Culture and Faith: Go Together Like A Horse and Carriage

My girlfriend recently returned from a short-term mission trip with T.E.A.M. Of course, how anyone can deem a 5-month trip as "short-term" is beyond my understanding. In any case, she travelled to Zimbabwe, Africa to serve in a hospital as well as a primary school. She's back in the States now, and it has been amazing to spend time with her. After listening to many of her stories, seeing literally hundreds of pictures, and simply noticing how she has changed, I have learned much. There is one thing that I have learned that I haven't been able to escape. I keep returning back to it.

God is bigger than America. Before you draw your conclusions, before you decide that you've already heard what I am about to express, please stop. When I say "God is bigger than America" I mean it in the fullest, most grandiose way. That is, I'm not trying to comment on God's "bigness". I'm not saying "Ooohh, God is bigger than my problems. Gee shucks, isn't that nice to know?" No. I'm saying that American culture instills in us certain ideas that cause us to form our own view of God. The way Americans view God, worship God, experience God, and live for God is unique. Therein lies the problem. God is bigger than America.

See, what many Christians don't understand is that their faith is defined by their culture. Sometimes, they are not worshipping God as much as they are (unknowingly) worshipping the "idea" of God. This idea of God is the product of a soupy mix of history, literature, art, science, etc. that is found only in that specific culture. It's difficult to wrap one's head around it, but it's true. How Zimbabweans (which is a word) experience God is markedly different than how Americans experience Him. How the two groups view Him and worship Him? Also, very different. And you can bet that America and Africa have very different cultural backgrounds.

So why am I spouting all this garbage? Because I'm fed up with how America views God. I mean, yes, we have some wonderful authors out there who write some very inspirational books that revive and change lives. We have music artists, pastors, directors, planners, and dramatists who can dream up and actualize successful ministries and outreach tools. However, I have a question (and this is really the crux of the whole thing that I learned that I can't escape). Does the utter lack of all these things in Africa make the African Christians' faiths any less beautiful than ours? Any less intimate and deep? Of course not. And I hear you saying "No one said it did." That's just it. No one said it did, but they bought into it anyway. "My faith can only be really deep if I play by the rules. I have to listen to Jeremy Camp, or read a Beth Moore book, or go to a Christian college.

Whose faith is more real? The guy who can buy an "Abercrumbie and Fish" shirt to show his faith, or the guy who lives on crumbs and longs for fish, but still believes? Lastly, don't be fooled. You know as well as I do that the song "The Change" by Steven Curtis Chapman is a freakin' caricature of itself.