Third Culture Faithful

Mario Manuel Catalino Melendez is Filipino and Cajun French and grew up around the deaf community. He has served as a minority ministry strategist, Hispanic youth intern, and bible study writer for a refugee church, as well as lecturing on the topic of multi-ethnic ministry. He is a member of the Hispanic Theological Educators section of the Evangelical Bible Society and the guidance committee for the Deaf Bible Society, which seeks to increase deaf minister's access to formal theological education.

Descriptive Outline

Introduction
The introduction will highlight the noted division of the church in 1960 and the continued division in 2019. Second, I will introduce the statistics of immigration, interracial marriage, and trans-racial adoption. Third, I will propose reaching these Third-Culture Kid’s as a “Timothy” for the sake of growing and healing the church. To support the data, I will integrate stories of conversations between ministers of varying ethnicities, couples with mixed children, and TCK ministers. I will give my personal life story and the stories of many other third culture people, to reveal the ministerial struggles and the ministerial potential of this growing segment of the population.

The Psychology of Third Culture Syndrome
In the 1950’s John and Ruth Useem, after studying the children of expat Americans, proposed the term “Third culture Kid and Third Culture Syndrome.” In this chapter I will quickly survey the history of third culture syndrome, and the major markers. These markers not only highlight who has the psychological third culture syndrome, but also introduce the benefits and challenges of living with third culture syndrome.

Your Third Culture Parishioner
Moving from the psychological study, consideration will be given to common home life, language, and thinking attributes of the TCK. The aim of this chapter is to give stories and testimonies of how preconceived notions can quite often be wrong. Furthermore, these stories will help the reader to grow empathy for those stuck in the third culture.

Your Ministry for the Third Culture Kid
In this chapter Paul’s ministry to Timothy (a half Jewish & half Greek disciple) will provide application for the modern church. The aim of this chapter is to utilize social-scientific criticism as a means of inspecting Paul’s ministry to Timothy, a half Jewish & Greek disciple, as an application for modern ministry to TCK’s.[1] First, an inspection into Paul’s willingness to take on a disciple of mixed background should inspire monoethnic ministers to seek out such disciples (Acts 16:1–5). Second, Paul’s advocation of Timothy to the churches should inspire ministers to advocate for the third cultured who often do not fully fit into the norm of many churches or organizations (1 Cor 4:16–17, Phil 2:19–24). Likewise, Paul’s advocation to Timothy to be more “Jewish,” should encourage ministers to help the TKC to be proud of their cultures and to serve those they represent (Acts 16:3).

Making the Most of the Third Culture Kid
The final chapter is a reflection upon Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 9:22 where he declared that he “became all things to all men, so as to reach some.” As I matured in the faith and in biblical studies, I realized that God made TCK’s, like me, the embodiment of Paul’s statement. This chapter is a call for ministries to understand and seek out third culture kids to serve as ministers. This also is a call for third culture ministers to be proud of their cultures and to serve those they represent.

Points of Application
The conclusion reflects upon the previous stories and data for the purpose of providing a quick survey of application points. Furthermore, this section should aid those who return to the text for quick reflection.


[1] Stanley E. Porter, ed., Dictionary of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation (New York: Routledge, 2007), 337–40.