What am I seeing? What do I feel? How will I respond?
Crossing cultures is fun for the adventurous; for linear thinkers with a high need for control (like me) it can be tough.
Definition: culture shock is the realization of how inadequately your world fits with their world (94). "If you truly cross a culture, you will feel culture shock."
Emotional responses could include - confusion, frustration, embarrassment and even repulsion. We rarely see culture shock coming and often struggle to identify it when it arrives.
Note: Culture shock is not an indicator of spiritual maturity. The variable that makes culture shock positive or negative is how we respond.
2 responses:
red lining: attempting to withdraw and isolate ourselves from the culture. Those that respond to culture shock by withdrawing, decide, based on their negative emotions, that the culture is bad, Acts 11:1-3.
green lining: experiencing culture shock and using it as an opportunity to continue to build trust or to learn more about the culture. To greenline is to take the feelings of discord and use it as a learning moment. Acts 10 see people through God's eyes, state your emotions, God reassures, Peter moved forward, opened his eyes and observed, asked questions, and didn't isolate himself.
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