There’s a question I always struggle to answer: Where are you from?
The reason is simple: no single place feels like home. I was born in Kenya to Kenyan parents, but my childhood was anything but stationary. I spent my earliest years in Rwanda until the 1994 genocide forced my family to leave. From there I lived in Uganda, Kenya, and Eswatini, attending international schools; my teachers were primarily British and American. My classmates came from all over the world, including the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Ghana, Guatemala, Canada, and beyond.
At home I was Kenyan. My family spoke Swahili and Kisii, and we upheld Kenyan traditions. But outside I navigated an international bubble in which a mix of cultures shaped my accent, habits, and worldview despite always living in an African country. Neither space fully felt like my own. When I visited Kenya, my cousins teased me for my broken Swahili. Among my international peers and Western instructors, I always felt a slight dissonance, never fully rooted in any one culture.
I moved to America for college, married a White American, and now live in a small town with just two traffic lights in the American South, where most people don’t look like me. Yet despite standing out as a minority, I have learned to belong. Straddling different worlds has been the defining experience of my life.
The TCK identity
This is the classic third culture kid (TCK) experience. A TCK is someone raised in a culture different from their parents’ and who never fully assimilates into a single cultural identity. Instead, we live in the in-between, carrying pieces of multiple worlds yet never feeling as though we completely belong to any one of them.
Some key characteristics of TCKs:
- Chameleons: We learn to adapt quickly to new cultures, switching between social norms and expectations.
- Rootless yet rooted: We often feel a sense of disconnection from any one place, yet we carry deep ties to the diverse experiences that have shaped us.
- Global citizens: We develop a broad perspective, able to connect with people from vastly different backgrounds.
And while it can feel like a liability to lack a singular place of belonging, it also becomes an asset. It teaches resilience, empathy, and a unique ability to bridge divides.
Jesus was a friend to all, but He also offended all.
The parallel to the Seventh-day Adventist experience
In many ways, being a Seventh-day Adventist mirrors my experience as a TCK. This is no surprise, since Adventists, like TCKs, are uniquely global. We are one of the most ethnically diverse religious groups in the United States and have a presence in nearly every country in the world.[i] Just as TCKs navigate multiple cultural identities, Adventists navigate a faith that transcends borders, languages, and traditions.
Adventists share both beliefs and lifestyles with a variety of faith traditions, yet remain distinct in many ways. Like evangelicals, we celebrate a triune God, Christ’s sufficient atonement for our salvation, and a sola scriptura approach to faith. Like Muslims, we espouse modest living and avoid pork and alcohol. We know what it’s like to ask for the vegetarian menu at a restaurant, much like many Hindus. And we relate to atheists, who reject a cruel, punitive deity.
Just as TCKs never fully belong to one culture, Adventists often exist in an in-between space–even within Christianity itself. We are Christian but not quite mainstream. We hold the Sabbath sacred, embrace a unique end-time prophetic theology rooted in the sanctuary doctrine, and reject the idea of an eternally burning hell. Some of these beliefs stand in stark contrast, which can be challenging or even offensive to others.
And this is where we hope to reflect Jesus.
“Jesus was a friend to all, but He also offended all.”[ii]
Christ connected with the outcasts, the religious elite, and the common people alike. He embraced everyone, yet never fully conformed to any one group’s expectations, often disappointing them in the process. In the same way, our ability to relate widely can inadvertently lead to misunderstandings or rejection. But rather than seeing this as a drawback, we can embrace it as a calling.
An asset, not a liability
My journey as a TCK has shown me that not belonging can be its own kind of belonging. There is a great camaraderie in meeting others who feel the same way. More important, this unique position allows us to stand for something bigger than culture, nationality, or tradition.
It allows us to stand for the love of Jesus.
To stand for the dignity of all people, nations, and tongues.
To stand for a returning Savior who will soon take us to our heavenly home.
And that, ultimately, is where we truly belong.
[i] Pew Research Center, “ A Closer Look at Seventh-day Adventists in America,” Nov. 3, 2015,
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/11/03/a-closer-look-at-seventh-day-adventists-in-america/; “Quick Statistics on the Seventh-day Adventist Church” (Office of Archives, Statistic, and Research, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2023), https://www.adventistarchives.org/quick-statistics-on-the-seventh-day-adventist-church.
[ii] A line from a sermon preached by Reed Richardi at New Market Adventist Church in New Market, Virginia, on July 20, 2024. The entire sermon can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/S-ai-f0d8ac?t=2233.
