STUDENT REQUIREMENTS

Cross-Cultural Requirement

Every student in a 2 or 4 year program at Eternity Bible College is required to participate in a cross-cultural ministry experience before they officially receive their degree or certificate. The cross-cultural ministry requirement may be fulfilled either domestically or internationally but must be in the context of a culture that is different from that with which the student is generally accustomed.

Requirements for Cross-Cultural Opportunities

  • Must be a cross-cultural experience where you intentionally spend time and interact with others outside of your culture. This cannot simply be a vacation in another country/culture.
  • If traveling, you must spend at least 7 days with your cultural group. If participating in a cross-cultural experience locally, you’re expecting to invest at least 30 hours with your community.
  • Must occur while you are a registered student at Eternity, and during vacation time (Winter, Summer, Spring Break).
  • Trips will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Submit Proposal

After your Trip

To recieve credit for your cross-cultural experience, you’ll need to submit a brief (1-2 page) reflection paper to the Dean of Students. Since this is an informal paper, there’s no need to cite sources. Your reflection must include the following:

  • Details: Briefly provide the who, what, where, and when of your trip or experience.
  • Cultural Observations: Make 3 observations about the cultural group you spent time with. Utilize concepts learned in courses like Foundations, Worldview and Culture, and/or Worldview and Apologetics. Again, this doesnt need to be anything formal or footnoted, just demonstrate some of the tools of cultural exegesis you’ve learned in your time at Eternity.

Email the paper to ckottre@eternity.edu to recieve credit.

Goals

For the student to gain firsthand cross-cultural experience, and to help flesh out concepts and ideas learned at Eternity (cultural acquisition, contextualized ministry, worldview considerations, etc.).

In addition to including mission trips and other organized ministry activities, this requirement may be fulfilled through a wide variety of cross-cultural experiences and trips. At the same time, students must go beyond visiting resorts and other tourist destinations where there is little interaction with the local population. Trips/experiences will be approved on a case by case basis.  In order for an experience to be approved, students must:

  • Find opportunities to engage and appreciate the history of a given culture (visit museums, houses of worship, cultural centers, etc).
  • Interact relationally with members of the culture through one-on-one discussions, shared meals, interviews, etc. 
  • Experience aspects of daily life in the culture including transportation, meals, the marketplace, etc. 
  • When possible, students are encouraged to experience a worship service geared towards the culture they’re visiting.