EMQ » July–September 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 3
By Janelle Metzger and Feruza Krason
Belonging. In Maslow’s hierarchy,[1] it comes right behind the basic needs of the physical (food, shelter, air) and safety. We know that humans cannot thrive in an environment where they feel unloved and outcast. And yet, for immigrants, the journey to belonging is not simple and it is not entirely controlled by one’s own choices. S. Kot admitted: “I still didn’t feel like I belonged in the US after 29 years.”[2]
The receiving community for immigrants has the ability to impact the outcomes of integration and belonging for families new to the country. This impact can reach to the second and third generation of immigrants in their attitudes toward their adopted country and in their material and emotional success. It can also greatly impact their receptiveness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s logical that the Church should lead the receiving community in welcoming immigrants and assisting with integration.
Both Old and New Testaments instruct us in the connection between obedience to God and welcoming the foreigner:
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”[3] Leviticus 19:33–34
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”[4] Matthew 25:34–36
Given that welcoming the “stranger” and treating them as one of us is clearly mandated in scripture, how do we, as God’s people, best help immigrants and internationals among us? This paper offers guidelines for Western Christians in processing our own perspective of other cultures, understanding the different needs of different immigrant generations and viewing the integration process as something that occurs over a lifetime of a person.
Cultural integration is a form of cultural exchange in which one group assumes the beliefs, practices and rituals of another group without sacrificing the characteristics of its own culture. Seen from this light, cultural integration is a healthy intermingling of the beliefs and rituals of two unique cultures. Examples of this practice include introduction of cultural foods, beliefs, or arts to a different culture. In the United States, integration has led to people calling the United States a “melting pot” or “tossed salad” of cultures, which means that many cultures have come together and added their particular flavor to the dish.
Perspectives for a Western Minister of the Gospel
Love regardless. Every human bears God’s image and has deep value. This is foundational to Christ-centered ministry. Every Individual of every culture is loved by his or her Creator. He longs for them to know Him, and receive His salvation and grace.
As we interact within the cultural constructs individuals live, we must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry (and judge!). Here are some guidelines to process to cultural differences:
Think about the good, the bad, and the neutral.
Every culture has elements that reflect the nature of God and teachings of Scripture. These are bridges to friendship and the Gospel. Equally, every culture has sinful elements, which cloud the nature of God and go against biblical revelation. The majority of cultural elements are neutral. The Christian receiving community would do well to validate the good and the neutral. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal and convict regarding sin and evil.
Examples: Those doing ministry cross-culturally should prayerfully consider before categorizing unfamiliar cultural elements as bad or evil. Silly example from Janelle: “Growing up, my German background family only spiced food with salt and pepper. Hearing my parents’ reaction to garlic as a spice led my childhood self to believe it was evil. I had no idea what I was missing!”
Celebrate the good and the neutral. Share food, ideas, new ways of doing things. Be willing to be a learner as well as a teacher. Affirming one’s first culture is a foundation for healthy integration. Affirmation gives feelings of relaxation and safety. This is a good space for learning new things.
Consider what is biblical vs. culturally western.
North American Christians would benefit from regular contemplation around what is culturally western vs. what is biblical. It’s easy to confuse the two.
Examples: Freedom of speech vs. respecting/honoring elders. Which value is spoken about and demonstrated in scripture? What about North American norms of dating, dances, sleep-overs, and punctuality? Can the White church insist that these are biblical or are some actually just cultural? What about saving face vs. truth telling? Scripture tells us to honor others and to speak the truth in love. Might the way other cultures respond to these tensions be instructive?
Expand your understanding of cultural backgrounds.
Allow what you learn about your friend’s cultural background to expand your own understanding of biblical truth and the Gospel. Most people in North America don’t understand the life of a shepherd or a nomad, or even life away from a city. Cross- cultural friendships can help flesh out understanding of scripture.
Example: Consider and ask someone with personal experience about Jesus as a Rabbi, Abraham as a Bedouin, or an understanding of family that extends beyond the nuclear.
