Outreach Canada Blog

I love airports.

The hustle and bustle. People of every nationality streaming past me. The endless possibilities of flights to every corner of the world.

As an adult now, I can admit that in trying to get my family from one country to another, an airport can be a stressful place; endless lines, tight timelines, lost luggage, too much opportunity for things to go wrong.

But, as a Third-Culture Kid (TCK), and specifically a Missionary Kid (MK), the airport glitters like a yellow-brick road into the unknown, and it excites me, especially that hustle and bustle, that busyness of international travel.

Airports are synonymous with the word “busy”. This word, busy, seems also to be the first word used by people to describe life where I now live, Southwestern Ontario. If you have a casual conversation with just about anyone older than 20, they describe life as busy. Life is busy ... but why? I can’t speak about your particular situation, but I can tell you about my situation: there are just so many things to do. Good things. Important things. 

How do you figure out what God is specifically calling you to do when there are so many ‘good’ things that need someone to do them?

Ethan, an adult Missionary Kid, shares 6 gospel truths for Missionary Kids & Third Culture Kids ...

"While there are many positive things about growing up as Missionary Kids, we face unique challenges and personal needs that sometime seem impossible to meet. Yet there is someone who promises to be able to meet those needs in a meaningful way, Jesus. The good news of Jesus is He can meet every need of our heart arising from growing up cross-culturally."

Watermelon, Handprints and Fireworks ... What do they all have in common? They are all elements of favourite Christmas memories and traditions from our MORE staff, from around the world! 

The story of a Missionary Kid who came to know Jesus at a ReBoot Retreat. 

As the years pass living in my home country of Canada, I have sensed a growing disconnection from my TCK (Third Culture Kid) background. My second, third, and fourth homes across the globe are more distant than they’ve ever been. Maintaining relationships from each of these places only gets harder.

And while I am deepening both my local relationships and my familiarity with Canada, I don’t feel I fully belong here, and probably never will.

There is a quiet but constant reminder that I am different; a gentle tug to be somewhere else.

We like Top Ten lists, don’t we? Bite-sized bits of information we can easily process and implement if we choose. Fashion trends. Vacation spots. I figure if it’s good enough for God’s Commandments, it’s good enough for MK mindsets.

I’ve written extensively in the past three years about attitudes and choices that can help MKs and TCKs to avoid some of the pitfalls inherent to being multi-cultural. Here are, in my estimation, the top ten most valuable of them.