Ethnocentrism is a term expressing the tendency of a people to view their native culture as the right or "central" culture. We Americans are notorious for it. If you don’t believe me, just drag out any map of the world. Put your finger in the direct center of the map, and nine times out of ten your finger will land somewhere near Kansas or Missouri. We Americans think that we are the center of the world.
Ethnocentrism is the chief culprit in what I like to call the "us and them" mindset. We tend to see other cultures as "them," a group of people who are separate from us and live in such obscure places as "over there."
Though I had been overseas before, I must confess that I arrived in Minsk with an "us and them" mindset. Culture shock has never been a problem for me, but I had never really been able to get past my "us and them" mentality. I knew that I held this view, but I never really knew how to defeat it. In the back of my mind, it was always "us Americans" coming over to help "them."
God presented the solution to me as I rode the bus home the other night. I was the only American on a crowded bus, and as I looked at the many faces, some happy, some sad, some expressionless, I realized that they weren’t the "them" I had pictured them to be. I began to see these people from a "we" mindset. And "we" makes all the difference in the world.
When we view other cultures as "we," we include ourselves. As I had my own story, so did each of the people on the bus. The people on the bus had far different stories than I—a cold war had seen to that. We are so different. Even from a "we" mindset it is hard to find a bridge. But the One that gives the "we" its common ground is the "He" that gave us all breath.
Just as His story has invaded my story and identified with it, Jesus seeks to rewrite the story of both us and them, bringing us together through the same power that brought us to Him. And so I find myself in a place that once heralded itself as the champion of commonality, hoping to see His story make its history here.
Life is good in the Republic of Belarus. In case you haven’t gathered it by now, our team arrived safely in the latter part of September. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and it hardly seems I’ve been out of the United States for over a month.
I want to thank you for your part in this ministry. Your prayers on my behalf have been deeply felt, and I thank you for your continuing commitment to this ministry. It is evident that God is powerfully at work in Minsk. Just getting here was a miracle in itself.
We are still in starting up stages of ministry here, but God has gone before us and many of the Christian students are already reaching out to their peers and are beginning to take ownership of the ministry here, which is our ultimate goal. There is still much work to be done, however, and I would appreciate your prayers.
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