What do you pack when you go on a short term trip?

Do you take your own food?

What medicines do you take?

Are you a light packer or do you take as many pieces of luggage as you are allowed?

Do you pack a new outfit for each day?

Would love to hear from you. I know I try to make sure I back three attitudes when I travel abroad.

1. Humility

2. A smile

3. Being a learner!

Be sure to follow along on my blog for trip updates and follow @theupstreamc and @larrymccrary on twitter. We will also be posting on www.theupstreamcollective.org

At Upstream we are often asked by churches to help them think through how they can be more globally involved. With a large number of churches moving into urban centers, a common concern we hear is that there are glaring needs in their community. They want to know how they can invest even more time, money and energy into something across the globe when there are so many problems at their door step. While we hope all churches are living on mission right where they are, we also believe that a church who sees it’s self as a missionary will always be engaged both locally and globally. Caleb Crider, one of the co-founders of Upstream has some good thoughts on this subject. I asked him to speak into this topic as we are all preparing for our Jet Sets to Tokyo and Europe this month and next. Our jet sets are a time where we help church leaders see just how important it is that their local church is engaged globally:

Being a church in the center of the city has nothing to do with the church’s responsibility to be on mission across cultures. Acts 1:8 (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Ends of the Earth) is not a chronological progression- churches need to be local, regional, national, and international at the same time.

The church that buries itself in the local context is like the consumer who buys “local” without regard to where the product comes from or how it’s made. Sure, you’re not mindlessly buying stuff from those mega-stores, but you’re still not taking the global perspective required to be a responsible consumer. We have a responsibility that extends beyond our own city. We live in an interconnected world and we have been commanded to be salt and light to the world and make disciples across cultures. Real Christians are global Christians.

The reality is that the best way to learn to think and act like a missionary in the city is to do it in a foreign context. That’s the reason we do our Jet Set Vision Trips- when you’re clearly an outsider, you approach mission, evangelism, discipleship, and church very differently than someone who sees himself as an insider. (We hope you will follow along on my twitter @larrymccrary or Upstream’s website at www.theupstreamcollective.org and like our Upstream Collective page.)

And that’s the key: as Christ-followers, we are necessarily outsiders. That’s why the Bible says so much about our citizenship being in another Kingdom. That’s why Paul and Peter both admonish the church “as strangers and pilgrims…” When you start as an outsider, you understand the need to adjust your language, appearances, and preferences for the sake of incarnating the gospel.

As long as missions is only one thing that a church does (as opposed to everything that a church does), it really doesn’t matter that you meet in the center of the city. The real value of being a city-centered church, is that the opportunities for international mission may be in your neighborhood. It could be that the ends-of-the-earth connection your church needs is right next door. This is one of the strategic advantages of being a church in the city.

One day for lunch we ate at a Moroccan restaurant. Another day we at a Thai place.  We had Spanish tapas one evening. We ate at a Somali restaurant for lunch on Saturday. One group ate at a Chinese restaurant for lunch.  We even found a Pakistan restaurant.

Great food. Great experiences. Great conversations.

I was amazed at how many different types of restaurants were in this relatively small area. Many of these very people groups live in and around this part of Dallas. I have been thinking about the implications of Acts 1:8. Is it “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth” all at the same time?

The world has moved next door!

How do we respond?

If you have ever lived overseas and you are trying to learn a new language then you know what I mean.

going to the bank

going to the doctor

going to government office building

not being able to read the labels at the store

when the phone rings and it is a local call

All of these can be stressors in a foreign setting.

They can create anxiety in the life of the foreigner.

I also have much more compassion with the person who is from another country that now lives in the states.  Have you ever offered your help to them in the store or in another situation?  This type of love for our neighbor can go a long way in gospel presence.

I bought Metaxs’ biography of Bonhoeffer before I left. I have enjoyed getting a good start on the 608 page book. It definitely put extra pounds on my baggage limits and I bought the paperback edition. Unfortunately it may take until Christmas to finish it.

He writes this about a time he visited the Sacre Coeur Church in Paris. He attended a mass there and most of the people attending were prostitutes.

“It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.”

Webster defines “vain” as having or showing undue or excessive pride in one’s appearance or achievements : conceited.

Do you think that one’s vanity affects our prayer life?

I am thinking much.

HOUSES, CARS, CLOSETS, SIZE OF SERVINGS AT RESTAURANTS, ETC..

I must admit in some cases it does not always take a long time to readjust.

In fact some of these make it quite easy. Here are a few.

The size of parking spaces seem so much larger here. I like the extra room to park.

It is much easier to clean the kitchen with such a large dishwasher. Easy to hide the dirty dishes. Out of sight out of mind.

The large refrigerators  and cupboards allow you to buy a week’s worth of groceries and store them.

It is much easier to do all of the clothes in one load with the large washing machines. At least that is what my wife tells me. grin.

Not to mention taking a nap on a large couch. I personally like that.

Beds in hotel rooms are larger so that makes travel a little more comfortable. As much as I travel that is a nice change.

