Third Culture Thriving

Last week, we chatted about different questions you could ask a prospective or current sending agency. On Instagram, you all shared so many more, so I wanted to give you a part 2 episode. In addition, later this week we'll have a beautiful download on our website of all these questions, organized for you to used. It's been a great thing to crowdsource, and I'm hopeful that it'll be useful for our community for years to come!

I've adapted the original 30 Days of Prayer and Learning into a Lenten guide, including journaling prompts, sabbath practices, and opportunities to write your own prayers for your host country. Each day, we'll pray together for a facet of your host country or a relevant topic: for example, for the government, for the lonely, for single mothers. There are also questions top help you dive deeper into this topic with further research into what that looks like where you are serving. What resources are there for single mothers? What is the government really like, and how does it function within the region, or globally? You'll also have the opportunity to partner with local friends who can add depth and dimension to your understanding.

Here's the number one thing I want you to keep in mind as you go through this: more than anything else, your supporters need to feel connected to YOU. Yes, they need to understand your ministry and believe in your "why". But in the end, they need to know your heart, your personality, and be connected and invested in you as a person, as a family. And because of this, not every newsletter needs to be an impact report! I know, mind blowing, right?

Today, we're chatting about how to plan our weeks well. Between non-negotiables like school or meetings, self care time, and goals we are working towards, it can be hard to know what to prioritize. Let's figure it out!

We're also talking about what to expect from TCT in 2023. Plan to join us for our FREE Lent of Prayer and Learning ommunity experience, starting Ash Wednesday, Feb 22.

This year, I've been challenged by several wise, older people in my life to move away from a faith that relies on routine and checked boxes, and more towards a faith that is more intuitive and spirit led. Sounds easy, right? But in reality, I relied heavily on very strict rhythms in almost every area of my life to keep myself afloat, including in my faith. And while it worked at a base level, it wasn't the liberating, life giving faith experience I knew God wanted to give me.

So, as I go into this Advent season, I'm considering what to fast or what to adopt with this intuitive, spirit-led faith in mind.

As we get to know how the church operates in another culture, it's to be expected that we find new ways that the Gospel manifests itself, often that are very different from how we have seen the gospel presented in our own cultures. Some things that are only tangentially important to our culture's interpretation of the gospel are much more important and central where we find ourselves now, and other central parts of our own faith become secondary in our new culture. Of course, there are the basic tenants of christianity that shouldn't change from culture to culture. But often, there are "grey areas" that are more nuanced and can look very different ways in very different places!

The last time I put out a call for episode topics, I got a number of responses about having realistic expectations for ourselves, how to grieve the loss of our capacity and ability to whip through a to-do list, and reframing success. Friends, today I'd like to introduce you to a little something I call the "minimum successful day."