New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Cover3
From the
General Secretary
by Thomas Kemper
Migrants and the Gospel
T
he Bible is filled with migrants-peoples
on the move, such as these few examples
from the Old Testament:
* Hebrew wanderers looking for home in
the days of Abraham
* The Jacob tribe, victims of drought in Canaan,
seeking food in Egypt
* Judeans exiled to Babylon in the days of Jeremiah;
their descendants returning to Jerusalem in the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah
And a few examples from the New Testament:
* The Holy family finding refuge in Egypt
* The Apostle Paul traversing the eastern
Mediterranean to preach the good news of Jesus
Christ, initially going to places where dispersed
Jews had established communities
* Other disciples fanning out across the East-as far
as India, southern Europe, and North Africa-with
the gospel.
Scholar Dana Robert points out that those
first itinerant, migratory, and boundary-crossing
New Testament preachers, who were or became
bicultural, are greatly responsible for Christianity
becoming a worldwide faith. Migrants carried the
Word. (Christian Mission. How Christianity became
a World Religion, by Dana Robert.)
Migration involves challenges, injustices, and
hazards but can also be a blessing. The church
has a responsibility to respond to the physical
and emotional needs of the displaced, and it can
recognize and utilize the value of mobility.
Migrants from England, including Francis
Asbury and Thomas Coke, played major roles in
evangelization and Methodist church growth in
colonial America and the young United States.
German immigrants to America encountered
in Pennsylvania the Evangelical branch of the
Evangelical United Brethren heritage of United
Methodism and took this Wesleyan movement
back to their homeland in the early 19th century.
My own ancestors were part of that community. A
similar pattern was followed in the late 20th century
The Global Mission Fellows class of 2015-2017-with many of the
authors for this issue, including: Albert Wakili, Nicodemus Doe,
Peter Karanja, Taurai Jokonya, and Yves Kanangwa.
PHOTO: CYNTHIA MACK
when refugees from Vietnam came to the US, were
introduced to United Methodism, and went back
to their country of origin as missionaries, helping
to plant and water what is today a flourishing
indigenous United Methodist Church.
Global Ministries recently commissioned a
missionary for ministry among migrants from
Zimbabwe who have settled in western Canada,
placed in collaboration with the United Church of
Canada. United Methodist lay and clergy migrants
from various parts of Africa are today helping to
revitalize Methodist congregations in Italy, Austria,
Germany, and Ireland, while also providing services
to other migrants in those areas.
Among our missionaries and short-term
(two-year) Global Mission Fellows there are at
this moment 41 from many parts of the world
ministering among migrants in many lands: from the
Philippines in Taiwan, from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo in Germany, from Brazil or China in
the United States, and from Mexico, Colombia, and
the United States along the US-Mexican border.
There is an intense sense of "from everywhere to
everywhere" in our ministries with migrants.
A vital example of migrants serving the gospel
at present is in the United Arab Emirates, a
coalition of Muslim monarchies along the Persian
Gulf. United Methodist congregations have been
organized over the last 10 years by migrant
workers from the Philippines and now also from
Zimbabwe (see story P. 16).
The annals of faith and mission past, present, and
future are filled with accounts of migrants who can
confess with St. Paul in Philippians 1:12: "I want
you to know, beloved, that what has happened to
me has actually helped to spread the gospel."
Thomas G. Kemper
General Secretary
General Board of Global Ministries
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open
Contents
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Intro
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Cover1
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Cover2
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Contents
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 4
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 5
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 6
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 7
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 8
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 9
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 10
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 11
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 12
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 13
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 14
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 15
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 16
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 17
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 18
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 19
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 20
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 21
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 22
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 23
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 24
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 25
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 26
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 27
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 28
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 29
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 30
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 31
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 32
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 33
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 34
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 35
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 36
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 37
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 38
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 39
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 40
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 41
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 42
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 43
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 44
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 45
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 46
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Cover3
New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - Cover4
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