Granted I have not found the extra large cup of Hot Chocolate that I found near Brussels but I will continue to search.

more re-entry issues later.

Why do I get overwhelmed when I go to Krogers or Ingles or Target?

Choices abound everywhere in the land of plenty.

How many different types of yogurt does one need?

Is it necessary to have full row of  frozen Pizzas to choose from?

Soft Drinks, bread, cereal, tennis shoes, etc..

The list can go on and on and on.

Is it good for us to have this many choices?

It is an adjustment for me when I return to the states to get use to so many choices. Sometimes I really like it but sometimes it is overwhelming. So if you see me out shopping somewhere and I am in a daze. I am not being rude. I am just re-entering.

It gave us nourishment and it also gave me a thought about living cross-culturally. We were amidst a pretty tough stretch of life overseas. In some ways tougher than ever before and we have lived overseas for quite a few years now.

Webster says  this about the PRESSURE COOKER

I am glad they added number two with this definition and this was precisely my point. I went to another trusted source at www.wikipedia.com and found that ” Pressure cooking is a method of cooking in a sealed vessel that does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. Because the boiling of water increases as the pressure increases, the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling”.

What does this have to do with life overseas? I believe that  living in another culture can sometimes be similar to a pressure cooker. You throw in a lot of circumstantial ingredients into the pot of  living in a cross cultural setting and the result can be a lot of pressure and stress for a single or with a family.

This is why overseas workers of all types: expat business people, military personnel and vocational missionaries need the prayer, support and accountability from their churches back home.

It is also why it is so important to have genuine community where they live.

Regardless of where you live having support does prevent tough times coming upon you. However, it is important to have a good support base both locally and back in your home country or city that will help see you through these times.

I arrived yesterday at about 2:30 pm after about a one hour wait in line at passport control. It was already getting dark. Grey clouds. A little snowy. I have only met one person from the Ukraine that speaks English. Even the words on the signs are hard to read. The words are in Cyrillic. I was able to guess at some of the letters since they reminded me of Greek.

I had dinner with some workers who live here and then I was dropped off at the hotel. Again, no one  that I tried talking to spoke English.

• I do not speak Russian
• I have never been to the city
• Signs are all in Ukrainian and I do not recognize the letters.
• Not many English speakers
• Dark when I arrived
• In a hotel not knowing anyone

What do you do?

Are there some “first things” you do when you arrive to a new place?

It hit me this morning again. I hate that I must be reminded of this so much.
Being here reminded me of the total dependence upon the Lord that we must have daily on the field.

More on this city and some things I am learning later but this post is about something that should be an automatic for me. We need to be dependent on the Lord. There is something about  going to a foreign place and not knowing how to do anything that makes you stick pretty close to the Lord. It does not have to be this way. I need to daily depend on the Lord regardless of where I land. Sure there are some “first things” that I need to do when I arrive in a new place that can help me learn the city and culture but the realization is that I need to depend upon the Lord.

What do you do when you land in a new place?

Because my wife is a teacher at Black Forest Academy and of course my son a student they do not always get to participate in my ministry. It was great having them along for the weekend. We worked hard and had some fun.

My top five treats in London

1. Krispy Kreme Donuts – I only had them twice but they were good.
2. Watching my son go crazy on Denmark Street where we visited shop after shop of music stores. He is a guitarist.
3. We saw the musical “Wicked”. It was indeed wicked (which use to mean good)
4. The lighting of the Christmas tree on Thursday night. Norway gives London a tree each year. It is always great to be in a square with atleast 500,000 people.
5. Being able to reconnect with several friends who live in London and spend some time with them.

I also want to list another top five of sorts.

1. Had lunch with a person who is working in London and part of our Skybridge Community . It is so encouraging to see people living out their lives incarnationally in the marketplace here in Europe.

2. Talked with a person who is an artist and is doing a spectacular job connecting with other artists in London and being the salt and light in that community.

3. Visited the wonderful folks at Westminster Chapel where we will be next May for a few of our days there. Ed Stetzer will be preaching there on May 23rd.  The Upstream Collective and Acts 29 Western Europe will be hosting a one day conference there called Dwell on May 22nd.  More on that later.

4. Spent time with an imb worker is who hoping to find creative partnerships with North American churches to engage the burroughs of London. What is really cool is how this guy is a catalyst for connecting these churches with existing ministries and churches and the collabroration that is going on is great.

5. The continual amazement at how the world really is in London. There are so many opportunities there to share the Gospel with many of the people groups in the world. I love working in Europe. I think it is one of the most strategic places in the world to be involved in missions. I have learned so much since 2001 about ministry here. I have much more to learn. Not to make an huge advertisement but Caleb Crider and I are really pumped about being with Alan Hirsch at the churchplanters.com conference where we will be doing a pre- conference workshop entitled “Back to the Future: Lessons from Europe” and how that can apply to church planting in the states today.  If you can come to that please sign up on their site.