5 Ways that International Travel Can Help you Develop

When you read the Bible, you can’t miss just how many characters travel across regional and cultural borders. Abraham is the founding example, and the list just grows from there: Jacob travels to Haran then Egypt; Joseph travels to Egypt; Moses travels to Midian then the Wilderness; The community of Israel leave Egypt and enter into the land of the Canaanites. The list would just continue from there into the New Testament with people like Paul and Timothy. 

Why is cross-cultural travel such an important part of the stories and development of so many biblical characters? There seems to be something about cross-cultural travel that provides essential experiences needed for our development as God’s workman. Obviously not just any cross-cultural travel will do, laying around in an all-expenses-paid resort will probably be a great time but won’t lead to the kind of exemplary development we find in biblical characters. We are talking about cross-cultural travel that has a purpose, like the travel that every student at the Institute will experience as students. 

Here are five ways that cross-cultural travel can develop our faith and character: 

1. Cross-cultural travel helps us reflect on our own culture.

When I was in Africa, I once commented to an African man how hot it was outside. We were both working in the sun. “Yes, we need some hot tea,” he replied. I looked at him funny and wondered aloud how a hot day called for a hot beverage. He explained that for him it was normal and that the hot beverage cools you down. 

It was a small moment, but it opened my eyes to how something that seemed like common sense could turn out to be not common at all. My preference for a cool beverage was a cultural preference. As it turns out there was a logic to his preference: In dry heat, hot beverages cool you down faster than cold beverages through the increased production of sweat.

This is a somewhat trivial example, but it shows how cross-cultural travel can help us reflect upon and understand our own cultural lens. When we are unable to reflect upon our own culture, we can believe that it is definitive, the way of seeing the world. This makes it harder for God to speak to us because we can only hear him through the filter of our ingrained cultural ideas. 

2. Cross-cultural travel helps us understand God’s heart for all people. 

There is something special about hearing God’s love expressed in another language. Most of us know that God loves all people, but it’s hard to feel how momentous that statement is without experiencing it for ourselves. When we internalize that truth, it changes how we think about the world and what decisions we make. 

Jonah is a character that had to learn this lesson by traveling outside the boundaries of his home country. Granted he tried his best to avoid the journey, but his travel to Nineveh made him confront the cross-cultural love and mercy of God. Whether he ever learn to internalize that truth is an open question.  

3. Travel helps us find our peace and security in God’s presence. 

We use the term “comfort food” for a reason. Our cultural practices provide us a sense of peace and security. There is nothing inherently wrong, of course, with enjoying a nostalgic dish, but if we are going to serve God, we have to be able to step outside our comfort zones. This requires that we are able to find our peace and security in God’s presence. 

Jacob is another traveler of the Bible. When he first left his homeland in Beersheba (Gen 28:10), Jacob had to learn how to find his security in God. During his first overnight stop, Jacob placed a rock near his head. Despite popular interpretations, Jacob probably placed the rock near him as a weapon instead of a pillow. He was afraid. During the night, God speaks to him and tells Jacob, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:15). Joseph and Daniel would be other extraordinary examples of people who learned this truth. It’s when we are removed from our normal sources of comfort that we have to learn to find our security in God’s presence. 

4. Travel helps develop our team dynamic 

Jesus sent his disciples in pairs; Paul traveled with other believers. Although some of the examples above were forced by circumstance to travel alone, the ideal is to travel with a team. Travel becomes an opportunity then to strengthen our ability to work with others. Within a small team, we learn about our own skills, as well as work with others whose gifting might be different. Some of my best relationships have been forged in the fire of cross-cultural ministry. 

One of Paul’s most significant relationships – Timothy – was a relationship that was developed while traveling. Paul met Timothy in Lystra, and they traveled together from there. Paul would call Timothy “my co-worker”  (Rom. 16:21). It seems their ministry and travel together helped them develop a team dynamic that would help spread the gospel. 

5. Travel develops your communication skills 

There is a reason that we dedicate  an entire class to “cross-cultural communication”: It’s difficult. In the first act of inspiration, the Holy Spirit facilitates cross-cultural communication. It’s not just a language barrier; it’s the cultural barrier. You have to use stories and illustrations that make sense to the culture you are speaking to. This requires that you know what you’re teaching well enough to be able to translate it into a different set of explanations. The experience and challenges of cross-cultural communication helps you develop an invaluable set of skills, from sensitivity to flexibility of thought, that helps you become a more capable person.