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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 10 December 2019. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
Christ's great commission, given to His followers at the time of His Ascension, has inspired countless Christians over the years - and still does today.
The Door looks at the some great examples in the UK and beyond. All Christians are called to be agents of God's mission wherever we are - whether we interact primarily with people in our local community or go further afield.
It's part of sharing God's love.
But what impels people - from all countries across the world - to join the hundreds of thousands of Christians each year who leave their home countries to work for the Gospel across different cultures?Whether it's a family from our diocese preparing to go to Central America or a Malawian mission leader preparing to come to Oxford, the motivations of people involved in cross-cultural mission are often similar - a sense that God is calling, a desire to offer particular gifts and experiences in God's service, and a recognition that sharing the Gospel across cultures is a process that can change and enrich everyone involved. Christians from one place bring gifts that might not be otherwise accessible in another - and they learn about Christ from the people among whom they work.
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "A totally self-sufficient human being is ultimately a sub-human.
We are made for complementarity.
I have gifts that you do not; and you have gifts that I do not.
So we need each other to become fully human. . .
and to realise the fullness of our potential. "The challenges people face are also often similar: will people accept me and the particular gifts I bring? How can I be clear in my own mind what is Gospel and what is culture, so that I can witness to the Good News in a way that works for people where I am? How can I be open to learning and to seeing God at work in cultures different from my own?
Giving and receiving as a missionary church
In 2000, Harvey Kwiyani was leading the missions department in a Church in Malawi when an invitation came from Switzerland: would he come to help a Bible school that was just starting to think about mission?
Harvey Kwiyani of Missio Africanus Kwiyani "grew up with mission in the family" as he comes from a village to which David Livingstone brought missionaries in 1851.
He gladly accepted the invitation - but then he received quite a shock.
"I was coming from Malawi where Christianity was doing well, and I ended up in St Gall in Switzerland where Christianity was almost nonexistent. "That still remains the greatest shock that I have experienced.
I hadn't even imagined that there could be a people who would live as if there is no God. "The experience made him even more passionate about his call: "It made me really want to think about how we as Africans and as Christians living in Europe reach Westerners with the Gospel. "Since June 2013, Kwiyani has been a CMS mission partner in the UK, where he has a dual role.
"I work for CMS as a tutor in the pioneer ministry training programme.
But I also teach in Birmingham at Birmingham Christian College at Crowther Hall, which was CMS's Mission Training Centre for a long time.
Now it has been purchased by a Ghanaian church, and they're using it for training Ghanaian missionaries to work in Europe. "Kwiyani doesn't help only students to present the Gospel in ways that make it accessible.
He's also started an initiative called Missio Africanus, which brings together African Christian leaders in Britain to talk about how to be effective in presenting the Gospel in the UK. Kwiyani is clear about the gifts that African Christians can contribute to mission in Britain: "At the basic level, just their presence and their prayers make a difference.
But on another level, in fields like theology, to hear people reading the Scriptures with a different cultural perspective is also important. "And there's a further area where he feels African Christians can make a particular contribution: "I think one of the things that I've seen in my work, especially in Britain, is the fact that non-Western Christians, mostly say African Christians are able to connect with other religions, like Islam.
In most parts of Africa, Christians and Muslims have grown together for a long time without any serious mistrust.
Where I grew up there are many Muslims.
I went to school with Muslims, growing up together, playing together, sharing stories.
We come with an understanding that is not so suspicious of Islam and other religions, because we have grown up in close proximity with them. "What challenges do Kwiyani and his students face doing mission in the UK? Some involve learning a new culture: for example going from "long Sunday service meetings - if it's three hours it's a short one" to the UK mode where people won't engage with such long services.
One of the things that gives Kwiyani joy is "when my African students begin to understand how to contextualise their ministries for Britain". The other challenge is harder to overcome: "The greatest challenge is that, as Africans coming to Britain, most British people look at us as suspicious.
They will generally think that we are all economic migrants, so we're here to take jobs away and things of that sort.
And so it makes it almost impossible for British and African Christians to work together in mission.
And it makes it almost impossible for British and Westerners to engage with Africans and listen to their stories. "Harder, but not always impossible.
Kwiyani gets great joy "when I bring together my African and British friends really just to get to know one another and figure out how to do mission together - because it's in the coming together that you actually begin to understand each other so that you can work together. "And working together is so important.
Kwiyani notes that no one group can do mission without others.
Christians from other contexts "bring gifts with them, that if the Church in England does not receive, cannot be accessed in Britain.
So in addition to being a good missionary sending Church, it also needs to explore how to be a good missionary receiving Church. " Harvey Kwiyani is the Director of Missio Africanus.
