The Costs of Code Switching
To be in Cross racial/Cross Cultural ministry is to navigate many intersecting spaces and experiences, all while seeking to serve and journey with others across difference.
A rhythm that is often discussed amongst CRCC clergy as vital to serving across difference is the ability to code switch. The Harvard Business Review offers a holistic definition of code switching, stating that “code switching involves adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression in ways that will optimize the comfort of others in exchange for fair treatment, quality service, and employment opportunities.”i
In other words, for CRCC clergy, code switching in ministry is both a posture of hospitality and a service to those we are called to walk alongside, and a rhythm of survival, offering the clergy person and their families the ability to adapt to their surroundings to increase feelings of safety. This dance, to offer ourselves and our families as people who adapt to our surroundings in deeply layered ways, while also remaining authentic to ourselves and our own communities, comes at a great cost to the clergyperson and their families. Sustainable code switching, adapting to our context sustainably, is a marathon and not a sprint.
Consider this when code switching has you feeling fatigued in your context:
Slow Down. Code switching can come at a large emotional and spiritual cost, oftentimes unconsciously. Take a moment to relax your shoulders and breathe. How connected are you to your surroundings? To yourself? Slowing down allows us space to identify emotional anchor points keeping us more in our bodies and emotional, spiritual, and physical alignment.
Reach Out. Code switching can become overly burdensome when it becomes the main psychological and emotional rhythm by which we engage others. Connect with friends and colleagues who you believe can truly see you and hold all of who you are.
Prioritize Self Care. Self-care when serving across difference requires intentionality and care. Explore what self-care looks like for you as an individual in this season. What rhythms would allow you to show up more fully in this season of ministry? Organizationally, examine with your leadership team what sustainability may look like for you in your context, and what steps can be taken from a policy perspective to ensure that you are able to engage in ministry as holistically as possible.
The work of cross racial and cross-cultural ministry invites us to wear many hats. Navigating the emotional and spiritual costs of how we show up in our ministerial context allows us to serve across difference in meaningful and holistic ways.
For more resources on how to navigate code switching sustainably and with authenticity: