Way of Life Village » culture

Understanding how people make friends

Phil — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:00:13 +0000

In the city not everyone’s relational network is defined by proximity. Many people don’t know or speak to their next door neighbors. They make friendships through common interests, and their friends may reside in multiple neighborhoods all across the city. For example, our Muslim friends relate mostly to other Muslim families but their friends don’t all live in Hollywood. Another example: On our block live many Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Mexicans. Just because three groups speak Spanish and live next door to each other does not mean they know each other or want to (yet). Salvadorans, Mexicans, and Guatemalans are distinct groups with different histories, customs, cultures, foods. Even their Spanish language is not the same. They don’t always understand each other or get along.

What does this mean? On one hand, it means we have an opportunity to witness Christ bringing groups together! On the other hand, it also means that we have an opportunity to see multiple churches started from the same neighborhood. Understanding how and where people make friends is key.

We could lead every family in an 8-unit apartment building to Christ, and they could start 8 different churches because they each maintain their own webs of relationships that are distinct and do not intersect much, if at all, with the others. Each web is a future church. We don’t have to reach everyone in those webs. We just need to find that one person in each web who will quickly become a disciple-maker and train him or her to share the Word of God with those in his or her own web. They will share in their own cultures better than we ever will.

…But please, please also pray that we will see our neighbors of differing cultures coming together in unity under Christ! This is a desire of our hearts.

Navigating cultures is hard

Phil — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:00:13 +0000

We are learning to cross several cultures in a single day. This is very challenging!

In the morning I greet my Chinese-born neighbor in Spanish, the only common language between us. In the afternoon I must remember to eat lunch with only my right hand in the home of my Muslim neighbor. Countries represented in our section of LA include immigrants and refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Armenia, Russia, Samoa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Laos, China, Korea, and more. Some neighbors were born here, many were not. Under one roof may be 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants. Each group has their own culture and history, or their own version of it. Many residents maintain relationships in their home countries and visit there from time to time. To reach people in LA is to potentially gain access to unreached pockets around the world.

Navigating cultures is hard but it’s also fun! You get to try new foods, experience new music and clothing, learn how other people value time and money, as well as discover similarities you have with peoples seemingly so different from you. My mind often is spinning, but I love it!

There’s no one-size fits all approach to sharing the Word of God cross culturally in LA. When building relationships and sharing hope, the starting points for each group (indeed each person) is different. But the goal is always the same: to share the love, message and simple way of Jesus Christ with all.

Muslim friendship

Phil — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:27:51 +0000

Katie and her sons and Meri and I and our sons are getting ready to head out the door to eat lunch in the home of a Muslim family we’ve been getting to know. (more…)

Thanksgiving experiences

Phil — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:11:17 +0000

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for what God is doing in people’s hearts in East Hollywood. Here is a review of my encounters with God’s missing ones over the long weekend in East Hollywood… (more…)

Foreign missions here

Phil — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:00:13 +0000

The more we live out Jesus’ mission here, the more we find ourselves thinking and behaving like foreign missionaries on U.S. soil. (more…)

Dia de los Muertos

Phil — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:56:59 +0000

On Saturday we went with Hector and Roxy and all our kids to Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a surprisingly joyful, family-oriented celebration. In Los Angeles this primarily Mexican cultural event takes place annually in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery! This event comes highly recommended by many Mexican families in the area, and this year we decided to attend since Hector and Roxy so badly wanted to take us. Curious, we checked it out. (more…)

Redefining small groups - part 2

Meredith — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 13:00:25 +0000

Here is the second of a mini-series on growing people through small groups in East Hollywood. (To read part one click here.) These reflections hopefully provide you a window into what it is like to join God in “growing faith where life happens” among the different cultures of LA’s working poor immigrants. (more…)

Redefining small groups - part 1

Meredith — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:00:21 +0000

Here is the first part of a mini-series on growing people through small groups in East Hollywood. These reflections hopefully will give you a good glimpse into what it’s like as we join God in “growing faith where life happens” among the different cultures of LA’s working poor immigrants. (more…)

East Hollywood demographics

Phil — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:00:43 +0000

For those who would like to become more acquainted with East Hollywood, here is an excerpt from http://www.easthollywood.net, published by our friends with the newly certified East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. Please visit their website for photos and a brief history of this extremely diverse, dynamic and unique neighborhood of LA!

(When looking at the map, we live in the subcommunity designated as Virgil Village.)

—-

Where in the world is East Hollywood?

With a population of 51,000 residents, East Hollywood is a 1.8 square-mile community in the city of Los Angeles surrounded by central Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Koreatown. One of the most culturally diverse communities — if not the most culturally diverse community — in Los Angeles, it is home to the city’s main Armenian (Little Armenia district), Thai (Thai Town district) and El Salvadoran communities. It is also home to many Mexican, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern residents and businesses.

Because of the cultural diversity, East Hollywood offers a veritable food paradise comprising of countless ethnic restaurants, bakeries and other eateries, including the original Zankou Chicken, the original Cha Cha Cha, the Zagat-acclaimed Marouch, Sanamluang Cafe, Thailand Plaza and Paru’s Indian Vegetarian, just to name but a few.

East Hollywood’s institutions include three major medical centers (the “Bed Pan Alley” trifecta of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center), Los Angeles City College, five Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools (Ramona, Lockwood, Lexington, Dayton Heights and Kingsley), Barnsdall Park, Madison West Park and numerous small businesses.

This community also comprises of a youthful community where 64% of its residents are under the age of 40, as well as a heavy renter population of 88%.

It is bordered by Hollywood and Sunset boulevards to the north, Hoover St to the east, the 101 Freeway to the south and Western Ave to the west.

Area Map

Demographics

Population
Total Population	50,566
Latino	55%
White (includes Armenian)	22%
Asian	15%
Other	5%
African American	3%

Gender
Male	50%
Female	50%

Households
Total Households	16,571
Renter-Occupied	88%
Owner-Occupied	8%
Other	4%

Age
17 Years & Under	26%
18-29 Years	20%
30-39 Years	18%
40-49 Years	14%
50-64 Years	12%
65 Years & Over	10%

Families shaping teachers

Phil — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:00:45 +0000

On Tuesday evening Meri and I had the privilege of hosting in our apartment a small forum on education. A Pepperdine University Education professor and her eleven college students (who are taking her course on culture and language study as preparation for becoming grade school teachers) met in our home and ate Thai food with ten of my neighbors who attend school or have kids in school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The teachers-in-training humbly asked these parents and students of LAUSD to educate them on what life is really like living in the city of Los Angeles and going to schools in LAUSD. They asked the families to be brutally honest about their experiences, to share what they want for their kids and grandkids, and what they are looking for in a good teacher. One of my neighbors did the translating, as there were non-English speakers in the group. One of the college students grew up in East Hollywood and another went to grade school in South Central LA, but for most of them this was a cross-cultural experience! It was so fun to watch different worlds merge in a spirit of mutual respect.

What a wonderful idea this professor had to bring these eleven students into the hood to sit at the feet of kids, parents and grandparents! And this is not all. This professor is calling Tuesday’s experience the First Encounter for her college students this semester. Second Encounter will be with a church children’s program, and Third Encounter will be an overnight stay with a family and a school visit with their elementary school child.

I wonder what would schools look like in East Hollywood/Los Angeles (and in our nation’s other big cities) if more parents and students actually got to help shape the training and idealogies of their community’s future teachers? To this professor I say, “Way to go!”