It has been said the story of humanity is the story of migration. I agree. However, I would revise this statement to read: The story of humanity is the story of migration because God is the God of mission.
The topic of migration always seems to be in the news these days. Last week, Reuters and NPR ran two different stories. One was on refugees and the other on the appearance of migrants in the news. Also last week, World Relief released a statement voicing disapproval of the President’s refugee cap at 30,000.
Conversations abound regarding migration. The ubiquity of the topic could cause some people to assume migration is a recent phenomenon. After all, the twentieth century has been called the “Age of Migration.”
The reality is migration is as old as Genesis 1. Adam and Eve were told “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28, ESV). God’s mission from the beginning was to fill the earth with image bearers who would glorify His name. This mission did not change after the Fall. Noah and his family heard similar words: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). Genesis notes trouble arose when people decided to stop moving and build a name for themselves. God came to their location, confused their language, and “dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth” (Gen 11:9). God’s mission will not be stopped.
In 2017, there were 258 million international migrants. Over half of this number resides in ten countries. Here is a glimpse of the countries with the largest numbers of international migrants:
- United States 50 million
- Saudi Arabia 12 million
- Germany 12 million
- Russian Federation 12 million
- United Kingdom 9 million
- United Arab Emirates 8 million
- France 8 million
- Canada 8 million
- Australia 7 million
- Spain 6 million
The mission of God has not changed. He moves people so they may move to Him (Acts 17:27). As long as God’s image bearers fail to glorify Him, we must go and make disciples of all nations. . . across the world AND across the street.
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Want to know more about migration and missions? Check out these two episodes of Strike the Match where I speak with Enoch Wan and Stephan Bauman.
Thanks for this. So important.