Going as an American

Going as an American

We have some problems that are built in to our being in a foreign country as an American. It is interesting that in most countries the people would love to come and live in America, but it is also true that in a great many of them Americans are not well liked. It is hard to separate the two when you are an American living in a country where many of the people do not like Americans.

One day in our church in South Africa, one of my friends said to me that the American companies who had participated in the sanctions against South Africa during the Apartheid period should just forget about doing business with South Africa at that time. He said that the German car companies and others had not forsaken them during that period so they would rather buy Volkswagen and Mercedes than Fords and Cadillacs. I don’t think he hated Americans, but I do think he had some feelings about the people who would enact and enforce sanctions against the businesses in his country. He probably would have a hard time sorting out his feelings.

There are other countries where the missionaries had come in and accepted property from the government in order to build a compound in which to live. During the years that the people were mistreated by the government, many of these missionaries sat silently by as the misuse continued. When freedom came to the people of those countries, it was hard for the missionaries now to disengage the perception that they were part of the problem that had existed for so long.

It is not unusual for some missionaries to go around and expect special favors from the businesses because the missionaries are sacrificing to be there and should receive these benefits. It has always seemed to me that it is wrong to go around expecting special treatment because we serve God in any capacity. Many years ago I arranged for a shipment of a generator to the Philippines. The company had supplied it at half price. When the machine did not work right, the company said that it could not afford to stand behind it when they had given such a special price. We had not asked for a special price. They had offered it. I told their representative that we would have been better off to receive a normal price with the backing of the company than a special price with no backing. What do you do with a brand new generator that has been built with a mismatched unit and motor, and it is sitting in the Philippines. Fortunately the motor company said that they would fix it with the appropriate motor, but we had to pay shipping back to the States and then find a place to use it because the Philippine missionaries did not want the same unit back. The unit wound up in Brazil and had a long and useful life there. We should be fair with vendors and they should be fair with us.

There is an appropriate Christian way to act in relation to service people. That should be true in the home, in the marketplace, and in any other public contacts. We need to be careful that we do right because doing wrong negates our testimony and our message and compromises what we are. There is no way that we can afford to be the “ugly American” home or abroad.

There is no excuse for doing business in an unchristian manner just because that is the way it is done in our country of choice. It is possible that we may have to pay money we don’t want to pay because it is demanded, but that is extortion. It is wrong to offer money to any person or company that is illegal because that is a bribe. Our testimony is at stake in the customs’ houses, the market place, and in the home. There is a right way to treat people and it may be that it will cost us more money than we think necessary, but maintaining our testimony is worth it.

We can lost our testimony by our attitude as well. We can be haughty, arrogant, and plain not nice when we are dealing with people. There is no excuse for this. We cannot say that this just the way we are. We must understand that rather than being the way we are, we need to be the way that God makes us when He is in control. We should pay our bills on time. We should pay the appropriate amount. We should not question the integrity of those with whom we have to do business.

We need to be careful that we do not put down the people with whom we are in contact. When we do that we are not only offending that person, but we are building an impression for that person to pass along. From that time on, the offended person will describe all Americans as being that way. You are not just losing your testimony, but you are building a reputation for your country as well as for all believers.

You may feel being condemned in this way is not fair. That may be true, but that is the way it is. We should not risk losing the reputation of a people because we don’t think it is fair. The only thing we can do is to be fair and kind.

It is a complex thing to live in another culture. We must be careful not to oversimplify the way a people respond to us, and, at the same time be careful to do our very best to bear a great testimony in every contact we have with the people God has sent us to reach for Him.