Cultural Diversity and Inclusiveness: HMC Student Deaconesses and Home Missioners and their Dormitory Life and Training
“We might appear as opposites, but we are not opposed. We might appear to be different, but we are not separate”. This remark by author and poet Brian Thompson aptly captures our lives as Harris Memorial College students. We come from different parts of the Philippines, grew up in various cultures, and are now striving to live together in a dormitory while studying. But is it really possible to live together amidst differences while carrying the culture that we grew up with? Most students are to be deaconesses and home missioners. They are lay people who have had professional training and have been moved by the Holy Spirit to dedicate their life to serving others in a way that reflects Christ under the direction of the church (Paragraph 1913. 2, United Methodist Church Book of Discipline). Future deaconesses and home missionaries are trained at Harris Memorial College in the Philippines.This essay is a reflection on the lived experiences of students from d