In Search of a Better Land: A World on the Move and a Church on Mission

Three takeaways from my time with the North America Diaspora Strategy Group.

Ever since Adam and Eve got the boot out of the Garden of Eden, humanity has—whether we realize it or not—been on the move in search of a better land.

Today, migration is one of the great global trends that reminds us that we are all migrants. Mohsin Hamid, writing in National Geographic, expresses, “All of us are descended from migrants. . . . None of us is a native of the place we call home.”

The World Health Organization reports that more people are on the move now than ever before. In fact, there are an estimated one billion migrants in the world—1 in 7 people—763 million internal migrants and 258 million international migrants.

Migration can be both voluntary and involuntary. It can be the involuntary migration of a group of people due to political conflict, terrorism, war, or natural disaster, or the voluntary movement of people in search of better economic or political opportunities. In either case, people are on the move in search of a better land.

As the world is on the move, the church must be on mission. Believing this, Lausanne North America and the Billy Graham Center have launched a North America Diaspora Strategy Group led by Dr. Sadiri Joy Tira, Catalyst for Diasporas for Lausanne Movement.

Comprised of scholars, pastors, and practitioners, this group met a little over a week ago to outline their goals for the next two years for how they will help bring awareness and understanding to the church in North America as well as how they can help encourage, equip, and empower the church to engage diaspora peoples who enter our North American cities and communities.

Over the next six months, this group will be working on resources to share with the church in North America. But, while ...