Between Cultures:
Host to Passport
After Jesus had completed all that was needed to bring salvation through his death on the cross, he met with his disciples several times as he was preparing to return to heaven. Sometimes he met one person alone, sometimes he met with two people as they walked along a road, and yet another time he met with more while they were fishing.
Over a period of 40 days he reassured many of them, calmed those who doubted, and reinstated others who had denied him. He told the disciples goodbye and reassured them that soon God would be with them in the person of the Holy Spirit. He would give them power to be his witnesses in the city of Jerusalem, the surrounding area of Judea, and all over the world. This was a clear call to cross-cultural missions. Then they all watched him taken up from them and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Part One of this book presented three transitions that took place before the missionaries actually went to another culture to begin missionary service. They made the decision to go, then they actually transitioned to the agency, then they transitioned to raising funds.
Part Two presented three parts of the very large transition from their passport countries to their host countries. They went through their endings (leaving), were in transit, and went through their beginnings (entering).
Part Three considered three categories of transitions that are commonly faced by missionaries: Family transitions through marriage, being the parents of children, being the parents of adolescents and into the empty nest. These all raise new issues as the offspring become TCKs. Likewise, transitions to a different ministry, field, or agency have unique issues.
Part Four is basically Part Two in reverse. It is the very large transition from their host country back to their passport country. Missionaries going “home” may be surprised to find that “home” has changed, and they have changed so that they no longer feel “at home.” Part Four contains three chapters about this major transition for them, the transition to another culture. These three chapters are about the three stages of Pollock’s model.
· Chapter 10 is about their ending life in their host culture. It is about saying goodbye and separating from what has become “home” for them. They disengage from friends, “family,” and coworkers as they prepare to leave. They are now thinking more about the future than living in the past.
· Chapter 11 is about their moving into the unknown where, to their surprise, they do not know where they fit and how to do many everyday tasks. They physically move back to their passport culture in a day or two and unpack their bags as they settle into a strange house, but their minds may not be completely unpacked for some time.
· .Chapter12 is about their actually reentering their passport culture and beginning to feel at home again. They feel marginalized and uncertain about things and may have difficulty understanding behaviors and signals. They feel vulnerable and find it hard to trust people.
The cross-cultural transition is not over until the missionaries feel at “home” among friends and where they fit into their community, neighborhood, church, and other groups to which they belong.