Cross Cultural Ministry Internship Overview

We all arrived on Tuesday, June 27. Nine different missionary units. All different ages. All different family structures. All different routines. All with different stories and backgrounds. All from different states. All preparing for ministry in different countries: Southeast Asia, the Middle East,Greece, France, Colombia, Bulgaria, Peru, and Romania. All different, yet all very similar, too. 

All eager, nervous, and exhausted in our own way from our travels and what unknowns we had lying before us at CCMI. All with a specific calling from the Lord to live incarnationally in cross-cultural ministry experiences so as to help usher in the restored Kingdom of Christ. All knowing what it feels like for others to unrealistically hold us up on a faith pedestal. All knowing what it feels like for others to question whether we're being stupid, irresponsible, or a little crazy. All probably actually a little bit crazy in our own rights. All living under one roof in crammed quarters for one month. 


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Babamız
​Ey göklerde olan Babamız,
İsmin mukaddes olsun;
Melekûtun gelsin;
Gökte olduğu gibi yerde de senin iraden olsun;
Gündelik ekmeğimizi bize bugün ver;
Ve bize borçlu olanlara bağışladığımız gibi, bizim borçlarımızı bize bağışla;
Ve bizi iğvaya götürme, fakat bizi şerirden kurtar;
Çünkü melekût ve kudret ve izzet ebedlere kadar senindir.
 Amin.

I've had the privilege in worshiping our Father in English, Spanish, Romanian, and German in the past, and most recently I've been able to sing His praises in Turkish. The lyrics above are the Lord's Prayer in Turkish, which the Armenians sing at the beginning of each of their church services. For the past four Sundays we have attended the Armenian Evangelical Church of Brussels, and even in the midst of my awkwardness of not being able to really communicate with many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I remember trying my best to follow along phonetically with the lyrics on the screen, thinking to myself, "Lord, who would have ever thought I'd have the chance to worship you in Turkish?!?!" I laughed in my head to myself at the ridiculous beauty of it all. Each chance I've had to worship with other language speakers has been like getting a sneak peak at the end of a movie: when we will all be worshiping from every tribe, tongue, and nation our Lord and Savior for eternity in the Restored Kingdom. How beautiful! But last Sunday, a particular occurrence demonstrated to me even more beauty than the music.