Resources for Cross-Cultural Understanding

Last updated: February 2020

Practices for Living Cross-Culturally

To accompany the above list, we’ve compiled a list of suggestions for living cross-culturally and doing justice in your life. One of our goals in Christian formation is  to integrate “what we know” into “what we practice” so that we may truly learn to love as Jesus loves. We have been talking about these things since the beginning of Mosaic; they are not offered as a reaction to what has transpired over the last month but, instead, to create opportunities to deepen our life in Christ as it relates to the pressing issues of our moment. The current circumstances do not create the need for us to live cross-culturally and justly, for that need has always been there! Rather, they expose our need to repent, mature, and grow up into God’s vision for his people.

Everyday in daily prayer, we begin our day by praying The Lord’s Prayer together. Everyday we say this: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Think about that. What a bold, enchanted prayer! A prayer for the veil between heaven and earth to become thinner and thinner, for this world to mirror the divine: perfect love, shalom, justice, and righteousness under the reign of The King of the ages (1 Tim. 1:17). It is a prayer that is anything but complacent with the death-dealing orders of the world we find ourselves in; it is a prayer of protest and humble reliance.

We have been living through extra-ordinary times: a global pandemic, uprisings, and whatever else 2020 has in store for us. But the call upon our lives is always this: live like God’s extraordinary Kingdom has and is coming into our ordinary world and pray like you believe that. We hope that this list will aid you in this journey.

• Take a Liturgical Audit Of Your Life. An audit is an inspection of an account. We typically use that word to describe the process of looking into individual or corporate financial records to see where and how money has been spent or received. A liturgical audit is the inspection of one’s own account of time. How do you spend your time? What are the “receipts” of your life? What are the “investments” of your life? And how are these “transactions” forming your life and loves? The Audit has many questions to help you asses the patterns of your life, see if those patterns are facilitating cross-cultural love and justice, and where there is room for growth. See our Members section of the website to access this tool.

• Take Responsibility to learn, read, watch, and listen or ask your friends of a different cultural background to recommend resources for learning and enjoying. 

• Create a Parental Plan for Discipling Your Children Holistically (if applicable). Formulate a plan to teach the children of our community about race, culture, injustice, economics, history, and the church (see age-appropriate resources on our Resource List). 

• Practice Seeing. Who lives on your block, in your neighborhood, etc.? What are the gifts of your place? What are the needs of your place? Practice seeing and meeting needs, yes, but also practice recognizing the gifts of other people and giving thanks to God. Go on a neighborhood walk by yourself or with your household. Practice seeing the gifts and the needs of your place. This commitment to neighboring is simple, but it is transformative and is at the heart of following Jesus. We live in a society—in in a city—that has both outlandish abundance and cruel poverty. We are called to “repairers of the breach,”(Is. 58:12) so look for that “breach” and fill it. Challenge yourself and your household to live more radical lives of hospitality.

• Connect With Local, Community-Based Organizations that are helping promote justice, mercy, and human flourishing in our city. We have partner organizations that we work with as a congregation, but there are many doing this work in our city. Some of this will depend on your own commitments and philosophy. One important principle is to work in regular rhythms (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) of serving with these organizations.

• Do Justice With Your Budget. If budgets are “moral documents” (a phrase attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), then what does your personal or household budget say about what you value? Allocate your budget and watch your heart follow, for Jesus taught us “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). Challenge yourself to give more and more away as the years go on. What can we live without so that others may simply live?

• Vote With Intentionality. Think about how you utilize your civic responsibility of voting. As you examine the local and national candidates that you vote for, what do these candidates and their policies say about what you value and want to see in our city?

• Support The Work Of Cultural Intelligence. If you are looking to help fight racism, promote cultural intelligence, and develop future leaders in the Church, we strongly suggest supporting the work of: (1) Our Network’s Institute for Cross-Cultural Mission. This work is not done in the span of weeks but of years. That’s why the ICCM leads congregations through a 3-year long Cohort Program; (2) RUF Howard.

• Assess Your Unique Resources and Gifts. Take stock of who you are and the gifts that could be especially useful to your neighbors. The diagnostic questions of the Liturgical Audit can be a good place to start.

• Pray Without Ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). Again, the call upon our lives is always this: live like God’s extraordinary Kingdom has and is coming into our ordinary world and pray like you believe that. What would our neighborhoods look like if all your prayers were granted? How would your life be different? At Mosaic, we developed The Daily Prayer Project to facilitate rhythms of prayer that facilitate cross-cultural life and love. Access that resource and tune into our daily prayer videos every Monday-Friday.

• Let Us Know What You See. What do you see as opportunities for neighbor love for our congregation to engage in? Share those opportunities with us and with the rest of the church.

The work of spiritual formation is “low and slow.” The formation of our cross-cultural intelligence and love is no different. Changing the mundane, regular patterns of our lives now is what produces great change later. All of this happens by God’s gracious work and his mission to restore all things in Christ.