Different Generations Need Different Things
First Generation Immigrants—SUCCEED
Typically adults who immigrate to North America do so to better their lives, or the lives of the generations that follow them. They often have strong ties to the home country’s culture and religion. Despite the financial strain of travel back and forth to their birth country, they may feel this is a necessity. They may mourn the lack of community, extended family and friends that they had at home, and even feel frustration as the definition of “family” could be vastly different in their adopted country. They likely fear losing their cultural identity. Jemima shared hard things: “My name, constantly having to explain myself, having to work twice as hard as everyone else to get it right, being patronized; everything is hard—fatigue and exhaustion.”[5]
First generation immigrants constantly think about the next generation. While they sacrifice so much for their children to have a better life, they also fear the impact of negative aspects of the adopted culture on their children. Additionally, they often feel a competition for family time vs. kids’ peer time. Rami added his struggle: “Balancing two cultures and two different language because I always care that my children know about my native culture and language because I don’t speak English very well and I want a strong language communication between me and my children.”[6]
First generation immigrants will likely always have an accent and may never feel like they fully belong. Even though they may “wear the garment” of their adopted culture, most first generation immigrants will likely always have a deep identity with first culture, even if they say they don’t. And they will always hurt for their children:
Usha: “My (half American) children never feel like they belong, anywhere. They try to carry the burden of my being rejected as well as their own rejection. They are often ignored by American family or their ‘other’ culture is erased by Americans. Not necessarily intentionally.
I wish I was white skinned. (Not for the sake of beauty.) It would save people from being afraid of me just by the sight of me in places like church, the grocery store, the park or basically anywhere. How can I even try when the very sight of me is so hard for people to engage with me? I feel guilty for the discomfort I cause by my very presence.”[7]
Kot: “How do we teach our kids to handle narrow minded people? I don’t want my kids to be baited into confrontation and end up being punished for it. Knowing their ‘foreign’ names and skin color makes me assume the system will not be on their side. The atmosphere in the US has also changed dramatically and I fear for the day we move back.”[8]
How can the North American church help first generation immigrants? Practical needs, like learning English and understanding the systems in their adopted culture are a great place to begin. Having a friend to help navigate educational, medical, legal, and social systems is huge. They will observe and learn as natives walk through these things with them. One English Language Learner was glowing while talking about her own progress in learning English. She said that she had to go to the hospital, and this is how she described the experience:
I’m not speaking, but I understand everything about the doctor! I’m excited to go to the hospital…well, ’m not excited to go to the hospital, but I understand everything! My friend was not home, not take care of my kids, so my husband is home with my kids. And I go to the hospital. I listen, they say “blood pressure,” and I know blood pressure. Wow! I’m no speaking, but I know what doctor says! And I feel, just me, I’m understand. No husband! Before two years, I go to the hospital, and I understand nothing. Now, I go, just me, and I’m understand. Wow![9]
Another way to help is to care about the things they care about. And the thing they probably care about the most, is their kids. Annie mentioned “mounds of papers and homework every night.”[10] For someone trying to help with homework in a second language, this in and of itself can be crushing. Yet, parents’ involvement in kids’ education is critical to success:
When a parent is involved in a child’s education, there are better early literacy outcomes. Immigrant children in linguistically-isolated homes face obstacles to developing strong reading skills. Limited-English mothers feel they cannot help their children with school. These mothers do not understand the importance of their role in their child’s early literacy development and ongoing academic success. Mothers that develop skills and confidence to engage their children in literacy make a difference. Children see their mothers as capable adults.[11]
Second Generation Immigrants—BELONG
For children who immigrated under the age of twelve, or who were born to immigrant parents, their number one issue is usually belonging. These children fall under the category of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) about whom much has been written. These kids have amazing adaptation skills. They’ve been described as chameleons adjusting to whatever cultural context they may find themselves in. At the same time, they hate the question, “Where are you from?” because they see themselves as from a lot of places, not just one. John told me, “Home is wherever my parents are. That could be the house they purchased in Colorado, or the hotel in Pakistan where they are sleeping tonight.”
