Samuel Escobar observes that, as in the New Testament, so too in the 16th century, God used migration to accomplish his mission purposes. For John Calvin was a migrant, forced to flee France and become a refugee in Geneva. Indeed, the population of Geneva was increased 50% by immigrants in those decades, with Escobar citing historian Fred Brown who described “the terrific task facing church and state in Geneva to take care of the waves of people inundating the city. Escobar notes how Calvin “launched initiatives for the professional training of young people and the readaptation of adults to new jobs, and preached against those who wanted to benefit from cheap labour.”
Escobar summarises the three challenges that migration presents to mission-minded Christians:
- The challenge to respond with compassion and sensitivity. There is a vital role for churches to play in seeking to help meet the needs of migrants who face hunger, homelessness and marginalisation. This will involve co-operating with secular NGOs who are often suspicious of our motivations.
- The challenge to speak prophetically against the unjust treatment of immigrants by society. It is unpopular to do this when society is panicking in the face of waves of migrants and refugees, e.g. Australia’s current debate about so-called “illegal” asylum seekers.
- The challenge to see migration as an avenue for evangelism. Many migrants as people in transition who are experiencing the loss of roots are open to new commitments. Further, as evangelism leads to the rise of new believers among migrant peoples older church communities are faced with pastoral challenges as they have to deal with “the other” in their midst.
Source: Samuel Escobar, “Migration and ethnic conflict” in Evangelicals Now (2010) 18.
Posted May 27, 2010
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