A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to meet with some great leaders in Orange County, CA. We talked about neighborhoods, community and flourishing through the lens of the Gospel. One speaker, Chrissy Remsberg, shared some brilliant connections during at event hosted by Fiducia. I asked her to corral her thoughts into a blog. Here’s Chrissy…
In the book Third Culture Kids:Growing Up Among Worlds David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken describe third culture kids like this, “The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background.”
Simply put, the first culture is the child’s place of birth. The second culture is the new culture where the child is now living. Within a TCK there is a blending of parts of each culture such that the child no longer fully identifies or fits with either the first or second cultures. Instead, there is now created within the TCK a new, blended, third culture.
Take a moment to consider the fact that Jesus was a third culture kid!
Jesus was fully divine – containing the fullness of heavenly culture. And Jesus was fully human – containing the fullness of human culture. And yet, like the TCK, though Jesus formed relationships with the religious, the disciples, the sinners and the outcast, he never fully identified with any of these groups. He didn’t fit in. He was different from what people expected, hence a third culture kid.
Within the human culture Jesus formed a new third culture that he identified as the kingdom of heaven. This was the inbreaking of God in flesh come to declare the beginning of a new way of living, a kingdom culture.
Jesus invited all who followed him into this kingdom culture. He reminded them that this kingdom culture came with a very particular mission…to “…go and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
From that time forward, every person who has ever wanted to follow the way of Jesus has been invited to enter into this kingdom culture. And every person who has accepted that invitation has been reminded that this kingdom culture comes with a particular mission. As we follow Jesus we too are invited into this third culture, this kingdom way of living. And like those before we are reminded that we have been called on mission!
So what does the mission look like as a TCK?
I believe the answer to this question lies in how you define holiness. 1 Peter 1:15-17 says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”
Peter reminds us that God calls us to be holy; and the way we can do this is by living as foreigners. So the question is what does it mean to be holy?
Often we’ve defined “holiness” as “separation.” Separation from those who do not live like us; those we deem as sinners. We acknowledge feeling like a foreigner when among those who do not know Jesus. Yet, we have made a home among the Christian culture. We claim it as a place of comfort.
However, mission that is defined by a holiness of separation can never be relational, because we will never get close enough to build a relationship. So we design bigger and better programs and events and hope that “if we build it, they will come.”
But in the Greek, holiness is defined simply as “different.” God calls us to be different; to model the life of Jesus, who lived among those far from God and demonstrated that his way of living, his kingdom culture, was different!
If holiness is exemplified by living as foreigners then we cannot be at home within any culture. We must live as a TCK, fully immersed in the human culture yet knowing that our home is no longer a place, but rather a people. Home is found only within those who carry the third culture, the kingdom culture.
Mission, then, that is defined by a holiness of difference is completely relational. It is only through relationship that those far from God will see that this kingdom way of living is different. It is unlike anything they’ve experienced before.
This is the invitation: To live holy lives as third culture kids, sharing the kingdom culture through deeply personal, God-filled relationships.