TCKs also tend to be very open minded and live in the moment, which may make them more open to the Gospel than their parents. They seem to grasp that few people understand them. When others ask them to choose an identity, they may decline to answer. Prisca and Shirley described,
hard things as a child – people made fun of our clothing and hair appearances; we switched schools often because of being upwardly mobile; there was racism; we didn’t really have friends until high school; shame surrounding lice and other things – our mother didn’t know there was a medicine/remedy.[12]
How can the Church help second generation immigrants? Affirm all the cultures they represent and the advantages of a multicultural identity. Encourage a healthy respect and love for their parents. Offer all-important citizenship and identity in being a child of God through Jesus Christ. And offer younger children play dates with our children. Prisca and Shirley explained that “Homemade custom Christmas gifts and birthday gifts meant a lot.” Also, “Dad preferred isolation, but Mom made friendships that benefitted the entire family.”[13]
Third Generation Immigrants
Grandchildren of immigrants may also display unique characteristics worth noting. While second generation immigrants are working hard to belong in their adopted culture, the third generation may be curious and want to explore their first-generation roots. If the family immigrated and changed religions, they may revert to the original religion in search of identity and meaning. As with their second-generation parents, Christians in the receiving culture can lovingly demonstrate Christ’s gift of identity and meaning.
A Multi-Decade Perspective
Finally, Annie gives a perspective on the lifetime journey of integration:
Hi Janelle,
Thanks for inviting and giving me space to share our journey as immigrants and immigrant parents. It is refreshing to be asked. My journey has been long and has matured over time through much “growing pain” and tears. Now, I finally have language skills that can be used to communicate my journey to my American friends.
While the struggles, challenges, hurdles, and barriers I have identified were hard, these were exactly the same things that God used to teach and grow me as an individual, a believer and as an immigrant. The journey has mostly been lonely but, as a mom I had no choice but to teach myself to survive, assimilate, give up whatever I needed to give up of my old culture and the old me so that my kids had a chance to make it in this country without needing to battle the things we’ve had to. As a parent of adult children, I’m still sure that we haven’t been perfect and could’ve done some things differently, but I am not resentful towards others and am thankful to the Lord for my experiences which has molded and shaped who we’ve become.
As I began to grow in my walk with the Lord, my perspective gradually changed which obviously shifted my worldview and impacted how I parented all the while dealing with many of the church sub-culture issues and the majority culture. Overall, looking back, I’d have to say that it has made me to be more sensitive to anyone (not just immigrants and refugees) who would fall in the category of being an “under dog” (for a lack of a better term). Had I not emigrated and struggled for nearly 2 decades to feel like I appeared to belong (at least have that sense that I was starting to be “accepted” because I had adapted to a point of not needing to deal with the obvious hurdles and awkwardness), I would still very much be like some who lived here (or in any other indigenous culture) and cannot think beyond themselves. I’d also add that some of the things I’ve listed are “normal” expectations that any society would have for new comers, and it is the task of immigrants to do all they can to respect those “normal” societal standards and assimilate (if that’s their goal) rather than demanding or complaining about it (which I have seen).
So, I am thankful that the painful process has taught me valuable lessons and I can now be an advocate in places for others who may not have a “voice” or who feel “invisible” as I felt for years. Thanks for what you do and for creating space for others to have value and dignity!!
—Annie[14]
Conclusion
In conclusion, immigrants bring great value to North American culture, to the North American Church’s understanding of God and scripture and to individual lives and families. As Christians in the receiving culture walk the path of integration with their international friends, they can make a positive difference in immigrant families’ generational stories. Healthy cross-cultural relationship can point out blind spots and grow everyone’s understanding and appreciation of the multicultural Kingdom of God
Janelle Metzger (MA University of Toledo) spent seven years in the Middle East then joined a team of people serving internationals in the Toledo, Ohio area. Water for Ishmael was born out of this team’s work and prayers. Janelle is currently the Executive Director of Water for Ishmael.
Feruza Krason (MABL [Master of Arts in Biblical languages], Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary) is a follower of Jesus Christ from Central Asia. She was one of the Mother tongue translators of the Uzbek Bible and is currently working as a Bible translation Consultant for SIL International.
Notes
[1] Saul McLeod, “Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs,” SimplyPsychology, updated March 20, 2020, https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
[2] Kot S., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[3] Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
[4] Bible, NIV.
[5] Annie G., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[6] Rami B., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[7] Usha R., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[8] Kot S., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[9] Teresa Masters, ASW Grant Report to Dollar General (April 16, 2020).
[10] Annie G., interview by Janelle Metzger, 10 April 2019.
[11] Masters, AWS Grant Report.
[12] Prisca C. and Shirley P., interview by Janelle Metzger, 31 May 2019.
[13] Prisca C. and Shirley P., interview.
[14] Annie G., personal letter to Janelle Metzger, 15 July 2019.
EMQ, Volume 56, Issue 3. Copyright © 2020 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
