It’s tough to walk through, but it’s good for us.

When I was a youth pastor, I led a group of students from conservative, semi-rural Alaska on a missions trip to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC. The first part in Seatlle was fairly familiar for them, but Vancouver was a different story. Considering their home environment, our students received the full brunt of religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic culture shock!

It began with seeing Sikhs and Muslims in cultural attire; this was an eye-opener, to say the least. It’s not the student’s fault, but more the culturally-comfortable world they live in. The Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, where most of them have spent their entire lives, is predominantly Caucasian. Most people are working class with very few ethnicities and/or foreign religions. Even though there is a strong need for evangelism, it’s not very obvious on a surface level. The Kenai Peninsula is a conservative culture where most people “believe in God” and is quite agreeable to most Christian-centric dialogue.

Moving from religion and ethnicity to social class, the Peninsula is fairly rural and spread out. This provides for a pretty safe, comfortable environment. Most people who are down and out and truly struggling to survive, will make their way to Anchorage and live on the street there. Seeing the substantially larger homeless population in Vancouver was a shocker as well.

The students were quite excited to travel to Canada.

Most of them had never been outside of the United States and they were ready to embrace the title of “International Traveler“! As we drove to where we’d be staying, moving through one of the largest East Indian populations in North America, they began to get a sense of just how small their world was. Then we took on our first assignment of canvasing the Sikh and Muslim neighbourhoods.

The goal was to invite their children to a park program that we would be hosting with Community of Hope Church. As they went to each door, speaking with these Sikhs and Muslims; the culture shock deepened. It was so exciting for me to see them feel how lost these people are; realizing that many of them have never heard the Gospel yet they live in North America.

The culture shock continued!

As we took on our second challenge of the day, we hit the streets with Nightshift Street Ministries. Our students took part in serving dinner and handing out clothing to some of the most hurting people in greater Vancouver. Here’s a quote from Nightshift’s website to further explain their mission and ministry.

“NightShift Street Ministries  is a registered, not-for-profit society that has been serving people in Surrey, BC (Canada), since January 2004.  Meals are prepared by local churches or donated through corporate sponsors and served by volunteers, who also offer friendship, hope, spiritual guidance, clothing and personal care kits to people in need. We operate 365 days a year, whatever the weather, because every day matters.

It is our conviction that every man, woman and child deserves to be treated with love, respect and dignity, regardless of individual circumstances.  We hope to bring healing, wholeness and freedom to those caught in the addictive cycle of poverty and addictions, and to support those seeking a way to exit the streets. By offering a continuum of services, there is consistency where otherwise there would be none.” (Nightshiftministries.org)

The students were unsettled.

Their reactions were varied because most of them didn’t like the experience, because it pulled them way outside of their comfort zone. That being said, although they all expressed how uncomfortable it was, when asked how good it was on a scale of 1 to 10, almost all the students stated a 10. I found that very interesting; that they correctly processed and acknowledged that their discomfort was good for them. I was proud of them!

As I think through the numerous stories that I heard following the street project, I have far too much to write to be completely effective. Instead, I highly suggest watching the two embedded clips below. They will give you a full picture of what our students experienced in Vancouver. And maybe you’ll be moved to experience something similar.

Join the Conversation, Share Your Thoughts

• When was the last time you remember experiencing culture shock?
• What experience triggered the shock?
• How did you process the discomfort and work through it?
• What did you learn?