Second-Generation Diaspora and Mission in Europe II
How Shall They Prophesy In A Strange Land?
Welcome to my newsletter, “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined,” where I dream here about mission in a postcolonial world. Every week, I share one thought that has spoken to me in the week, two resources I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission. I pray one of these will energise you in the coming week.
1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off
There is no doubt that contemporary mission in Europe must include the second-generation African, Asian, and Latin American diaspora youth currently growing up in Europe. They are growing up with multiple cultural identities and hyphenated belongings. They remain strangers in Europe even though they have been educated and cultured here. When they visit their parents’ home countries, many of them find it too hard to fit in. If they were Europeans, we would naturally call them third-culture kids. But these ones are children of migrants, not expatriates or missionaries, so they cannot have such a fancy honour. Unfortunately for them, their multicultural identities are quite difficult to engage and disciple. Very few of our leaders have the skills for this. Their first-generation migrant parents are often helpless. Their ideas about youth ministry and discipleship are generally not useful here. Yes, they may understand some spiritual disciplines but they often lack the contextual awareness their children need to be faithful followers of Christ in Europe. In addition, they spend a great deal of energy negotiating their own cross-cultural challenges (and are often helped by their children who are better at this). Unfortunately, most European leaders are too far detached to be of any help. They may understand the dynamics of being a white child in Africa, but the world of a black child in Europe is totally different. If they try, a great deal of what they offer is often too culturally foreign for the second-generation diaspora to be relevant in their lives. Furthermore, the racial dynamics between European and diaspora leaders make it difficult for any sensible connections to develop with the second-generation diaspora. As such, we have a generation of global Christians growing up in Europe that nobody is discipling well. Many of us, denominational and congregational leaders as well as mission agencies, continue to ignore them to our own peril. No wonder, against all hopes, many of them are secularising just like their European counterparts. The secular culture out there is too strong. My students always ask, “Why would God send us here for us to lose our children?” And I ask them back, “What if this is really a problem of the older generations? European and diaspora?”
2. Resources I am Enjoying
Book: Harvey C. Kwiyani, Our Children Need Roots and Wings: Equipping and Empowering Young Diaspora Africans for Life and Mission
I wrote this small book in the summer of 2018. I had read in the papers every week for several months about the plight of young black people in London. By the end of that year, I had made a list of 126 young black boys and girls who had died, many of them at the hands of fellow black young boys and girls — knife crime. Police reports suggest that black persons in London are 4 times more likely than white people to be a victim of homicide, adding that the greatest threat to young black males in London are other young black males. All this happens while their parents spend countless hours in church. Touched by this situation and being aware of the need to change the narratives around the lives of young black people in the UK, I wrote the book to start a conversation. In so many ways, the conversation is starting now.
The catalyst for the book was a warning I got from one Jamaican bishop in London, “If African churches do not change the way they are working with their younger generation growing up in Britain — if they do not learn from the experience of the Afro-Caribbean churches in Britain in the past fifty years — the challenges facing Afro-Caribbean churches in Britain today will be theirs pretty soon.” Pastor Wonuola Adefala, a second-generation Nigerian who leads a second-generation African church in London had this to say about the book:
‘Roots and Wings’ gives voice to the cry of a generation that feels lost in translation. This book will be a great blessing and tool to parents and ministers who have been entrusted by God to train and raise the younger generation of diaspora Africans in the way of the Lord. As a second-generation migrant myself, this book articulates some of what my peers and I want our African parents, family members and our Caucasian brothers and sisters to know. It is an answer to prayer and a step in the right direction to help parents and churches effectively disciple the hybrid generation growing in their midst. I love my roots, they act as anchors for me so I don’t get carried away, but they do not (and should not) limit my ability to soar to greater heights with the wings I’ve been given.
Both the Kindle and paperback versions of “Roots and Wings” are on sale on Amazon.
Video: Caleb Nyanni, “The Spirit and Transition: The Second Generation and the Church of Pentecost UK”
In this conversation, Caleb Nyanni, Dean of Studies at Birmingham Christian College and Senior Pastor of Sparkbrook Elim Church, discusses his doctoral research which touches significantly on the faith of second-generation migrants, especially within the context of the Church of Pentecost (a Ghanaian denomination with 150 congregations in the UK). Such issues as the pneumatology and mentorship of the young Africans growing up in Europe came to the fore, as with their perception of and expectations from their parents’ churches. While he expresses a “cautious optimism” about the future of many immigrant churches due to the current nature of their relationships with the younger generation, Caleb offers some helpful suggestions for better engagement and survival of the churches. Here is the link to Caleb’s book, Second-Generation African Pentecostals in the West: An Emerging Paradigm.
3. Quotes I am Pondering
The exploration of creative means to reconnect African Millennial Christians to their heritage, thus fostering a healthy self-awareness and reclamation of their Africanness, will have implications for those influencing them, for their Christian faith and ultimately for missio Dei. —Joseph Ola.
God is working his mission in and through the dynamics of the world, transforming it in the direction of his Kingdom. As far as the church plays a part in this, its role is to witness to this work, and support it wherever it can. — Stefan Paas
When I am able to speak to [African] pastors, I say this is what you are missing here: you have a generation of people that are not fully British and fully African; they are hybrid. They need to be understood and they need for the Gospel to speak to them for where they are and where God wants to take them. — Wonuola Adefala
I pray that you have a missionally faithful week.
Thank you!
I would love to get the citation for the quotes (where possible) so as to be able to be able to do some follow-on reading.