A Mission Conference on Migration

You Are Invited.

Welcome to “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined.” You get a glimpse here of the kind of work that I do both at Church Mission Society and Missio Africanus where I help students of all levels (from unaccredited courses to PhD) explore the theological (and missiological) implications of the rise of World Christianity. In the newsletter, I focus on the subject of global witness in the context of the twenty-first century. Every Thursday, I share a thought that has spoken to me in the week, one or two resources that I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission to give you something to think about as you go through your day. I pray one of these will energise you.

NB: Please note that I will soon start tailoring most of my content towards paid subscribers. There will still be occasional posts open to everyone, but most will be for paid subscribers. If you appreciate the newsletter and are able to pay for a subscription, please consider doing so.

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1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off

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We will host a conference (both in-person and online) to launch the Centre for Global Witness and Human Migration (aka ACTS 11 Project) at Church Mission Society (CMS) in Oxford on 26 and 27 September. The theme of the conference is “Witnessing for Christ in the New Age of Migration.” Prof. Jehu J. Hanciles of Emory University will give the keynote speech. He is a key expert on the subject and has written and spoken widely on migration, church history, and world Christianity. Other speakers include Dr Easten Law (OMSC), Dr Gina Zurlo (Center for the Study of Global Christianity), Prof Gregor Etzelmuller (Osnabrück University), Prof Moritz Fischer (University of Applied Sciences (FIT) Hermannsburg), Louisa Evans (All Nations Christian College), and several others.

This first-of-a-kind Centre will serve Christian communities, mission agencies, and academic institutions exploring faithful missional witness in the context of unprecedented human migration in the world. It is an international, multicultural and multidisciplinary learning community, and our primary focus is the interplay between the Christian witness of the gospel and migration around the world. Persuaded that we live in the age of migration and informed by the story of migration and mission in the Book of Acts, especially Acts 11, the Centre will provide resources (theological, missiological and otherwise) for Christian reflection on the day-to-day experience of human migration in the world.

The connection between mission and migration is not new. Two thousand years of church history offer numerous records of Christian migrants establishing communities of faith in the context of living as strangers in lands away from those of their ancestors. Indeed, Christian migrants have been one of the most common and effective bearers of the witness. These organisations that we call mission agencies are a fairly recent development in the story of the movement of the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth. There is a great deal we can learn when we imagine God moving people around the world for the purpose of sharing the good news of Christ. My sense is that if migration is nearly as critical as I think it is to mission, a great deal of what we do and teach in our mission schools will have to change.

I am delighted to invite you. Please, head to https://churchmissionsociety.org/acts-11-project/ for more information and registration. You are all invited.

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2. Resources I am Enjoying

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Video: Apollos Watered: Deep Conversation with Sam George: God on the Move Among Diaspora Peoples

In this conversation (that needs no long introduction), Travis Michael Fleming sits down with Sam George to talk about God and the Diaspora. Sam is the Global Catalyst for Diaspora Ministries with the Lausanne Movement. Here, he speaks about God as God on the move. Indeed, he argues that God is moving people in ways we have never seen before. Travis says,

“According to the UN High Commission on Refugees, on the 23 of May 2022, the number of people forced to flee due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order had reached more than 100 million people for the first time on record. This means that 1 in every 78 people on earth has been forced to flee. That’s crazy. This means that we are more than likely to encounter people from around the world where we live. And that changes how we go about fulfilling Christ’s mission where we are. It means our churches need to rethink who they are ministering to and how they are ministering. It means we need to rethink what God is doing and join Him in it.”

I agree with him.

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3. Quotes I am Pondering

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• Perhaps a better question than whether Christianity will survive in today’s age is the question of which kind of Christianity and whose Jesus will be passed down to our theological descendants. — Phuc Luu

• The message of the Gospel should, therefore, involve itself in the life and world of the people to whom the word of God is addressed. — Mary-Sylvia Nwachukwu

• The ecumenical union [of the church] is an expression of unity as a missional nature of the church. — John Amalraj

I pray that you will be faithful to the work God has for you this week.