EMQ » April–June 2019 » Volume 55 Issue 2
By Lisa Pak
In this day and age of the global village,[1] the inter-mingling of people groups and the meeting of cultures through immigration, business, travel, tourism, education, politics, social media, missions, marriages, sports, and even, unfortunately, conflicts, are occurring at unprecedented levels. As a result, local churches are faced with unique challenges that often expose and bring to light latent biases and prejudices but also remarkable opportunities unlike ever before. The rising diversity of demographics is a global phenomenon and presents a truly kairos gateway in reaching the nations even as they come to us. Thus, the growing presence of diaspora churches must be understood in light of God’s redemptive history and His kingdom plan.
The Diaspora in Canada
The term diaspora broadly refers to a “scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale.”[2] For the Canadian context, perhaps even North American, this would mean immigrants who are visible minorities as opposed to the landed Anglo-Saxon communities, mainline churches and denominations. In the case of Toronto, where the National Offices of the Canadian Bible Society are located, the diaspora population is flourishing. One article states:
Foreign-born people account for nearly half of the population of Toronto. This gives Toronto the second-highest percentage of foreign-born residents of all the world cities after Miami. Unlike Miami, Toronto has no dominant culture or nationality, which also makes it one of the world’s most diverse cities. 49% of the city’s population belong to a visible minority group (compare to 14% in 1981), and visible minorities are expected to hit a majority of 63% of the Toronto CMA population by 2017.[3]
What is more, the growing number of diaspora churches established by these people groups are dotting our neighborhoods and these communities bring with them a generation of diaspora young adults, youth and children that are truly an untapped resource and potential strength of the local church and the global kingdom of God. They are a particular generation of diaspora young adults and youth who serve as a bridge and nexus between cultures and generations and these qualities make them uniquely qualified and equipped by God’s sovereign will, for such a time as this.[4]
Biblical Examples
Consider the many individuals in the Bible who were part of the diaspora at various points in Hebrew history. Consider also how they were used by God because of their devotion and their particular historical circumstance. The particular example that I want to unpack here is that of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
On every conceivable level, these young boys were born into difficult times. In the centuries before, the leaders of Israel and Judah had committed, allowed and even encouraged such rampant idolatry and all the acts and customs that came part and parcel with pagan worship, and thereby brought upon Israel, then Judah, the judgment of God. Understandably, these were times when the few remaining godly, like Jeremiah and Habakkuk, were distressed at what they observed. Where was God? Where were the godly? Why was God allowing such evil and suffering? And what was the emerging generation to do? The chances of a devout generation rising up from the ashes of the ungodly idolaters seemed more than unlikely.
And just as God warned, King Nebuchadnezzar came with all his fire and fury. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took the youths of Judah for his own courts, to train and raise up as servants of the Babylonian Empire, it was a foreign policy that aimed to dominate vassal kingdoms through cultural assimilation. The Babylonian Empire offered their noble youth captives what their native kingdoms could not: opportunity and a secure future. They ate of the king’s food, drank of the king’s wine, were educated by the masters, learned the Babylonian language, and they were also given Babylonian names. Daniel was given the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah was now Shadrach, Mishael was Meshach, and Azariah was given the name Abednego—all were names associated with Babylonian deities.
And despite this immersion into the pagan world, Daniel and his friends resolved in their hearts to obey God.[5] They freely accepted all that was Babylonian—even excelling in the studies—insofar as it did not conflict with their devotion to God. They demonstrated that they could hold in balance the tensions of (1) loving God and being an effective and knowledgeable part of their contemporary world, and moreover, (2) being Jewish and Babylonian. And while they incited the ire of their colleagues and peers because of how much better they were at their jobs, they were undoubtedly used by God in pivotal moments of history to bring Him glory and to continue His history from the age of Babylon to the age of Medo-Persia.
Diaspora Today
Could the young diaspora youth of today have the same kind of spiritual potential as the youths who were taken captive to Babylon? Are they the Daniel Generation of the twenty-first century, learning from the secular world, excelling in their fields, fully devoted to God, influencing society for God’s kingdom?
Certainly, the young diaspora generation lives with similar undertones. They leave their homeland—some forced to just like the Hebrew youths—to come to a country that offers better opportunities for education, jobs, growth, living and a future for their children. They are educated in a different paradigm, learn a new language, immersed in another culture. Many have two names—a name from their homeland, a new name for their new country.[6]
And perhaps it’s this geographical dislocation, this uprooting from the familiar and the acquired knowledge of change, rebuilding, relearning and starting over, that point them towards God. God’s people, from Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Naomi and Ruth, David, and those in the exile like Daniel and Esther, from Mary and Joseph and the birth of Christ to the scattering of the Apostles and the early church, God, Immanuel, has been with His people who have been ever on the move.
