The Countdown to our birthday is on!
9
Celebrating Intercultural Immersion Education
Our mission reads, In partnership with parents, CBA exists to inspire world changers through Christ-centered, intercultural, language immersion education.
Every word has been intentionally crafted, trying to succinctly express our DNA. This week we celebrate one key word in our mission: intercultural. With a diverse population, we could have written “multicultural” into our mission statement, which would indicate our desire to be surrounded by different cultures. However, the word “intercultural” more deeply connotes an active engagement between cultures. We’ve been purposeful in creating an atmosphere where it’s normal to truly love each others’ cultures.
The first 7 years of our lives are the most formative. But this goes beyond linguistics. It includes our convictions, personalities, and preferences. If in these early years the only people we see from day to day at home, at church, and in our classrooms have our same skin color, our “home” language, and our same socioeconomic level, our brains will have formed that this is normal. Then when we inevitably step outside of normal, it’s uncomfortable. We deeply desire for our school to look more like heaven and less like our neighborhoods where our diversities interact- learning, appreciating, admiring and ultimately loving one another as image bearers of an infinite God.
So how do we give our kids the confidence to bridge cultures? We immerse them in diversity so they find normalcy here. Because culture is like an iceberg. The 10% you see does not begin to describe what is beneath the surface. It is through doing life together that we begin to learn and love each others’ cultures. And as our students do this each day, they will be better equipped to radically love others and change their worlds. While we have not completely arrived, we press on to achieve this missional goal.
Here’s to 10 years of intercultural learning!
