Missionaries in the USAWe know that people from all over the world live in the States - but what about missionaries in the USA? You bet, christian missionaries are coming to the US to reach various groups with the Gospel. Not only do they need to learn (at times) the language, and the culture (if they're originally from outside the States), but often they need to learn to understand one or more of the many cultures that are within the States.  A perfect example is Sandy. Her blog is called Knitting with Noodles, and she's been blogging since the June 2005. Sandy does a lot of ESL ministry - that's English as a Second Language. She works with people from many cultures - immigrants and refugees, for example. Her blog has a news feed you can subscribe to - www.xanga.com/rss.aspx?user=Laoshi Next we have Simon, coming originally from Australia. Actually, Simon has lived in Australia, Singapore, Germany, Austria and the USA. His blog is called ruminations, and it also has a news feed available at www2.iteams.org/~meyerss/blog/?feed=rss2 Like Sandy, he tends to come across various cultures - as he said recently about a class he was taking: I sat next to a Kenyan who set up a non-profit to help the stateless in Nairobi. During the break, I talked with a Burmese activist about the camps on the Thai border, followed up by a humorous discussion with a Sri Lankan about the state of Australian cricket. (3 members of his family were killed by Tamil tigers) How about one more? Steve is the blogger at Church Planting in Puerto Rico.
Keep praying for these missionaries in the USA. They have to face a rapidly changing society, the spread of nominalism (believers and churches that seem to have little growth, and who have little impact on society), and an increasing number of cultures (and so cross-cultural misunderstanding). Operation World estimates that 3000 legal immigrants arrive in the country every day. Are those challenges or what? |
