Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
A Former Missionary Asks for Help

A Former Missionary Asks for Help

Last updated on: August 16, 2022 at 4:20 pm by Brad Vaughn

A Former Missionary Asks for Help 2022-08-16T01:53:13-07:00 Brad Vaughn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A former missionary sent me the following email asking for counsel. With his permission, I have adjusted identifying details and posted the message below so we can crowdsource advice on his behalf.

** Please leave your suggestions and advice for him in the comments. **

First, I’ll give you a 10,000-foot summary. Then, I’ll paste an edited version of the message. For ease, let’s call him “John.”

Big Picture Summary

After serving many years in China as a missionary, John found that he has changed so much that it’s difficult for him to adapt properly to working in American culture. He’s seeking advice and resources to help his adjustment.

John’s First Email

Background

After many years in China, we returned to the US solely because the government would not allow our son to go to an international school. I returned for a head of school position at a very rural Christian school. Within 5 months, I was dismissed. To this day, my wife and I do not know why.

When I was dismissed, I contacted my friend and mentor (a former professor). He told me that my strength as an international worker was that I sat like a fly on the wall observing everything culturally for 2-3 years in order to fully respect the culture and the people, and then I changed as much as possible to be most effective in sharing my life as a Christian with them. He said that I will always have a problem working in America because when people see my white face and know I grew up in America, they will never understand that I am bi-cultural.

Presently, I teach HS Bible at a quality rural Christian school. By quality, I mean that the administration, faculty, and staff are solid Christians united in one goal of discipling the students to maturity in Christ. However, the leaders are, for the most part, all products of this small town, even getting their degrees from the same local university.

Therefore, as my wife says their scope of understanding is very narrow. They are good people, but they just don’t understand things like biculturalism. They see my white face only….

The Problem

This past week, I was pulled into a meeting with the HR Director (locally trained), Head of School (locally trained), and Secondary Principal (regionally trained). I was issued a verbal warning for email communication in which they concluded that I was being disrespectful to fellow staff by talking about them behind their back.

I immediately said that I was wrong and that it was a heart issue of arrogance and that from this point on I would focus only on being professional, polite, respectful, and communicating positively about fellow staff. This placated them and they were satisfied.

As the dust settled over the past week, I realized that I could in fact do it again, which would get me fired. Because in each of those email communications, I was trying to solve relational issues indirectly. The standard at the school is that you solve relational issues only by talking directly with the person.

But the root issue remains, this form of indirect communication is engrained in me, and I cannot say that it won’t happen again, or that some other bi-cultural engrained attribute won’t rear its head at some point.

Should I shift from indirect communication to direct communication as it relates to relational issues? Yes, I should. Not only to keep my job but also because God is always right. But if it is not this issue, it could be another bi-cultural issue that gets me fired.

Bicultural Training?

So, I realize that I need to “teach/train”/communicate with them that I am bi-cultural, that my bi-culturalism is Chinese/American. And communicate to them what Chinese/American biculturalism looks like in the workplace. If I were to find something that communicated how to manage a bi-cultural employee (specifically a Chinese/American bi-cultural employee), I would share that with them too.

Having this communication with them is the only way that I can keep my job. It is wise to do right now since the misunderstanding just happened and could affect my whole family. And frankly, defining myself as a bi-cultural employee, presents grounds for any potential litigation, which is something they probably would be aware of. (Obviously, I’d never communicate that).

So, I am reaching out to you to ask if you could help with any short articles on any of these topics (or good blogs/websites I could check out myself). My goal is to give them a couple of short (not-to-scholarly) articles to communicate this reality.

What is biculturalism”
What does bi-culturalism look like for a bi-cultural Chinese/American?
What does Chinese/American biculturalism look like in (1) social relationships, (2) hierarchical workplace relationships, or (3) in the American workplace?
How to manage bi-cultural employees (in the US)?
How to manage Chinese/American bi-cultural employees (in the US)?

I really hope that you could help me to communicate with them. I want to be effective, respectful, but also clear concerning their need to understand me as an employee in order that I can be successful for them….

Second Email

This morning I also realized that I need to do my part, my due diligence, to relearn how to be a good American employee (good American in the workplace).

Could you recommend any books/articles on either relearning your home culture or shifting from bi-culturalism to mono-culturalism? I actually highly value being bi-cultural and find it to be beautiful being bi-cultural. But clearly, in this workplace, I need to relearn how to be monocultural in order to appease them and keep my job.

What do you think? How can we help John?

Missiology

biculturalism

missionary

Previous Post

August 9, 2022

What's the meaning of “blood is thicker than water”?

Next Post

August 23, 2022 What is "Re-kin-ciliation"?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Rebekah's father?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Laban Abraham Bethuel Terah

Books by This Author Books by Brad Vaughn

See All Titles »