need to understand the difference between relative poverty and real poverty. Relative
poverty means they just don't have as much as I do, but their basic needs are being met and
they're not being withheld anything regarding their happiness. Real poverty means they don't
have enough food, clothing or shelter and need help.
5) Try to relax and not be uptight if your schedule and tasks aren't rigidly followed. Yes, you
want to be punctual and work hard, however, not to the degree that it might cause problems.
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