We often say “partnerships are messy” at Live Global! One short-term team learned that the hard way on their recent trip to the Dominican Republic. The leader of the team, John, shares the story.
There are many blessings from leading a short-term missions trip to a foreign country. There are a few risks as well. These eager part-time servants of Christ can unknowingly cause relational damage by not being familiar with the challenges of cross-cultural ministry and language barriers.
On a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, where we were serving among Haitian locals, I saw this danger become a reality. The national church we were holding a VBS for hosted a dinner party for our team. It was a huge affair. Hundreds of members from several churches had gathered for a night of celebration and worship. It was a rare and special moment for them.
Unfortunately, half of our team experienced digestive difficulties the next day. One of our team members then contacted a national church member and said 15 people on our team had “food poisoning.”
What our eager missionary didn’t realize was that the term “food poisoning” doesn’t translate easily. This local church member thought we were accusing the Haitian nationals of poisoning us!
The joy of a wonderful night of fellowship had been greatly diminished for our national friends by their understanding we were all sick and believed they had caused it intentionally. Almost an entire day passed before I realized what had occurred, and the word had gone out to several churches.
Thankfully, I was able to explain the situation to our national partner and reassured him we were well and never imagined they had meant us harm. It was a wonderful trip, but it was a good reminder of the need to always be careful of what we say and how we say it.
Can anybody relate? Have you had any cultural learning opportunities of your own? We’d love to hear about them and what you learned as a result. Drop us a message! We know cultural mistakes are unavoidable, and each time we experience one we are thankful for the power of the gospel that unites people across cultures despite their differences. Jesus makes cross-cultural relationships possible through his forgiveness and self-sacrificial love that we can model with each other.