Status of Diaspora Ministry
About 3% of the world’s total population live in countries in which they were not born and can broadly be characterized as Diaspora peoples. This does not take into account the many millions who have experienced significant transition inside their country of birth, such as migrant workers in China, who in 2009 numbered as many as 230 million. Dr. Ralph Winter wrote that Diaspora missiology may well be the most important undigested reality in missions thinking today. We simply have not caught up with the fact that most of the world’s people can no longer be defined geographically.In the February 2011 Global Issues Update, Dr. Enoch Wan helps us understand the significance of Diaspora ministry and the importance of seizing the critical window of opportunity that is opened when dislocated people are separated from the ties of family, culture and tradition upon moving to a new community. Enoch Wan is the Director of the Doctor of Missiology program at Western Seminary and the President of the Evangelical Missiological Society. He also serves as the editor of the multi-lingual, free online journal, GlobalMissiology.org.
