Cultural Competence

This is one of our core values, it says, “we value cultural diversity as a gift from the Lord.  We celebrate the multiple ethnicities that enrich our environment and our lives.  We emphasize the need to understand and accept a diverse world.  We affirm the need to incarnate culturally as an intrinsic part of our mission.”

 I had a wonderful opportunity this week to see the embodiment of cultural competence.  I took nine students from BUA with me to do a mission project this week.  On one side, God placed us with 12 African-American middle school students from the inner city, and on the other side, with homeless and broken people.    It was amazing to see how God used us, but even more amazing to see how God takes people from all walks of life to be joined together in community.  My students learned a lot about community this week.  It is more than just being a part; it is participating even when it is uncomfortable.  Many times God places us in situations out of our comfort zone, this is a place I believe that God grows us and shapes us into the people he wants us to be.  Into a community that the world around us sees faith, hope, and above all, love. 

 I am so thankful that Baptist University of the Americas has a core value as cultural competence.  We do celebrate the multiple cultures around us, but we do more than just celebrate, we live, we adjust, we clash, and we struggle, and we see the need daily to accept the gift from God of expanding our lives through the cultures around us.

 God not only used this week to do a mission project in a different city, He used it to enrich our lives by being connected to others.  What an incredible gift, the gift of every tribe and language and people and nation.

 Psalm 133:1 (NIV)

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!