Jeremy Sisk
Cultural Engagement Definition
Cultural Engagement
Cultural Engagement calls for cultivating relational peace, educational equity, and justice in diversity in service to God and the educational learning community.
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Personal Goal:
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I will develop and nurture deeper relationships with diverse individuals and cultures by leading struggling couples to attend a marriage retreat, teaching 'English as a Second Language', and engaging in hands-on volunteering with 'Christian Help' to share Christ's love through my mind, heart, and hands.
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Strategies
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• Seek out ministries that specifically focus on serving and evangelizing diverse cultures.
• Identify where I am most needed or can best be used to volunteer in that ministry.
• Consistently seek opportunities that lead to interactions of spiritual conversations.
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Resources
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• A Spanish Ministry Pastor and various Christian ESL lay leaders and teachers.
• Church members who have experience working in culturally diverse ministries.
• Christian food pantry leaders with experience in helping people find employment.
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Measurements
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• Brought three couples outside of the church to attend a Christian Marriage Retreat.
• Communicated the gospel to at least 30 people who have difficulty speaking English.
• Assisted in providing groceries to over 100 people as a vessel of Christ's heart and hands
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Part II
Overall Reflection
As evidence of my progressive learning in cultural engagement, I am submitting a collection of artifacts related to three cultural engagements: engaging with those on the verge of homelessness, those on the brink of divorce, and those who are struggling to be included in societal life because of language deficiencies.
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These projects demonstrate the intensive preparation that went into planning ministries that adversely affect all cultures. The ministries that were developed for this internship focus on the attempt to relieve societal impoverishments which occur cyclically through generations, and when not confronted or resolved, the same problems occur over and over with no redress. Though some of these causes are clearly visible, others are not. The ministries planned and executed aim toward the relief of healing common societal ails such as 1. the propensity of certain people to divorce a spouse because of their upbringing, education or culture 2. the propensity to not assimilate into American society due to deficiencies in resources in gaining knowledge toward learning the English language and 3. the propensity of people to live in poverty or be homeless due to a wide range of reasons but for this focus due to dire need to receive financial support and employment.
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The ministries pursued in this cultural engagement serve a cross-cultural setting in America, which is the melting pot of the world. Providing American Protestant cultural history and language skills in a loving way to Spanish-speaking Catholics and atheists (Catholic in name only) who are ignorant of America's rich cultural history and its common language gives hope to non-English speakers that they can succeed in American life, where they once thought it was impossible. Providing groceries and job assistance to those who are on the verge of homelessness allows for hope despite the odds against them and gives encouragement to those who may believe neither God nor people care about them in their dire circumstances. In all these cultural engagements of different varieties, opportunities abound to share Christ's love which Christ radiates through the children of God who use their head, heart, and hands for His glory.
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Artifacts with Descriptions
For my competence in cultural engagement, I am submitting the notes and slides for the ESL Thanksgiving Potluck Presentation which I used for presenting, ESL teacher reflections and photos of my presentation.
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These notes and slides demonstrate that by avoiding specific cultural issues, I was able to cultivate relational peace and educational equity, given I had no motive to lecture down to those who were Spanish-speaking only or were Catholic. Since I primarily teach white English speakers, by teaching brown-skinned Spanish speakers, I feel as though I was able to administer some justice in diversity as a service to God, given that the message was really about Him and about giving Him thanks despite times of a lack of resources. Telling the Thanksgiving story at a Thanksgiving dinner to mostly Spanish immigrants was culturally fascinating to say the least. It was as if I was the Pilgrim teaching the Indians and though I did not say that I decided also not to give my opinion that Spanish Catholicism would have taken over North America had it not been for England defeating the Spanish Armada and thus the pope's influence on the new world. I chose instead to focus more on the faith of the dedicated Christians who, against impossible odds, overcame in an exciting way. This focus paid off as I was able to liven up the spirit of the students by giving a real life examples of Christian faith in action. The reflections by the ESL teachers demonstrated my ability to enable awareness of God's sovereignty while effectively navigating the cross-cultural dynamics of engaging with various cultures. The photos show a receptive, welcoming environment that played a significant role in conveying both the ESL and theological lessons in the presentation.
Artifact 2: Photographs of Christian Help Food Pantry, Job Fair, and a copy of Job Fair Resources.
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For my competence in cultural engagement, I am submitting photographs of the Christian Help Food Pantry in Casselberry, Florida which is where I volunteered to provide over 120 boxes of groceries, photos of me voluntarily working at the Christians Help Resource table in the Job Fair, and a copy of Job Fair Resources, which Christians Help volunteers used to provide information to job seekers. Together, these artifacts reflected and demonstrated my ability to cultivate relationships by cultivating relational peace through justice in diversity in service to God. The job fair was an educational experience, teaching prospective job seekers where to go and what to say to employers. The label "Christian Help" gave glory to God to show that the reason for the job fair was because those obedient to Christ's commands in loving others by taking care of the poor was fully expressed by way of giving knowledge (head), with the intention of providing and expecting nothing in return (love-heart) by actively physically being present to set up, coordinate and show people where to go for those less fortunate to be raised.
