Int'l Night

One of the goals SPACE has is that we are giving our students a correct vision of the world and trying to catalyze their hearts to care about it. One of my primary means of doing this, up until now, has been exposure. Exposure to cultures, ideas about the world in which we live, real facts about the world out there. This also includes making sure that our students know the certain current missions terms such as 'the 10/40 window', and 'unreached people group'. It also includes our students understanding global movements, such as information about the relatively recent migration of large masses of people moving to cities and the massive existence of poverty and slums throughout large urban areas. And on a more personal level, knowing our church's investment throughout the world, and hearing about the missionaries that GCC has sent out.

Friday night, our elementary school hosted it's first ever International Night. It was put on by the PTA and a bunch of parents, teachers and volunteers. Throughout the evening, there were cultural displays on stage in the cafeteria, while certain countries had tables set up in the gym with displays of culture, samples of food and all kinds of other stuff. Each student that came could get a 'passport' and by visiting each country, get their passport 'stamped' with a sticker. If they got all of them, they got a special 'customs prize.' What a great idea. It was pretty fun and our 7 year old had a great time. My favorite was visiting the Domnican Republic table. When I mentioned that I had spent a month there and got real sick, the couple there said, 'Yeah, you shouldn't have drunk the water.'

What I didn't realize was that there were 19 countries reprsented there, meaning that there are at least 19 different cultures that are intermixed at our local elementary school. And the majority of them were from the 10/40 window. Are the nations coming to our doorstep or what?

It made me think even more of what a vital task SPACE has, to ensure that kids realize that mix of cultures right in their neighborhoods. And that the environment that kids are in during church is so different from the environment that they actually live in, go to school in, work and play sports in.

One of the pivotal things we are doing with the Seniors for The Black Hole is an exercise in culture. International Night has given me even more motivation to try and make that exercise even more impactful.