Clash of Culture

CLASH OF CULTURES
India is in a very interesting time in history.

600 million strong, the present and younger generation in India sees more, knows more and expects more from life. They are citizens of a global community that espouses values very different from the tradition that they are begrudgingly connected to, and they see more opportunity in life than those who presume to lead them.

The parents, uncles and aunties however, remain positioned to call the shots. Independence is not available when you live under the same roof as your family. The generation gap is only understood by the emerging generation, the older ones simply think there is a discipline problem caused by exposure to western music, and indulgences such as Pizza Hut, Subway and McDonalds.

The result is a generation of people studying for their parent’s choice of career, while they become resentful, and misunderstood. Often “bunking” class and finding comfort with friends, doomed to the same fate, by drinking their problems away.

At Word of Life we are seeing a lot of these kids, and they are confused and disturbed. The reality is their parents are simply not qualified to lead them, they do not know the big picture, opportunities and the pitfalls of the global world. Proud Indian tradition often requires denial and refusal to acknowledge anything that does not look like the “way we know it to be”. The young people are railroaded into careers that are unfulfilling, unrewarding and painful while their real, actual and marketable talents are drowned out in favor of the narrow perspective of the faultless but still ‘information-less’ age of India.

One of these guys has been coming to Word of Life for about a year now. He gave his life to the Lord, but cannot get baptized while he lives in his parent’s home. He has replaced his penchant for drinking and parties for coming to church each week. His family however forbids him to participate in anything Christian, so he has to sneak out. His parents think he is running around drinking and such, and it’s easier for him to take abuse for that than coming clean about church.

Of course there is difficulty in every family when someone finds meaning and joy in a faith that is not traditional to that family. But faith is not his only problem… he also does not want to be an engineer. He is rather brilliant, so he simply goes to school for exams, and avoids the rest. His double life is painful for him, he feels he cannot even discover who he truly is because of the sludge of traditional culturally distanced opinions and demands placed on his life.

At what point can you break away and realize your own destiny when you have a dysfunctional attachment to a dysfunctional prior-generation? Moving out is difficult, it is not done; multi-generations live simultaneously in the same house.
It is a ministry conundrum for us. This guy is really saved and inspired by the message of purpose and destiny, yet he has very little opportunity to express it.

We want the Gospel to bring freedom for him and his family, please pray for us as we seek to discover ministry initiatives that will bridge the gap, free the captives and redeem all generations in India.