Movement reminds us that this world is not our home. Movement exposes us to different contexts and challenges our personal paradigms. Movement mixes things up. Movement brings people together who otherwise may not have occasion to meet.
Advantage of Diaspora Churches
The diaspora church in North America is God’s blessing and a huge asset that North American mainline churches and denominations must embrace and empower. As their youth and young adults emerge as leaders in their fields, most are bilingual (even multi-lingual) and have intuitive knowledge of customs, traditions and nuances that enable them to navigate very different cultures and systems with a facility that outsiders can rarely learn. In other words, this diaspora young generation has much potential to be extremely effective agents in a world that has become a global village—much like Daniel in the days of Babylon. But they need mentors and they need opportunity.
The strength of the mainline churches of North America lies in the intentional grafting in of the diaspora church, which includes not only prayers, financial support, and encouragement, but also listening to their voices as emerging leaders and giving them positions of authority, responsibility, and leadership. This is a not about affirmative action[7] within the church but rather a challenge to make intentional and strategic changes to harness the full potential of our sisters and brothers, to whose nations we sent missionaries, and now, we have the privilege of having in our own countries and in our own churches. The diaspora people groups offer a wealth of knowledge, experience and testimony that reflect God’s creativity, His kingdom’s diversity and His ever-present power that is active today and always.
God has consistently called His chosen people out of their places of comfort so that they might follow Him. There are plenty examples of God’s diaspora faithful throughout the Bible. At seventy-five years old, Abram left everything had to follow God to a place that He would show him. Jacob fled from his brother Esau and endured much injustice at the hands of his uncle Laban. Joseph was sold in human trafficking and found himself in Egypt. Moses was born in Egypt, experienced his own identity crisis and fled into the wilderness. Israel wandered as a nomadic people before Joshua conquered Canaan and settled in their cities. David, the great messianic king of the united monarchy, spent much of his time fleeing from King Saul in the caves of the desert wilderness. In the New Testament, Jesus’ own parents, Mary and Joseph, fled from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth in order to avoid King Herod’s madness. All this shows that God has always moved His people all over the world, throughout history, according to His purpose.
The stress of migration and the tension of clashing cultures can only become a springboard for God’s kingdom work through obedience. Obedience of those on the move and obedience from those who receive fellow believers with Christian hospitality, mercy and grace. This is where the church must come together as the Body of Christ, exercising all the gifts, uplifting, edifying and always continuing to make disciples of all nations—nations that are not only abroad but, now, also domestic.
It would be arrogant to assume that the North American church leaders know more about a nation’s politics, customs, traditions, culture, paradigms, etc. than those who come directly from those very countries. It would be arrogant for the first-generation leaders of diaspora churches to assume that they are the ones who can move easily between both worlds. This is the unique position and calling, if you will, of the youth and young adults of the diaspora generations.
There is another advantage that is a result of the times. More than any other era in history, we live in a world that allows us to be more connected than ever, a day and age when travel is convenient and communication is instant. While many of us remember the days of analog, with each passing year, more and more young people have no idea how to use rotary phones and cannot even conceive of a life without WiFi, smart phones and social media. One prominent board member of Tyndale University College and Seminary stated, “The pace of change is faster than the pace of learning.”[8] I agree with this statement insofar as it applies to any generation that remembers analog but I disagree with the statement for our young generations. They are a demographic that rides the wave of change easily and with anticipation of what’s coming next. A changing and evolving world with finger-tip information and instant communication is their playground and they’re not as threatened by it as we might be. Look at any young millennial entrepreneur—they’re able to use all of it to their advantage. In many ways, they are the instigators and catalyzers of this rapid pace of change.
So, when we couple the diaspora young adults’ sojourning experience with the day and age into which they are born, these may just be the God ordained elements that set the stage for this emerging generation to be effectively used by God for His glory. It is a remarkable thing that none of these circumstances are of their own making; they did not choose to be migrants in a millennial generation. They just happen to be the kids of migrants who happen to be born into this current world.
