The world is on the move.
The total estimated number of international migrants in 2010 was 214 million, prompting some to call the beginning of the 21st century an age of migration. Typically, when you hear the word immigrant, you may think about political debates. I want to push beyond that to focus on one aspect of migration today: many are not just on the move, but are moving on mission.
There are 15,000 evangelical and Pentecostal missionaries in the United Kingdom, many of whom are first-generation migrants who identify as missionaries. There are nearly as many evangelical migrant churches in Athens as there are Greek evangelical churches. In London, the majority of people who attend church speak English as a second language.
Ike Nwaobasi, a Nigerian missionary with the Deeper Life Christian Church, learned German and planted three churches in Austria. Israel Olofinjana is a Nigerian pastor serving in a Baptist church in London. He’s well known for his advocacy of “reverse mission” and recently established the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, to offer training and encouragement to cross-cultural workers.
The next revolution in world missions has arrived in the rise of the diaspora.
The next revolution in world missions has arrived in the rise of the diaspora.
“Reverse mission” happens when converts from former mission fields—such as Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and South America—send missionaries and engage in cross-cultural mission to the Western world. In coming years, the influence of non-Western missions on the declining Christian population in Europe (and maybe the United States) will be felt as church demographics change.
Mission (more than migration) drove Christianity outside the West in the 19th and 20th centuries. But migration is driving mission in the West today.
People on the Move in Scripture
Migration is as old as the Bible.
God made all nations from one man—Adam. The first family was forced out of Eden. Cain wandered (Gen. 4:23), and nations were eventually scattered through language confusion (Gen. 11:8–9). Abraham migrated from Mesopotamia (Gen. 12:1–9). Lot moved after a dispute over land (Gen. 13:5–12). Jacob fled and returned, and his sons went to Egypt after sending Joseph there by force. Exodus is the story of God’s people migrating from Egypt to the promised land. The Bible’s first two books are filled with fugitives, slaves, famine victims, and migrant workers.
Foreign kings later forced parts of the Jewish population to Mesopotamia and Media (2 Kings 15, 17). King Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Judean population into Babylon, where more Jewish communities formed.
The story of salvation is also one of migration. The Savior’s family was forced to Egypt to flee oppression. The gospel was preached across the Roman world through the Jewish diaspora. Christianity has never had a geographic home. Peter described all Christians as “sojourners” (1 Pet. 1:1). The end game? Migration to the new Jerusalem.
Early Church Precedent
The early church, too, featured many examples of migration leading to missions.
The founding of the church in Antioch is a perfect example of God using people on the move. Greek-speaking Jewish believers fled persecution around AD 31–32, following the killing of Stephen. In Acts 11, a group of unknown missionaries came from Cyprus/Cyrene and launched the church. Around AD 45, Barnabas from Cyprus worked in Jerusalem and introduced Saul to Jerusalem church leadership. Saul and Barnabas had been missionaries for years.
So here’s the picture: the gospel began in Jerusalem. Believers ended up in Antioch due to persecution at Saul’s hands, and the church there grew. Barnabas recruited Saul, who caused believers to be there in the first place. Saul taught for a year, and then that church, founded by believers whom Saul persecuted, sent him out as a missionary.
In Acts, migration led to mission in a number of ways, two in particular. First, unbelievers on the move were put in proximity to gospel work (see Acts 2). It’s similar to the way many Muslims are migrating to the West today and meeting Christians for the first time. Second, we see the involuntary scattering of believers (e.g., Acts 8:4; 11:19) leading to the preaching of the gospel. Think, for instance, of persecuted believers from Eritrea now living in Europe and Canada.
The movement of people today is unprecedented in scope. It’s providing opportunities to learn about different cultures and expanding the unique ways that cultures view things as “normal.” It has also led to opportunities (especially among Muslims) to share the gospel with those who’ve never heard, and it is bringing gospel renewal to the West.
What’s Next?
Will diaspora churches influence local populations? That remains to be seen. Diaspora Christians tend to interact among themselves due to familiarity with customs and language. Perhaps children raised in these churches will turn the tide in places where secularism dominates. Maybe those of us in our home cultures will welcome, serve, and collaborate with our diaspora brothers and sisters. A good start would be recognizing, and celebrating, that they live nearby.
I was recently speaking at a church where the pastor told me he didn’t know any diaspora-led churches. I told him I’d driven by six on the way to his church.
Today, many new missionaries aren’t white, they don’t have access to positions of cultural power, and they are eager to be viewed as equals by evangelical leaders.
Evangelical Christianity is more global than ever before. Most evangelical missionary heroes have been white, having come from positions of power with the good news shrouded in cultural practices. Today, many new missionaries aren’t white, they don’t have access to positions of cultural power, and they are eager to be viewed as equals by evangelical leaders.
We should pray that missionaries who aren’t in positions of power would win people to Christ in numbers even greater than those won by missionaries from powerful countries over the past 200 years.
