Developing Cross-Cultural Competency in Your Leadership

IT WAS FORT WORTH, TEXAS, and the city had just received a large number of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. I lived in the city at the time and I remember entering a room full of Cambodian children for the first time – none of them spoke English – tasked with teaching English and preparing them for school.

Getting to know these children and their families planted a lifelong love of working cross-culturally. It is my passion and privilege and I have been so very blessed through relationships built cross-culturally. Over time, friendship by friendship, I learned that understanding culture is not a barrier but a bridge to true and authentic relationships that can glorify God and shape us into the people God has created us to be. Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned because of those cross-cultural relationships.