It is great to return to the blog after a lengthy break. I hope you have been doing well. Migration is on my mind today.
Last week, I spoke to a group of churches serving recent migrants in their city. I am so encouraged to hear of more and more partnerships like this. Such has not always been the case. Good things have been happening over the past several years. It is hard to believe it has been 13 years since the publication of Strangers Next Door. Though the branch of missiology known as diaspora missiology is less than 30 years old, migration has always been a significant part of the missio Dei.
After the creation of man and woman as the imago Dei, God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill then earth” (Gen 1:28). For the longest time, I focused on the fruitful and multiplication aspects of this command and overlooked the filling aspect. From the beginning, God desired His image-bearers to fill the earth and enjoy His blessings as they glorify Him on the planetary temple. Such was only possible through migration.
Following the Flood, Noah and his family heard this echo of Eden. For God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). Again, those representing imago Dei, who would comprise the nations to come, were to saturate the planet honoring the Creator. In a distant future, the prophet would note God created the earth and “formed it to be inhabited” (Isa 45:18). After the Apostle arrived at Mars Hill, the Athenians would soon hear God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. . . that they should seek God” (Acts 17:26-27).
A discussion of the Great Commission work of the Church is intimately connected to the migration of the nations. We go into all the world because all the nations have migrated throughout the world. And with the sociological push-pull factors influencing contemporary migration patterns, the Divine Maestro continues to orchestrate the movement of the nations–that the earth may be filled with the knowledge and glory of God as His image-bearers live out the Kingdom ethic until the Day arrives.