We know that, ultimately, God is in control. He has always had a plan and it’s never Plan B. When we take a careful look at global migration trends, listening intentionally to the testimonies of those diaspora people groups on the move, the opportunities that our diaspora sisters and brothers bring to North American churches becomes self-evident and one cannot be anything but excited and hopeful about what God has in store for the future days. In the same way that Gentile believers were grafted into the early church, the diaspora church and their young people are the spiritual transfusion that mainline churches and denominations need.
Whatever the world’s political climate, whatever the culture’s latest trend, we must not let the social conditions psyche us out. Despite living through the siege of Jerusalem, only to be taken captive to Babylon, thrown into a fiery furnace, survive the fall of Babylon, only to be thrown into a lion’s den and die in exile, Daniel and his friends knew something of the prophecy to go to Babylon and live and thrive. God is with them even there just as He is with us here, in our chaotic and turbulent times. As such, the current social climate may just be the fertile spiritual soil for raising-up diaspora young leaders in the emerging generation in preparation for a world that God knows is coming.
The diaspora churches need to hold on to their unique stories and testimonies and, in the tradition of Psalm 78 and Deuteronomy 6, pass them down to their children and share them amongst the church as God’s story in real-time history. In the same way that the members of the early church were scattered throughout the Roman Empire with the gospel of Jesus Christ in their hearts, taking the salvation message to wherever the Holy Spirit led, the diaspora generation comes here to us, no doubt in the sovereignty of His will, hearing, believing and, in turn, going to make disciples of all nations and in particular their own people group.
In Toronto, as we observe these visible changes in our demographics, we are excited to see a glimpse of the mosaic of God’s kingdom on this side of heaven. It’s not perfect. Every church, diaspora and otherwise, has their unique challenges. Diaspora communities often have generational challenges yet it is especially encouraging to see the emerging diaspora youth and their devotion to God. We must never underestimate the ability of young people to understand and grasp things that are of God. We must never underestimate their interest in things that are of God.
In light of all this, there are two questions to consider:
- Are traditional mainline churches and their leadership willing to take a step back to make room for the diaspora churches, not just at the table, but to take the lead in directing the conversation? Are you willing to sit at our table and not just on the mission fields?
- Is the older generation of diaspora church leaders willing to pass the leadership, perhaps sooner than anticipated because of the pace of change in the world today, to empower, encourage, guide, even protect and ultimately lift up and challenge the young diaspora leaders (second and third generations) to take responsibility for church leadership (including in their homeland)?
As we consider the future of Christianity and the church in North America, we recognize and acknowledge that there are obstacles and challenges. Nonetheless, we’re also reminded that God works most outstandingly when the odds are outstandingly against His people. Thus, in a world that seems to be spinning out of control, we know all is not lost. May He raise up for Himself a Daniel generation for “such a time as this.”[9]
Reverend Lisa Pak is the Regional Director for Ontario and Nunavut at the Canadian Bible Society. She is ordained by the Korean Association of Independent Churches and Missions (KAICAM) and is part of the Korean Presbyterian Churches Abroad (KPCA). She holds a MDiv and a MABL from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has extensive church experience in South Korea, Singapore, and Canada. Lisa has travelled globally and is passionate about diaspora communities and mobilizing the young generation for the gospel.
[1] A term coined by the Canadian, Marshall McLuhan. The original quotation, “The new electronic independence recreates the world in the image of a global village.” Truly prophetic indeed.
[2] Wikipedia, s.v. “Diaspora,” last modified February 13, 2019, 13:58, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora.
[3] “Toronto Population,” World Population Review, last modified October 20, 2017, http://worldpopulationreview.com/.
[4] Esther 4:14. I appreciate Mordecai’s phrasing and Esther’s predicament. Though not literal, I feel it aptly describes the situation of God’s young leaders today.
[5] Daniel 1:8.
[6] My parents immigrated from Korea to Canada in the late ’70s and I was born in Canada in the early eighties. My legal first name is English, followed by my legal middle name which is Korean, and my last name from my father. My parents intentionally chose this order because I was born in Canada and wanted to acknowledge that I am Canadian in the fullest sense; hence, my first name is English. In acknowledgement of my roots, my middle name is Korean. Finally, in order to identify me as part of a family unit, my last name is my father’s. Many immigrants and diaspora people have two, even three, names.
[7] In my mind, and I acknowledge that this may not always be the case, affirmative action sometime carries the notion of giving something to someone because of their minority status, not because they have earned it or because of their demonstrated or potential ability.
[8] As quoted by Dr. Gary Nelson from Stephen Holmes, Board member of Tyndale University College and Seminary.
[9] Esther 4:14.
