Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Glocalization, Diaspora Missiology, and Friendship Evangelism

By Tuvya Zaretsky
May 2010

Diaspora missiology studies social groups that are identified by ethnicity, migration patterns, or pop culture. They are either outside of their place of origin or are in the midst of transition. Globalization presents the Church with an opportunity to study various peoples in a state of diaspora. They may be:

  • international travelers for study, business, tourism, or labor migration,
  • political refugees of conflict,
  • displaced populations due to disasters, or
  • a community experiencing social transition due to new cultural trends.

All of these are diaspora conditions that present opportunities for missiological study and formulation of new strategies for evangelism.

While the Church continues to send missionaries to foreign fields, it also has an opportunity to consider appropriate ways to reach communities that are coming to our locations. Diaspora missiology provides a method for learning ways to build relationships with global people groups, learn their culture, and invite “the stranger” into our local context (see Matthew 25:35). This, then, is an opportunity for glocalized evangelism: the world at our door.

Theological Reflection
 Diaspora is a characteristic most often associated with Jewish people. Abraham’s clan was scattered from Padam-Aram into the land of the Canaanites and the Egyptians. At God’s command, Moses led an exiled nation out of Egypt and gathered them back into the land of promise. Subsequent dispersions with intermittent re-gatherings have typified world Jewry from 722 B.C. until today.

The Lord has used diaspora for evangelistic purposes in history. A good example is found in Acts 2:5, 8-11. On the occasion of the Jewish festival of Shavuot (Pentecost), diaspora communities sent Jewish pilgrims to the city of Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s command (see Deuteronomy 16:16). In this incident, the Lord communicated the gospel to the Jewish pilgrims, in their own languages, employing a method that was culturally, linguistically, and religiously appropriate. The message was relevant, compelling, and personally appealing to each one present. The result was that three thousand of those who heard the gospel believed (Acts 2:37-42).

So the curse of scattering, through the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:8), was reversed. In one day, people heard the unique salvation message that gathered their hearts together through faith in one living God. The Lord’s people gathered as one body. They would soon be scattered again for God’s evangelistic purpose.

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