Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Ministering to Diasporas: An Interview with Dr. Sadiri Joy Tira

March 2009

Dr. Sadiri Joy Tira, Filipino-Canadian missiologist and Lausanne Movement Senior Associate for Diasporas, talks about “people on the move” and how Lausanne’s Diasporas Leadership Team is working toward Lausanne’s mission of “the whole Church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world.”

Q: What is your role as Lausanne’s Senior Associate for Diasporas?

A: Part of my responsibility is, using the Lausanne platform, to initiate and motivate diaspora Christians to actively participate in world evangelization. Another responsibility is to communicate and represent Lausanne’s work whenever and wherever I am given a chance. I do have a team of associates called the “Lausanne Diasporas Leadership Team” who work with me toward Lausanne’s mandate and goal.

Q: Briefly discuss the “global diasporas” as you see them with the eyes of missions.

A: To begin, I need to define our use of the term “diaspora.” Then, I will give you a brief overview of the global diaspora situation and how it is relevant to missions.

Lausanne’s Senior Associate for Diasporas talks about diaspora and world evangelism.

We use the term “diaspora” to refer to the phenomenon of “dispersion” or movement of any ethnic group. For our discussion, I will also use the terms “migration” and “people on the move” to refer to this people movement.

In 2005, the International Organization for Migration estimated that the number of international migrants had reached 192 million. This means that approximately one of every thirty-four persons in the world is a migrant. This figure, extrapolated by experts, is expected to reach 200 million by the year 2010. This is a lot of people—five times more than the entire population of Canada. This is not to mention the Internally Displaced People within their region or country. This includes refugees, migrant workers, trafficked people, international students, government and armed forces personnel, people involved in family reunification plans, permanent immigrants to accepting countries, etc.

Factors leading to diaspora can be of a voluntary or involuntary nature, such as urbanization, rapid globalization in the labour industry, geopolitical shifts, catastrophic natural disasters (e.g., hurricane, flood, earthquake, tsunami), national and ethnic conflicts, socio-economic advancement, cultural exchanges, and pandemics resulting in a crippling of the workforce (e.g., HIV/AIDS). The “push” factors contributing to mass migration are as myriad as are the “pull” factors drawing the migrants to host countries.

The top ten receiving countries are the United States, the Russian Federation, Germany, Ukraine, France, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Pakistan.