Summer Travel 2016 – Hong Kong, The Philippines, and Thailand

Well. So much for getting the blog up and running. Nevertheless, since I still have one, this seems like a good place to review what I did over the summer. I have pictures, too, but the phone I used to take them is dead and doesn't want to recharge at the moment. When I get it fixed, I will update the post.

It’s been a few weeks since my trip to the South Pacific ended, and I’m finally starting to feel like I am readjusting back to the US. It has been a great trip, and I’m very thankful for everyone who contributed to the trip, either by donating time, resources, or just moral and spiritual support. God has done wonderful things for both me and those I’ve been working with this summer, and I wanted to share what went on with everyone.

Phase 1 – Arrival and Arrival

My initial trip to Hong Kong in May was rather short – only a few days – before I continued on to the Philippines with Linda Smyth. Linda was nice enough to host me for the entire summer, and it was great getting to travel with her in the Philippines at the start of my trip. Upon arrival in the Philippines, we met Cody and Marie, who escorted us to Pastor Randy’s church in Arwas. Cody and Marie had scheduled an Insight Seminar at the church, and we arrived several days early to prepare. 

Once we got to the church, I led a short review/discussion session with Cody, Marie, Randy, and Linda. The session lasted for two days, and gave everyone a chance to refresh their familiarity with the seminar material, as well as discuss new insights into the ideas and theories underlying the program’s teaching and activities. Everyone had something to add to the discussion, but Cody, in particular, contributed a lot to the discussion, with many interesting and helpful ideas and insights that will help us develop better programs for future seminars. 

After the introduction session, the delegates began to arrive for the main program. We had around a dozen Christian leaders in attendance. Many were from the local area, but several traveled many hours to attend the seminar. Almost all of them were active pastors who were interested in learning how to better teach and minister to their churches and communities. They were an intelligent and excited bunch, and it was a pleasure to meet and interact with them throughout the seminar. Cody led the Insight training, and Marie focused on the IBS (Inductive Bible Study) program. (Cody and Marie ran both programs during the seminar, at the participants’ request). Unfortunately, I can’t say too much about the discussions that took place during the seminar itself, as the entire program was conducted in Tagalog (and, occasionally, local dialects), which I am unfamiliar with. My discussions with Cody and the participants, however, helped me see how they were learning and developing their understanding and relationships. 

In the Insight Seminars, we focus on these two main interrelated points. In order to build strong, positive relationships with God, ourselves, other people (Christians and otherwise), and our environment, we need to have the best understanding possible of the parties involved. Thus, the seminar focuses first on how we can gain understanding and discernment, and applies these ideas to the development of various relationships in the participants’ lives. Our immediate focus in on understanding ourselves (what Leonard, our Mozambican director, calls our “first environment”). If we don’t understand and relate well to ourselves, we are hindered in every other relationship, because every other relationship we have depends, in some way, on us. Controlling ourselves and taking responsibility for our actions is the first step in building strong, lasting relationships with others.

Of course, focusing purely on the self is detrimental, since life consists of far more than just “me.” During the seminar, Cody led discussions on our relationship with God, with the Church, and with others in our community. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the ideas being presented in the seminar, and more than one participant commented later that, until they attended the seminar, they had not thought about their work in terms of relationships, but more in terms of actions and procedures. They were delighted to learn how they could further develop their ministries through communicating an understanding of what a good relationship (with God or men) really means. 

As the program came to a close, everyone expressed satisfaction with their experience. The participants praised God and celebrated a better understanding of Him and His creation, and our presenters were blessed to not only help others learn, but to learn from their participants. Many of the discussions during the week were truly group discussions, with Cody and Marie facilitating, but not dominating, the conversation. I think, all in all, everyone left with new lessons and ideas. It was a fantastic trip, and I want to thank Cody and Marie for organizing the seminar, and Pastor Randy for hosting everyone.

Phase 2 – Hong Kong

When we got back to Hong Kong, I was asked to help Linda’s son, Scott, present a seminar for his church in Fairview Park. Scott had previously attended a seminar Al and I put on in the Philippines, and had worked with Al and I on subsequent training projects in Hong Kong since then. I met with Scott both before the seminar, and we had weekly reviews of the progress of the program during the 10-week seminar. Since Scott would be presenting the material each Sunday afternoon, Sunday became an extremely busy day for him. In order to give himself some breathing room, he asked me to cover preaching at his church while I was around so he could focus on the seminar training. The best way to learn is to teach, but “best” rarely equals “easiest.” I was happy to pick up the preaching to give Scott a chance to focus on the training. 

 The sessions went well. Attendance started very strong, which is good, but did fall off towards the end. This is expected in long-running free programs. The seminars are often taxing and can be frustrating, as learning new ways to look at ideas can be quite stressful. We often experience fatigue after several weeks of programs, which is one reason we prefer shorter intensive programs with long-term follow-up. Fortunately, Scott is well placed to provide such follow-up, and I have confidence he will continue to work with his church members to help them develop both individually and as a body. The participants themselves expressed interest in the material, though some expressed a desire to see more immediate application of some of our concepts. This kind of feedback is helpful, as it allows us to see where the seminars are strong or need a change in focus. Often details like this will vary from culture to culture, as different people require different approaches or points of emphasis. 

Both my sermons and the seminars were recorded, and can be viewed on the Fairview Park Christian Church’s YouTube channel [insert link to YouTube channel].

In addition to working with Scott, I was also able to meet with some local church leaders to talk about using the seminars as part of leadership training/discipling programs. These discussions are very preliminary, but the people we talked with were interested in finding new ways to help their church members understand more about themselves and God, and I am hopeful that we will be able to continue our discussions in the future.

Phase 3 – Thailand

Finally, I spent a week in Thailand attending a graduate course as part of my PhD program. For those who aren’t familiar with U.S. PhD programs, there are usually about two years of classes before work on the PhD dissertation/research starts in earnest. I chose this course in part because of the tuition discount – in general, the discount on tuition was equal to or greater than the cost of travel, making it both an economical choice, as well as a great opportunity to work more closely with students from non-western cultures. The differences in perspectives and history, as well as the students’ willingness to share their experiences and ideas made the course entirely worth the trip. 

The class investigated the characteristics of various cultural value systems: guilt/innocence, shame/honor, purity/impurity, etc. These cultural values have a significant impact on how different people view and understand the world, and understanding them helps tremendously in seeing how intercultural communication – including communication of the Gospel – must be conducted carefully and with deliberation. This is not to say that all communications must be slow, only that we must always pay attention to both what we are saying, and what the people we communicate with are understanding. Of course, this is true in any communication, and the more you know about the people you are talking to, the better you can communicate.