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>> God is moving people around. And God's Holy Spirit is also moving in the hearts of
people. Therefore, we have to understand the reality and also act accordingly. Before I
rush through my part of presentation, I want to draw your attention to the notes of Part
2 - turn to the back. You will find a listing of websites for your future reference and
further study. For example, item number 2 is the Global Network of Filipino. Bullet
number 3, there is a free book for you to download. "A Higher Purpose for Your Overseas
Job." Then there is also bullet 4, about Global Missiology, an online journal where you will
find resources for different Diaspora groups and ministry to them. Also, in April, I did
a presentation in Tokyo 2010 where I had more time than today. Therefore, figure number
2, I will not have time to unpack it. If you're interested in it, Tokyo 2010 website, you'll
find a video clip there with a detailed explanation. Also, just for the occasion, we had one book
printed, Korean Diaspora and Christian Mission, just for distribution here. Unfortunately,
they got stuck in Johannesburg. So maybe you go to the dialogue session, by that time,
they will arrive. However, better news for you, is we have the cooperation of Filipino
delegates. They hand carried this recently printed booklet from Manila. Therefore, on
your way out, make sure you get a copy of this, and thank the Filipino delegates for
their kindness [Applause]. Here's a picture of the New Year celebration in 2002, where
there were thousands of Chinese contract workers in Israel, and I had the honor and privilege
and the pleasure to baptize 82 Chinese in the Jordan River. This is the occasion, so
God moved people around, and move in the heart, and we should move along with it. There are
opportunities and challenges because of this demographic reality. For example, in the wealthiest
seven countries in the world, they have only very limited population of the whole world.
And yet, 1/3 of all the migrant workers are found in these seven countries and many of
them are from unreached people groups. Therefore, when we understand the phenomenon of the Diaspora,
there is no unreached people group because God moved them out of their security and comfort
zone and moved them to your neighborhood. There is no excuse for you saying that I don't
have visa. I have problem with food, and therefore, I will not travel to reach them. No excuse.
And the migrant workers are moving in this direction, from the east to the west, from
the south to the north, and interestingly enough, the center of gravity of Christianity
is moving from the north to the south. One interesting example is this. I recently published
one article, which will be included in the resource material. In the UK, Sunday worshippers,
from 1975 to 1998, went from 5.4 million worshippers on Sunday down to 3.7. At the same time, there
were migrant congregations popping up everywhere in the UK. One interesting example is the
case study of the Kings Way International Christian Center. A short 18 years history.
They have grown now to every Sunday having 12,000 African immigrants worshipping the
Lord. The largest congregation in the whole Western Europe. This is not what we can work
out. Only God is the one doing it. Here is a diagram that I don't have time to unpack,
but I hope those who are watching through the streaming, and you can download this particular
table, and go through it yourself. Because of the moving of the people, now there is
the borderless church, and when we talk about Diaspora missions, we're talking about three
aspects. First, ministering to the Diaspora. That means doing evangelism and service to
them. The second is ministering through them. They are like magnets. They could practice
God's love and attract others of their own kind, including their homeland. And therefore
we should motivate and mobilize Diaspora congregations for the Great Commission. Many of them have
acquired the new languages and adjusted to the culture environment. Those Diaspora communities
are bridges to the local secularized Europeans, Americans, and Canadians. Therefore we should
challenge them to engage in cross cultural mission to fulfill the Great Commission, and
this is what we call ministering beyond the Diaspora. Let me repeat. Ministering to,
ministering through, and ministering beyond the Diaspora. This is the new missiological
paradigm. Let me give you a case study. Usually when we think of church planting, we think
of soil. We think of a plant. But Diaspora Missiology requires us to have a paradigm
shift. Not only church planting on the soil, but also we are to think about church planting
in different occasions. I'll give you an example. Here is church planting on the ocean.
Sorry. Somehow okay. Let's start with this case study. We have Warren Rifia(?) who is
from the Kuwait church. He has a worship service in Kuwait, and here's some description. >>100
years ago, the Muslims Sikh from what is now Kuwait had a sixth son. He took his sixth
son to the Dutch medical missionary who loved him, prayed for him, healed him, and in time,
the Sikh brought his family. As the family came, the Sikh came to love the doctor and
the doctor, his patients. That relationship has allowed favor for 100 years in Kuwait
City. Today, there is a church that holds 88 services on any given week in any day of
the week, and that is because of the favor of God. The international church worldwide
is a soft landing place for the Diaspora people. It is at the same time a launching pad, so
that when people come in, they can be, won, disciple, built, and equipped to be sent back.
