I had told my students not to be surprised when it happened to them. Now while I had not personally experienced it, I had been waiting for the day when it would happen to me. Finally, it occurred–I got to meet my first, real-live foreign missionary!
Not a big deal?
Probably not. But this one was Chinese.
So what?
But this one came from China as a missionary to the United States…. and I don’t think he was only trying to reach the Chinese living here.
Hmmmm.
If you have been following my posts, you know that I often write on the Great Commission opportunities that the western Church has in reaching the migrants among us. But we must also remember that there is another side to the present story of what the Lord is doing. Yes, the world is coming to us, providing us an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus. But the world is also coming to us, bringing the good news of Jesus to share with the overwhelming majority of our populations that do not know this message.
The reality is that missionaries from non-western contexts have been coming to the West for many years evangelizing and planting churches. And their numbers are increasing.
Addressing the religious compositions of many diasporic peoples, Gerrie ter Harr notes that many Africans are migrating in part for the opportunity to share the gospel:
“African church leaders in Europe are today convinced of their mission to bring the gospel back to those who originally provided them with it. For many African Christians, therefore, migration to Europe is not just an economic necessity, but also seen as a God-given opportunity to evangelise [sic] among those whom they believe to have gone astray.” (Gerrie ter Haar, ed., Religious Communities in the Diaspora, 166.)
Jehu J. Hanciles in his book Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West, reminds us that the growth in global migrations has been “a prime catalyst” (220) for the growth in African missionary initiatives, with significant outflows of migrants to western Europe and North America.
The North American Mission Board recently released an article about a Korean migrant to the United States who has planted churches among Nepali and Bhutanese migrants. A wonderful article which I might add, reminding us that Koreans can plant churches among other ethnic groups, instead of the common understanding that church planting in North America must happen among racial/ethnic lines (e.g., Anglos must work among Anglos, Hispanics must work among Hispanics.).
Christian and non-Christian writers have been telling us for some time that the Church is growing the fastest in the Majority World. With such growth, coupled with international migrations, we should not be surprised when we get a knock on our door or an encounter on the street by one of these dear missionaries.
Some have called such missionary work “reverse missions”. Regardless, it is simply that our brothers and sisters in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are being faithful to the call of Christ. They are reminding us that the mission of God is not limited to geographical and ethnic boundaries.
How will those of us who are Kingdom citizens respond to our brothers and sisters coming to our shores to preach the gospel? Will we be thankful? Will we see them as competition when they plant churches in our neighborhoods, reaching the people we have been trying to reach? Will we develop healthy partnerships where appropriate? Will we use our numerous resources to equip them for Kingdom advancement? Will we learn from them? Will we work with them to integrate our strategies “over here” as we work together to reach others “over there”? Will we ignore them? Will we be apathetic? Will we miss out on what the Lord is doing?
How about you? What are your thoughts on this present reality? How does this affect the way you will be on mission in your part of the world? How does this affect the way you will lead your church, institution, mission agency, network, or denomination in the days to come?
This was a very interesting article. I had heard of this happening a few years ago, yet I had not heard anyone speak on this for a while. My response: I think it is a wake up call for the church. Why are we not mobilizing faster in our own nation as we seek to go global as well. It is not because of a lack of “church members!” Let us be grateful for the missionaries accepting the call of the Gospel to come to our nation, let us likewise be ashamed that foreign missionaries have to come to America to share Christ.
In regard to your article on “Missions in Reverse” I first would be embarrased and ashamed of the lack of interest from “Christians” in America. I feel though such an encounter might provide opportunity to possibly work alongside as fellow workers for the sake of the gospel. We all should be sowing and watering seeds, does it really matter where the worker originates from? In the Kingdom of God are we as believers not all brothers and sisters?
Pingback: "Cease to Sleep Longer Than Is Needful" — Stories of the Saints in the DR Congo, Part 7 | The Interpreter Foundation