Church as an Expat

Outside of our church with some of the ITC students.

I grew up in the church.  Since my mom worked there, a good part of our childhood was spent roaming the halls and camping out in the classrooms, so much so that it almost felt like a second home.  Church involvement and being tightly connected into the fabric of church life has remained a priority for Jeff and I as we grow our family.  But church as an expat looks and feels so much different than traditional church in the states.  (Now, I’m talking about English speaking church as an expat in your host country, not the indigenous church of your host country). 

During my time in China, church was our 11 member team, meeting together every Sunday night to sing, pray, and listen to a sermon.  I think a few times we even took communion together.  It was challenging at first, but that micro church became so deep as we really walked along side each other and did ministry together and worshipped together.

Church in Laos looked like a group of about 70-100 English speaking expats from all over the world meeting together on Sunday nights to sing, pray, and hear a sermon.  There was a rotation for worship leaders and preachers.  Many of us had different theologies and came from different denominational backgrounds and traditions, but we were all united in our love for Christ and our love for the country of Laos. 

Now, here we are in Indonesia, with an expat church that is more of a traditional church than any I’ve been part of overseas before.  It’s really a wonderful blessing to be able to worship in our heart language with other believers from Indonesia, as well as other expats.  The congregation we are a part of here is around 200 people, probably half Indonesian, a quarter ITC students, and a quarter expats.  We have in common the English language, and again, a love for Christ.

But church here, again, comes with challenges.  There isn’t a pastor, and this is fairly common of expat churches, especially in less developed places.  So we’re left with that vaguely disorienting and unsteadying feeling of wondering what’s going to happen to us, wondering who’s leading us, and wondering where we’re going.  When you go to an expat church, you usually feel the lack of a shepherd.

An expat church isn’t an easy one to pastor or even an easy one to commit yourself to.  Everyone comes from so many cultural backgrounds, even different languages, and we’re all trying to come together because we are the body of Christ.  But can I say that it isn’t always pretty, and that these differences mean that it may take a lot more work.  To be the body of Christ to my Indonesian brothers and sisters at my church, I need to know them, I need to understand their culture, I need to have time with them.  And that is the hard part, as it seems like so many people at my expat church walk in the door for worship (maybe 5-10 minutes late) and then hurry out when the service is finished.  I struggle with comparing my current church with the church we just came from in the states, which was warm, supportive, while at the same time challenging.  Everyone bought into the “we are the community and the body of Christ for each other” and everyone lived it out.  That was the church culture.  It isn’t the culture here YET.

Truly being a part of an expat church takes commitment.  It takes commitment because to make it church, you have to do the work.  There aren’t necessarily programs in place or people who are going to notice if you’re not there.  You have to be the one to notice, you have to be the one to draw others in, you have to make the commitment and start the “program” or activity. It takes energy, and passion, and you have to really be convinced that it is worth it, because Christ loved the church and gave himself up for the church and it is the church that shows Christ’s love to the world.  If we aren’t doing it right within our walls, how can we do it outside of our walls?

Sometimes, being a part of an expat church means that you find your church elsewhere.  And by your church I mean your community of believers that encourages you, challenges you, supports you, is Christ’s hands and feet to you, is your family because you are all FAR away from family.  I am a part of a women’s Bible study of neighbors I meet with once a week—other expat moms living out this mom ministry thing with me, learning how to cross cultures and do it with grace and with 2, 3, or 4 kids in tow.  And it’s a wonderful, beautiful blessing, to meet with these other moms from Australia, Canada, and the States.  We pray for each other, share advice, lend groceries, watch kids, give rides, exercise together, go to the playground together.  I would not survive being a stay at home mom without these other ladies.  God has been good to provide these sisters to be church so that I can survive and commit to and be a part of my expat church.

Becoming members of our expat church.

To close, I want to say that the day we became members of our expat church was bittersweet.  It was bitter because I still feel that my church in the states is my home church.  There was a part of me that didn’t want to transfer my membership.  But it was sweet as I looked at the other 6 or 7 people standing up with Jeff and I taking our membership vows.  They were Indonesian, Nepali, and Filipino.  It was a beautiful reminder of how the body of Christ spans countries, languages, peoples and nations, and how we will all be gathered around the throne one day.

For better or for worse, we are committed to it, because Christ died for it—whatever that church looks like wherever he calls us.  If it’s traditional or not, in English or not, easy or not.  Here we are and here we go!

Token picture of the kids, displaying their personalities.  They are ready to go in a little bike cart. 

A smile to send you off.