That, brothers and sisters, is cost effective evangelism.
>>There are many places because of security concerns we could not tell you but Kuwait
is an exception. Therefore, it's good to have him talking to you about the reality. Many
churches in the West, we have church buses to pick up people. But among the Diaspora,
we have bus church. I'll not tell you which country and which city and which Diaspora
group. Three years ago, there was one bus. Every Saturday, they will hire a tourist bus
driving around the city so they don't have to worry about renting a facility and have
security concerns. So they have someone acquiring a tourist bus driver's license. For two hours
they drive around the city. They do everything, singing, worship, offering, except baptism.
(Laughter) Today there are three such bus churches, praise the Lord (Applause) Besides
the church on the bus, that's why we have to have a paradigm shift, we have also a church
on the ocean. This was one church ocean liner. There were staff members accepting Christ,
the Bremer(?) in 2005. Then in 2006, another ocean liner, (?) another group of staff workers
became Christians. And guess what? In 2009, these two ocean liners, the teams met together
and had a worship service. And this is the situation of the joint worship service, and
then they founded the church. The Bremer Christian Church, and it's good to be able
to attend church, and they have wonderful facility including (gestures) very, very good.
They don't even have to pay for it. Isn't it interesting that we have to have a paradigm
shift about the Diaspora mission? See, the sign there saying it's good to go to church
without landing. And there are many amazing examples of how people are being moved by
the Lord, and then we could reach them. I won't have time to go into details, but you
have the handout, and some of them are explained it there. I'll give you another example,
in April; I was in Japan and Korea. Guess what? The largest Protestant church in Japan
is not a Japanese church. It's a Korean church. It's a church with a base to reach other Diaspora
group. They have more than 1,000 people worshipping on Sunday. But there are a lot of things
that we have to pay attention to in order to help the church. Not only to encourage
the leaders to have a paradigm shift, but we should also motivate and mobilize local
churches including Diaspora congregations to reach to others. And this is called missions
at our doorstep. For example, the world at your door, reaching international students
in your home, church, and school. All you need to do is open your home, befriend some
international students, and many of them will return home to be powerful witnesses, and
they are the Daniel and Joseph in their home country a few years down the road. Therefore,
missions at our doorstep is very strategic and also very economical. Missions have come
home to America. Why? Because there are so many, many foreign borns in the U.S. The latest
information, statistics, is that there are 36 million foreign born American citizens.
12% of the total population. And among them, there are also 33 million native born ethnic
members, with one parent being overseas born and this is the kind of impressive statistics
and wonderful opportunities that we could reach people. So we have to have a new understanding
about mission at our doorstep. Yes or no? You could go over that yourself. I want to
hurry and mention to you, this is another booklet, a free download, from Lausanne Pattaya.
Finally, I want to mention about ministering to Diaspora people. We have to get away from
the Western way of managerial, programmatic outcome based type of approach. Instead, we
should have a relational touch. A personal relationship, either friendship, hospitality,
and so on, to work with this kind of people. In many cultures, relationship is so keen
and key, in order to start your evangelistic process. This is helpful information if you're
interested in understanding a new paradigm. Relational paradigm in working with Diaspora
people. Again, this is the diagram, in Tokyo 2010 presentation video clip. You'll find
further elaboration because I only have 20 minutes here and my time is up. However,
I want to mention to you something. I have been in the States for a long time and I'm
still not used to Campbell’s chicken soup. Why? We Chinese, Jewish, African, when we
have our chicken soup, we have the real chicken. Relationship is the real chicken. Before the
foundation of the world, God knew us personally. God sent his Son to die for us. God sent his
Holy Spirit to reside inside of us. How can you be more relational than that? However,
in North America, when we talk about something serious, we would begin with this apology.
‘Sorry, nothing personal.’ (Laughter) but if your theology and your ministry is
not personal, I feel sorry for you. Don't treat people as your target group. Don't try
to market the Gospel. The Gospel doesn't need you to sell. But the Gospel needs you to be
incarnationally touching their lives. Jesus touched the lives of many people. Lepers,
prostitutes, tax collectors. He would not say, ‘sorry, nothing personal.’ I hope
you get the point. So you forget everything I say today, remember, and put the chicken
back in the chicken soup.