• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions CoachingNew
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Leaders
    • Mission Jobs
    • OnBoard
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission AppNew
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Upcoming Events

          • Webinar: Through the Wall
            Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
          • Three Steps to Kickstart Your Fund Development Program
            Tue Feb 16 2021, 03:00pm EST
          • Webinar: Innovating Theological Education: How BibleMesh can Prepare your Staff for Ministry
            Thu Feb 25 2021, 02:00pm EST
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Webinar: Through the Wall
    Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Three Steps to Kickstart Your Fund Development Program
    Tue Feb 16 2021, 03:00pm EST
  • Webinar: Innovating Theological Education: How BibleMesh can Prepare your Staff for Ministry
    Thu Feb 25 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Association Leaders Gathering
    Tue Mar 2 2021, 08:30am EST
  • Innovation Labs - Session 1
    Tue Mar 2 2021, 10:00am EST

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Coaching Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Globally Engaged Churches Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Serving God in a Migrant Crisis: Ministry to People on the Move

Posted on October 1, 2017 by April 5, 2019

by Patrick Johnstone with Dean Merrill

Global Mapping International, 2016. 

—Reviewed by Joshua Gorenflo, MDiv and M.A. theology student at Abilene Christian University.

 

 src=Patrick Johnstone has spent a lifetime as a missionary evangelist in countries from Africa to Asia and the Pacific. While serving with Dorothea Mission in Africa, Johnstone began researching and compiling data on people groups which would birth Operation World, a resource with an untold impact on global missions. Johnstone now lives in England and serves on the leadership team of WEC International, a large pioneering church-planting mission. Johnstone brings this background to offer apt insight of the migrant crisis while insisting that the Christian response to the displaced can only be the hope of the gospel. 

The primary objective of Serving God in a Migrant Crisis is to address the problematic ‘disembodying’ of displaced peoples—an attitude carried too often by Western Christians about anyone whose name is too difficult to pronounce or whose mention in a headline is far removed from our daily experience. 

Johnstone does this by presenting (1) what is going on in the world, (2) what is essential to know about refugees, and (3) what can be done about the migrant crisis both individually and collectively. While not a rigorous academic explication of the crisis and its complexities, this book serves as an introduction for those who desire to be aware of and active in caring for the millions of displaced people in our world today.

Despite its thin demeanor, Serving God offers contemporary statistics, engaging testimonies, and most importantly, has its fingers on the pulse of the current situation, both in the world at large and in the Church’s response. Knowing the aversions and aptitude of the Christian community, Johnstone grounds his research in a theological and pragmatic foundation, an attempt which is brought home by reflective questions at the conclusion of each chapter. 

Taken seriously, such questions can illuminate why it is that, as the president of World Relief, Stephan Bauman, stated in the book’s Foreword, “Churches are twice as likely to fear refugees as help them” (p. v). As such, Serving God is an excellent resource for individuals, small groups, and churches alike to challenge themselves with living the title of the book.

Our cultural and political climate is rife with suspicion, and even hatred, of ‘the other’, and many Western Christians hesitate to take a stand, or make excuses why they shouldn’t. The force of Johnstone’s book is to remind Christians of their biblical roots in exile, their call to welcome the stranger as they would Jesus himself (Matt. 25), and to address the fears, facts, and feelings surrounding displaced persons. 

Serving God achieves this without preaching at or shaming the reader; rather, the authors encourage them to recognize that the migrant crisis isn’t going away soon, and that many who do not know Jesus are arriving in our hometowns, desperate for good news.

After reading Serving God in a Migrant Crisis, one is left with some important questions: What is God’s perspective on the migrant crisis? And how can we adopt the heart of God for these, his children?

. . . .

EMQ, Vol. 53, No. 4. Copyright  © 2017 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 53 - Issue 4

Write a Comment Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks