Stephen B. Allard, DIS
Diaspora, the dispersion of people from their homeland is not a new phenomenon. Arguably, the first diaspora or dispersion appears in Genesis chapter 4 when God forcefully disperses or “exiles” Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden as the consequence of their disobedience. The biblical narrative and world history are replete with diasporas and migration for many important reasons, some being beyond the scope of this article. Most notable in the Old Testament is the dispersion at Babel, and the diasporas of the Jewish people at the hands of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians; these and earlier dispersions of the Jewish people under King David and King Solomon resulted in a widely dispersed Jewish people and culture as far away as Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. Historians conclude that by the beginning of the first century A.D., the Jewish population of greater Alexandria, Egypt was about one million. Mesopotamia and Asia Minor also had large Jewish populations by the first century A.D., serving as cultural centres in distant lands.
Dispersion, whether forced or voluntary, is always fraught with challenges and opportunities. In the case of the Jewish diaspora, dispersion often facilitated the attraction of new adherents to the Jewish faith. Scholars believe that within a few decades after the destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70 some 3-6 million Jews lived outside of Palestine[i]; such wide dispersion resulted in Jewish proselytism[ii] throughout the Roman empire during the third, fourth and fifth centuries. However, the proselytizing of pagans to Judaism in the far-flung corners of the Roman empire fails to encompass the missionary zeal of the early church and that of its immediate successors. As previously mentioned, diaspora often creates missional opportunities—from chaos emerges authentic cross-cultural engagement and effective witness.
Diaspora and Witness in The New Testament
The gospel and its subsequent proclamation are inculcated with mobility and crossing frontiers; the gospel command is one of movement and encounter. Consider the commissioning of the disciples in Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands his disciples to “go” or “to go away” and disciple all ethnos—people groups. The New Testament, especially the book of Acts is replete with believers “on the move” migrating throughout Palestine, the Levant, and beyond witnessing of their newfound faith—the gospel! As promised in Acts 1:8, upon receiving the Holy Ghost the early church was imbued with power that produced witness. However, much of the movement by the people of “the way” was not organic but forced due to persecution in colonized Palestine. Whatever the migratory reality, forced, coerced, or voluntary the results are the same—crossing missional frontiers, the encountering of “other” and witness.
The concepts of “other” and inclusion were ones with which the early church grappled. Acts 10 elucidates the struggle of the apostle Peter to embrace “other” which was emblematic of the sentiments of the early Jewish church. God confronted the biases of Peter in a vision—a vision of much greater import than what was acceptable or non-acceptable according to Jewish dietary law, but the overarching truth that what God has cleansed is not common! Before God could use Peter to open the door to the gentiles, He had to overthrow Peter’s old religious and social worldviews. Fortunately, Peter submitted to the leading of God and the gospel was preached and embraced by Cornelius’ household, opening the door to the gentiles at large.
The churches in the metropoles of Antioch, Cyprus, Phenice were established because of persecution. However, while the persecution of the church in Jerusalem resulted in a diaspora of the early church it also facilitated the Genesis 12:1-3 mandate, “Go…and be a blessing.” Blessing is all encompassing and includes fruitfulness, multiplication, spreading, and abundance. The Abrahamic covenant of blessing was and remains to all people no matter their place of origin, language, culture, race, or social status. As the salt of the earth, the community of believers are called to be a blessing to all people.
As previously stated, the early church grappled with the issue of blessing “other”—in so much that even in the church of Antioch, the place where believers were first called Christians, failed, in the beginning, to preach the Word to everyone. Subsequently, the Word was proclaimed to the Grecians; these were not Greek-speaking Jews but Hellenists, otherwise the Apostle Paul would have never been called to teach and establish them. It is to be appreciated that the community of believers were not called Christians until the Gospel was proclaimed to “other”, the Gentiles.
The Gospel and Witness in Culture
The church’s mandate is not to become a homogenous entity, rather, “other” is inculcated into the church and the coming Kingdom of Heaven. The gospel and the coming kingdom are conveyed through culture and are genuinely transcultural. However, the gospel can only be expressed in terms of culture; the church must use the sign, symbol, idiom, and stories of the audience we seek to reach to be effective witnesses of the gospel to the world. The Apostle Paul demonstrates the salience of this point when he states, “…I am made all things to all men, that I might, by all means, save some” (I Corinthians 9:22). Today, the church must become more effective in sharing the gospel cross-culturally at home and around the world; this is true whether our home is in the western world, global south, or 10/40 window of the world. No matter our place of origin, we must seek to share the gospel in ways that the hearer can understand and embrace.
Diaspora and Opportunity
Headlines around the world chronicle the plight of people on the move. The stories of displaced masses capture our attention. As of this writing, more than 8 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees of the war in the past three weeks; just weeks ago this was unimaginable. However, this demonstrates the dynamic nature of societal and geopolitical forces on people. According to the World Economic Forum, there were 82.4 million forcefully displaced people in the world at the conclusion of 2020[iii]. The vast majority of these come from non-Christian countries, however, many will be permanently resettled in North America and western Europe creating an opportunity for cross-cultural witness in our neighborhoods. Whether forced or voluntary, migration is changing the landscape of the western world and the way the church engages with constant changes within its context of ministry.
The twenty-first century beckons with missional opportunities previously unknown to the church. Migration and technology have made it possible to minister “here and there.” The church can engage the world from our neighborhoods; we can touch and evangelize the world from our doorstep. While legacy on-site career missionaries continue to be needed around the world much can be accomplished from where one lives in the world, to reach the world! The church must recognize that we are all called to make disciples “as we go”—the “sentness” may take place within the routine of our daily lives, however, this too is a fulfilment of the missional mandate.
Successful cross-cultural witness and mission begin with love. Indiscriminate love is fundamental to the mission; the church must love and welcome everyone. The way of Jesus was to welcome and embrace those that were excluded, such must be the posture of the church today. We must love and care enough to embrace those around us. Unfortunately, the political landscape of our world has maligned national sentiment towards immigrants and refugees. The church must never marginalize this vulnerable group, especially as they seek inclusion and embrace within society and the church. The church is where the vulnerable should find acceptance and shalomfor their weary souls.
The world is next door. It is imperative that every church begin to reimagine mission and think and act glocally[iv]. Mission must not be construed to be something that takes places in distant places—today, mission begins in small remote towns and cities alike, literally, wherever we live. The church must understand its incarnational role in witness; we must walk through our communities with open hearts and have eyes to see and ears to hear their plight. The church must ask and listen to “other” prior to reimagining and reinterpreting the missional task at hand. Reimagined mission may include partnering with refugee agencies, starting an ESL[v] class for new immigrants who do not speak English, and ministering to vulnerable and marginalized persons and people groups. The bridge building possibilities are virtually endless. Reimaging and reinterpreting missional engagement are hard work and requires prayerful reflection. Immediate steps may include taking the time to get to know your neighbor or a local business owner. Not all immigrants came as displaced persons, however, most are looking for genuine warmth and friendship. In this case, it is important to take time to build a friendship and earn their trust before sharing the gospel. Again, the most important aspect of cross-cultural witness is love.
Another important aspect of crossing cultures and effective witness is the self-contextualizing of the messenger. In short, be sensitive to the culture of those to whom you seek to minister. The Apostle Paul was especially adept at self-contextualizing. This is appreciated in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22, Paul identifies four religious contexts where he adapts himself to the audience he sought to reach: to the Jews, to those under the law, to those outside the law and the weak. Each of these required adaptation and cultural sensitivity. We, too, must demonstrate sensitivity to culture and seek to better self-contextualize if we are to be successful. However, we must never equivocate and sacrifice truth at the expense of cultural relevance.
In conclusion, there has never been a time of greater opportunity than the one before us. Diaspora and migration have scattered the ethnos of the world around the world; from Shanghai to San Francisco, from Cape Town to Oslo the masses are moving and with them the opportunity to share the Gospel. However, the church must remember that “other” must never be perceived to mean only those from distant places. It must also include those that are perceived to not be like us. The vocation of the church is to seek shalom for all people, crossing frontiers and ministering to the marginalized, the addicted, and the poor. The church must seek equity, justice, and shalom for all as we fulfill the missional mandate of blessing and salvation.
[i] FELDMAN, L. H. “PROSELYTISM BY JEWS IN THE THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH CENTURIES.” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period 24, no. 1 (1993): 1–58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24659643.
[ii] Jewish proselytism in this case should not be confused with active organized missionary endeavors by the Jews.
[iii] UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2020, https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/60
[iv] Globally and Locally
[v] English as Second Language
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