Wednesday, February 3, 2016

culturally sensitive minister

Wow! That is what I can say about the last few months.  I am 3 weeks into my second semester and I can barely believe it.  In the last five months I have read 8 academic books and numerous articles and papers that have pushed me to explore so many ideas about myself and about God. Currently, as part of my Personal Transformation class, we have been reading a lot about what it means to be a culturally sensitive minister.  

Now I am not a Minister as the noun is sometimes defined since I am not employed by a church. However, I do minister. (I emphasize greatly that I do not give less importance to the lower case m that I use here.)   Recently I was required to address the question of how I would evaluate myself as a culturally sensitive minister.  I had to really dig into how this applies to my current setting.  What I discovered is that I interact with a culture completely different from my own on a daily basis.  

As a mother of a 7th grade daughter, I am finding that being culturally sensitive is vital in my interactions with her.  As I work towards identifying with her culture, I have to remember what it was like to be her age while also accepting the many aspects of her culture that are different from what I experienced.  Without security in God’s love for me and for her, it would be impossible for me to exhibit this sensitivity. Each opportunity I have with her to listen and love her fully as the being God created her to be, means that I need to let go of my own will for her and embrace God’s will for her life. This is an ongoing process and I do not always get it right.  Sometimes my own reactionary will power strikes before I can lovingly evaluate in a culturally sensitive way.  My daughter and I are both works in progress and I cherish the opportunity God has given me to become a more culturally sensitive minister through my relationship with her.

I would encourage you all to look into how you minister within your life and the opportunities you have to be culturally sensitive. As you explore this, you may realize that you interact daily with cultures you had not previously identified and what an amazing opportunity this will open up to you.