Artifact 3: 'I Still Do' marriage retreat booklet, a photo of attendants and a photo of a fun game.
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For my competence in cultural engagement, I am submitting an 'I Still Do' marriage retreat booklet, a photo of our group that attended, and a photo of a fun game that couples played to lighten up the atmosphere and keep couples engaged. As a whole these artifacts came together to demonstrate my ability to engage couples who need educational equity with those who have had experience in keeping their marriages stronger due to the American epidemic of divorces leading to broken families, lifelong psychological issues for the children who are the real victims and the toll on each person who is divorced. Contextualizing this in a cultural way is difficult to articulate; however, it could be said that at least three couples were invited to the retreat, who had marital problems as a product of trauma, divorce, or adultery. This marriage retreat in no way can stop divorce leading to the tragic consequences which follow; however it can be a stepping stone to receive the knowledge of the gospel, through learning Scriptural principles in how to carry out one's marriage vows which is through sacrificial love of the spouse just as Jesus has sacrificially loved the church. So many marriages are doomed from the start because they are not centered on Christ who gave Himself to His bride, the church. This cultural engagement may make more sense as a Christian Ministry; however, I've found in my life experiences that even those with means and access to marriage counselors are truly destitute with having a Biblically centered philosophy of marriage. This type of marriage is the healthiest type of marriage and provides the highest chance of success to a long-lasting marriage, which benefits everyone.
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Learning Reflection
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As I developed and demonstrated cultural engagement, I have learned that there are Christian servants in my midst where I never paid much attention to. The director of the Christian Help food pantry also coordinates the Christian job fair and it's an encouragement to watch him lead the volunteers in prayer before packaging and distributing grocery boxes. He took the time to know me, personally showed me how to package the boxes, make sure to throw away bad food because he didn’t want anyone he's feeding to get sick, he told me about the job fair which would be the best way for me to engage the culture. He was joyous, excited about his work and was an example to me. The director convinced me to volunteer at the job fair because he thought I was great communicator. He showed me what to tell job seekers, how to answer certain questions and made sure I was fed and hydrated while at the job fair. Our spiritual conversation consisted of Him telling me about how Jesus put him there and it was the mission of Christian Help to be the hands, heart and head of Jesus to help people avoid homelessness. One of the things I noticed was that people pulled up in their cars to get groceries but I thought how much a month do they pay for the lease or car payment of that vehicle as they are picking up free food. The director said he took people at their word unless they gave him a reason to believe otherwise. I learned that Thanksgiving came about through divinely orchestrated events as I was researching the topic and realized the ESL students were truly fascinated. The use of technology was crucial, as I knew I would need clear images that communicated the message throughout the lesson. The reflections reinforced that the students were receptive to the lesson and one of the students had an app on his phone that transcribed my speech in real time which I thought was fascinating. The "I Still Do" marriage retreat taught me primarily that many people don’t have the time, money or desire to go to a marriage retreat. They fear being chastised, bored or given information that is redundant and just filler. However, the three couples who were invited with our Homebuilders were shocked at how informative, valuable, and worthwhile it was.
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Lifelong Development Statement
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As a result of these cultural engagements, I will continue to develop skills to reach people on a deeper level. I will focus my energy on ways I can develop as a person to seek out these opportunities to reach the world for Christ. As a result of studying the cultural dynamics of the early 17th-century North American and world history, I realized that no one in America was truly Native American, given that the warring tribes went back and forth, and the Europeans had already been up and down the eastern seaboard many times. This fact leads me to educate myself better in many areas where I speak first but haven’t really looked closely at all the facts. Maybe this will pay off one day in a fascinating conversation with someone who'll believe me more because of my focused communication on what is actually factual and not just parroted conversation, which I heard on the news or from a documentary on the Discovery channel. This exercise in exploring history and noticing God's hands in the affairs of men will hopefully help me build credibility, possibly leading someone to trust me enough to believe what I say about the Bible and God. Going further in lifelong development, I aim to be a better lifelong student and contextualize history not only through a biblical worldview but also be knowledgeable in a way that people would be awed at my knowledge of the subject, to lead them to trust further in more essential things such as the need for salvation and how they can enter into a saving relationship with Christ. Moving forward, I will deepen my understanding of common reasons for homelessness, even though Jesus said we will always have the poor; he did not say how widespread it would be in different cultural settings. Moving forward, I will also deepen my understanding of common reasons for divorce and make avenues to redress these issues in this sinful world. Divorce is truly an epidemic that hurts the soul of both parents and their children who grow up without their mom and dad when they need them most.