Every night, I get to worship with 30 of the best kids. We sing songs, pray prayers and teach them bible stories. Sometimes I feel like I’m reliving my childhood through them. I’ve taught them the “Superman Prayer” and “The Arky Arky Song.” Everyday they ask to learn another song from us. One of their favorites is “Lean On Me”. When we got here, they already knew so many songs in English, taught by other World Race teams. That’s not the only part of America they’ve brought here. We’ve been served pancakes, french toast, mac and cheese and oatmeal. Today we even made the kids grilled cheese and french fries. (They loved it!)
I like sharing who I am and what I do with these kids, but I wonder if it’s all good. India is such a cool place. I love the culture, music, food and people here. I would never want to see it turned into a hotter version of America. This place is all it’s own. I personally want it to stay that way.
I’ve heard so many stories about missionaries coming into places and completely wrecking the culture. People learn about Jesus from people wearing western clothes, making western food and singing western music. All of a sudden these cultures are lost. I can understand how people could think that Jesus and the west are one in the same. I even get stuck in that rut sometimes.
It’s so important to me to keep them separate. I’m not here to bring these people my culture. I’m here to bring them Jesus and his love. That’s it.
What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s important to keep them separate? How do we go about doing that?
