CGM: Cross Cultural Minis
We all know that change is inevitable, but it seems like things change really quickly in Turkey.
Twenty years ago when my family and I were preparing to move to Turkey, we got rid of all of our beloved Birkenstock sandals because Turks didn’t wear Birks and we wanted to blend in. Then after being in Turkey for a year, shoe stores started selling Birkenstocks.
A few years later when we first moved to the Blacksea coast city of Eregli, we told a visiting group from our church not to wear shorts in public. It was August and really hot but they followed our instructions. Then one day when we took them on a walk on the waterfront we kept passing 50 year old men wearing shorts. The year before no one was wearing shorts.
A similar thing happened a few years later when we told two college girls who were visiting not to wear short shorts. That summer short shorts were popular in Turkey and it looked like we didn’t know what we were talking about.
When we first moved to Turkey, the language that people used was very secular. At that time, it was rare to hear people use the traditional muslim greeting, “selam alekum.” Within a few years things would change. At first nonreligious people would simply respond to the muslim greeting out of obligation. Eventually everyone was saying “selam alekum” and if you didn’t it felt like you were being offensive.
During the 20 years I have been focused on Turkey, the country went from a secular feel to religious feel and now back to secular in some ways. Tattoos and alcohol are forbidden according to Muslim tradition. And before the government imposed high taxes on alcohol there was not a large selection of drinks. Now there is a lot of variety of locally and imported beers, wines, and spirits. Additionally, tattoos were extremely rare in Turkey 20 years ago. During my last visit though, it seemed like everyone had visible tattoos in places such as on hands, arms, and neck. In a short period of time there was a change and a drastic change at that.
This tendency to change and to change drastically gives me hope when I think about the gospel impacting Turkish people. If Turks are willing to change their views so quickly on all of these other things, then why couldn’t they change their views of Jesus?
Pray with me that Turks would trust the Jesus of the Bible. Pray that Turks would embrace grace in place of legalism. Pray that God would cause change that leads to Life in Turkey.
