Does Being Foreign Make You a Better Religious Minister?

I am a foreigner working in the Philippines. My answer to the above question is generally “no.” However, there was a time that I would wholeheartedly say “NO.” With some reflection, I have had to be a bit more nuanced in my response.

#1. Talking with a couple of my students, they felt that in their contexts, missionaries from other cultures were more effective in evangelism. One was from India and believed that people in their own country tended to listen to people from other cultures more intently than they did local ministers. The other student was from Philippines and worked with Korean ministers. He believed that because of the Filipino interest in Korean culture (such as K-dramas and K-pop), people often listened more closely to ministers from Korea than they did to local ministers. I will admit that I grew up in a very monocultural, racially non-diverse community. On rare occasions we would have a minister or missionary from a very different setting (like we had one who was culturally Jewish and another who was from Nigeria)., I think I did listen to them a bit more closely. Perhaps this is exoticism (seeing other cultures as better than our own). Or maybe it is simply the logic that one should pay more attention because what they are likely to say is going to be different, rather than what people like oneself is likely to say (probably a repeat of what one has heard so many times before). Alternatively, it could just be a bit of ordinary curiosity— they look different from me… I wonder if they think different as well.

#2. Foreignness can create barriers, but those who seek to overcome those barriers are often given a bit of extra attention. I knew of an American man who spoke fluent Kapampangan (my wife’s first language). He could speak it like a native Pampanguenyo. When he shared the Gospel message, he was given more attention than most. A friend of mine would talk of having Mormon youth doing their 2-year “mission” who would knock on her door and ask in somewhat rough Cebuano, “Excuse me, but can I tell you a story.” Even though she was in no way on the market for a different religion, she almost felt that she couldn’t say no… because it was such a novel thing to see a young white person trying to talk in their language. Sometimes, people trying to cross the cultural gap are given extra credit. This is not always true… but definitely sometimes.

#3. Sometimes it seems as if people from other cultures are given religious roles because of being from a different culture. I recall Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer from the era of the Conquistadors. Lost in what is now known as Florida, he and a few others survived and eventually worked their way back to their own people through being faith healers. None of them saw themselves in this role beforehand. Perhaps because of their foreignness the local tribes thought they might have secret knowledge or powers that others do not have. Alternatively, maybe it was less exotic, but more practical— you can’t fish or hunt or do much of anything else well that we need, maybe you can pray and heal. In a somewhat similar way, shamans seem also (in some cultures) to be chosen because they are outliers within their culture. Being an outlier might mean that their are few other jobs they can do… or perhaps they are thought to be closer to the gods or the spirits because they are further away from us. Older women sometimes became healers based on the presumption of accumulated knowledge regarding herbs and such (and unfortunately sometimes later described perjoratively as ‘witches’) to give them a role in the culture— especially if they did not have an extended family to act within.

With this reflection, I guess I would go to a modified view. Usually, local ministers are more effective than foreign ministers. But in some cases, foreign ministers may be able to open doors and start conversations that local ministers may not be able to. I will admit that being foreign has closed doors for me at times in the Philippines and has also opened doors at other times.