A cultural adventure in Ghana
For Keri Winter, time studying "living theology" led to a question: what might she do in mission? She began to explore the possibilities.
Keri Winter during her time in Ghana I attended a Journey with Us Selection and Discernment weekend.
The weekend included opportunities to reflect on our lives so far, and to explore the meaning of 'Mission', listening to God as well as meeting past volunteers and listening to their experiences.
When I returned to work on the Monday, people commented on how 'alive' I was. I decided to take a leap of faith, leave my secure job, and offer to serve with the church overseas.
It makes me smile to look back and see God's gentle hand, crafting each step. Arriving in Ghana in August, I felt overawed by the different sights and sounds, tastes and smells, and culture.
Everyone was very welcoming, and I was well looked after by Canon Paul Sam and Matilda Laing, who is the head teacher at the kindergarten where I helped out. I found it very challenging to compare what I was seeing with my experience of education in England.
You could see the potential of the children, but they didn't have what they needed to get it there.
Children in creche are expected to just sit or sleep on the carpet for the majority of the day.
In kindergarten, class sizes are big - one exceptionally so, even for Ghana, with 71 children! Sometimes lessons are abandoned because it is too dark to see the board or because the noise of the rain on the metal roof is deafening However, prayer sustained me. And I thank God for small things, such as a child smiling or sharing their snack with a friend, and I feel grateful for the small ways in which I have been able to contribute. On Sundays I attended services at the cathedral, then taught a Sunday school class.
Afterwards, I gave lifts to a couple of elderly ladies from the church. Most church services last around four hours, which seemed long at first but eventually began to feel normal. It was amazing to see so many different aspects of Christian tradition within one church.
From the formality of traditional vestments, the rosary and incense to lots of dancing, sermons preached loudly through microphones, charismatic prayer and anointing with oil.
I think it made me appreciate the diversity of ways in which we can worship and pray. I also loved that you couldn't go far without seeing a shop sign or bumper sticker that refers to God or a bible verse. There were many highlights - pounding fufu (cassava and plantain), outdoor cooking, trips to the market, eating with my hands the Ghanaian way.
I definitely went with the view of being part of community.
And when I left people said that I had become part of the community and they were so pleased that I had eaten their food and spoken their language. Looking back on the experience, my favourite thing was the great sense of joy among the people in the communities I was part of in Ghana and the great thankfulness to God for being alive.
God was referred to in everyday conversation e. g.
a common response to "How are you?" was "By God's grace, I'm fine" or if you were leaving someone you would say "God willing tomorrow".
When she returned from Ghana, Keri moved back to Banbury, where she lived when she was a teenager.
She is currently teaching at St Mary's CE Primary School in Banbury.
Sharing skills with the marginalised in Peru
TEXTILE designer and teacher Fiona Courtman and her husband Chris are preparing to set off to Peru to help people with disabilities learn valuable life skills.
Fiona and Chris, from St Peter and St Paul's Church, Buckingham, will be part of Latin Link's Stride programme as they go to the city of Arequipa for two years from September. They will be working with Nuevas Fuerzas, a study centre for differently-abled young adults to socialise and gain skills in a safe environment.
Peru has very little formal support for differently-abled people, making them some of the most marginalised and vulnerable members of society. Fiona will be using her textiles experience to equip those at Nuevas Fuerzas with new skills whilst seeking to establish a full-scale social enterprise.
Chris will be looking after the children, Edith, Rufus and Theodore, learning Spanish and assisting with the management of the project.
They also plan to join the church Iglesia Bautista Misionera de Arequipa. When considering why they are making the trip, Fiona said: "Firstly, we see our vocation to serve God in Peru as a response to our salvation in Jesus Christ and His call on our lives to serve him and further his kingdom.
Secondly, both my gap year in Peru with Latin Link and Chris's time teaching at Hebron School in India, were formative mission experiences. "Chris added: "We therefore feel empowered and enlivened to work and serve in a poorer country.
Thirdly, we desire for our children to be immersed in other cultures, languages, and expressions of Christian faith; raising them in Arequipa will enable this to become a reality. "The Courtman's have requested prayer and financial support for their trip.
"We are entirely dependent on God's resources in everything we do. Your prayers are invaluable as we go about this work," says Chris.
To donate, go to latinlink.org.uk and follow the links to support the Courtmans.
The Latin Link website can also tell you how to explore a calling to serve in the countries the agency serves.
Called to cross-cultural mission?
If you are wondering whether God is calling you to cross-cultural mission, here or elsewhere, why not talk to a vocations adviser or one of the missions agencies or the Diocesan Council for Partnership in World Mission.
There are many opportunities for discerning whether this might be your calling.