MOVING OUTSIDE THE MONOCULTURE GHETTO

by Andrea de Vries

Imagine a program where every single student that has applied, been accepted, and is attending would rather be somewhere else.

The first instinct is to assume that it’s a lousy program, and that the students must not have done very much research prior to their choice. And yet, we have just such a program here at Columbia – a major full of students that live in constant tension between here and there, between school and their desire to be somewhere else.

 

Matt with some local childern

The Intercultural Studies (ICS) program at Columbia Bible College attracts visionary, passionate people. They are risk takers and adventurers. I spent a lunch hour milling about in the dining hall, asking ICS students what they thought about the word evangelism and where they would be if not for the program here at Columbia. Each one of them responded similarly; they knew with certainty that they would not be in North America and when pressed for a specific answer, there came stories of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, you name it – they’ve dream it.

Bryan Born, the ICS program director, responded in the same way when asked where he would be if not for Columbia. “My heart is still in Botswana. I love southern Africa. I love the people, working with churches there was such a blast. My feeling now, as I’ve been getting somewhat older, is that I’m somewhat inclined to work with unreached people groups. I’ve had the experience of working with people who are already evangelized and I think it would be an adventure.”

Danielle on her Intercultural Studies
internship in west Africa

"...intercultural studies is just learning to build relationships with other people"

Of course, Bryan will be at Columbia for quite a long time if his students have anything to say about it. Each ICS student I talked to spoke adamantly about their love for Bryan – one student even announced that Bryan is the reason he is at the school. Bryan pours hours into the ICS program to prepare students for their third-year cross-cultural field placements. Currently, students have interned, or are planning to intern, in Brazil, Nepal, Mozambique, Morocco, Mongolia, Portugal, South Africa, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Ireland, Mexico and Haiti. Clearly, the world’s the limit when it comes to choosing a field placement! During the field placement, students have the opportunity to integrate experiential and theoretical learning. When students return for their final year they spend time debriefing and answering life application questions. 

Despite the wide variance in culture and location, Born never ceases to be amazed at the continuity of experience that students have during their year overseas. Bryan recalled one story specifically, “A student from Mongolia said something and I thought ‘that sounds just like something I wrote when I was in Botswana.’ I checked my journal from Botswana, and there it was, almost word for word – how impacted we are when we get out from our culture and how I’ve never experienced God like this – that I need God right now…"

These cross-cultural experiences are difficult for ICS students to explain to the rest of us. And yet, ICS students add a dynamic to the Columbia community that would instantly be felt and missed were it to be absent. Their social-justice, vision-focused mindset beckons all of us to take ourselves and our religion seriously. What is it that we believe? Is it worth traveling a continent, a language and a culture away in order to share? And if it is worth that much, what are we doing to instill it in ourselves?

Bryan Born recognizes that Columbia’s students have an important lifestyle decision before them, and he prays that we will all take the time to seriously evaluate our perspectives. “Missions in that sense is a relationship with God, and intercultural studies is just learning to build relationships with other people. Our world is becoming more multicultural and we have a choice - are we going to choose to retreat into our monoculture ghettos? Do we know everything? Or has God already been working in that other culture and do we have something to learn from them?”

Andrea de Vries is a graduate from Columbia Bible College's Outdoor Leadership program. She lives in Squamish, BC with her husband Alle Jan.

For more information about Intercultural Studies at Columbia visit www.columbiabc.edu/interculturalstudies