On The Riots and Mission Agencies
And Why We Need To Talk About Migration in Mission
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.
1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off
Generally speaking, most of my Western friends know very little about people and cultures around the world. Many know next to nothing—and the little knowledge they have of the world is informed (or misinformed) by colonial ideas that shaped the imperial agendas of 19th and 20th-century Europe. Not that I expect them to know a lot (the same way I do not expect my friends in other parts of the world to know a great deal about Britain and British people). [I do talk about the grin of the Cheshire Cat whenever I drive through Cheshire, having read English Literature and European history in high school in Malawi, but that does not really translate into a knowledge of how people live in Cheshire or indeed in Europe today].
Even among Western Christians, knowledge about the rest of the world is grossly limited even though, of course, we talk about global Christianity and celebrate the worldwide spread of British Anglicanism, Presbyterianism or, indeed, Methodism, (even when members of all these groups of Christians can be found in almost every city in the UK today). I am thinking of the Nigerian Anglicans in London, the Brazilian Baptists in Oxford, Ghanaian Presbyterians and Jamaican Pentecostals in Birmingham, Zimbabwean Methodists in Sheffield, and many others scattered around the country.
For Christians, I would think it makes sense to have some awareness of the world (and we can frame it in terms of British Christians being part of the global fellowship of followers of Christ or needing to continue to engage the world in mission). Unfortunately, however, many are still largely under-informed and misinformed.
Among Christians, I would also expect some awareness of the world because of mission. The Christian community in the UK has numerous members who have been overseas to serve in mission. These missionaries (and I include those currently serving overseas) ought to bring back some understanding of the world—disciplines such as anthropology came out of Western missionary work in the world. Having spent time in other parts of the world, they do not return to only raise funds for further service, they also have a duty to humanise the rest of the world when they go around the country reporting about their work. (I am always amazed when I meet British missionaries who served in Malawi and they try to speak Chichewa to me).
This is why I think the mission community (mission agencies, returned missionaries, and their congregations) has a role to play in humanising migrants and, in a way, to start conversations that can speak to the current situation in the UK. Missionaries know the world much better than the general population. They understand the humanity of the people around the world, even when those people have migrated to the West. And, of course, they generally have connections with people in other parts of the world.
It is for this reason that the British mission agencies community needs to speak into the ongoing anti-immigrant riots currently going on in the country. But, above everything else, it is for this reason that British mission agencies need to engage in a sustained conversation around mission and migration.
We will be doing just this at the ACTS 11 Project conference coming up on 26 and 27 September at CMS in Oxford. (More on this to come).
2. Resources I am Enjoying
Podcast: Patrick Johnstone: Worldwide Migration and the Future of the Church
In this episode, one of the leaders at Welcome Churches, Sue Butler, is joined by Patrick Johnstone, missionary, international speaker, researcher, author—most notably of Operation World and The Future of the Global Church—and trustee at Welcome Churches. They chat about how he was first led to Jesus, his years in the slums of southern Africa, reverse culture shock, and the perils of being multilingual. Patrick reveals some of his predictions on global trends in mass migration and the factors which will play into these - as well as his ideas on the future of the Church and the challenges with which it must reckon.
3. Quotes I am Pondering
The church's task is to bring the gospel to bear on all the things which concern the well-being of the human person and carry a spiritual warfare against forces which deface ... Within this perspective, mission is imaged as the mustard seed. It is sensitive, fragile and challenged by strong forces. But it is a divine mission with assured victory. — Ogbu U. Kalu
Through Christ’s redemptive work, God has been able to create a new force for stewardship, the church, whom he sends as a special community of his redeemed people (1 Pet.2:9), to continue his mission, which he renewed and modelled through Jesus. — Deborah Ajulu
But there is more to the Gospel than the formulations of the protest against the Vatican of old. This will include facets [that] have freed the people of God to experience the Christian faith anew and away from entrapments that have boxed the gospel of Christ. — Rei Lemuel Crizaldo
I pray that you will be faithful to the work God has for you this week.