Abstract
With over 230 million migrants in the world today, this is indeed a particularly challenging period and it is appropriate to call it “an age of migration.” Church in an Age of Global Migration is yet another significant book on the global phenomenon of migration. It brings together contributions from the global church, from different denominations and Christian traditions – Anglican, Baptist, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and Catholic – from different geographical areas of the globe.
The book is structured in three parts, which move the argument smoothly from “Denominational visions of migrant ecclesiology,” to “Reimagining traditional ecclesiological tasks,” to “New ecclesial structures.” In Part I, four authors explore, from Catholic, Reformed, Orthodox, and Pentecostal perspectives, the nature and purpose of the church, and illustrate how these particular churches think through their own identities and missions in the light of contemporary migration. Part II of the book is larger and gathers seven contributions, which tackle the specific challenges that migration poses to churches, forcing them to rethink their pastoral and missiological tasks. In Part III, the last five chapters, we have a description and analysis of new ecclesial forms and structures that have emerged in response to migration in different regions.
There are altogether 16 chapters in the book, written by different authors – academics, practitioners, pastors, and scholars – who come from different disciplines, regions, and religious perspectives. One particular question that is clearly reflected in each contribution of the volume is this: how are churches changing their own theology, identity, and practice in the face of global migration? What emerges from the answers provided is a mosaic or a “collage” of various ecclesial practices, understandings, and realities in response to global migration, reflecting postcolonial realities and critique from the perspective of underprivileged migrants. Various imperial structures and practices of oppression are exposed throughout the book, realities which drastically affect the lives of millions of people today. The various authors in the collection attempt to discern and represent the voices of those directly affected by the structures of domination all over the world.
Just as the subtitle of the book indicates, one of the contentions of the contributors in the volume is that the church is in a constant move, shifting and changing, indeed, “a moving body – alive and changing, vulnerable and strong, always dying and growing” (p. 9). And it is the phenomenon of migration that challenges Christians to recover this mobile, dynamic understanding of the church – as the community is called to go out and experience the pain, struggle, and lack of belonging that the migrants feel. This topic – theological reflection on human mobility, on the way in which migration affects and/or changes the church – explored in the studies gathered in this volume needs a great deal of attention. I find it of particular significance as most of the responses given by the churches around the world to the phenomenon of migration are concentrated on the ethical aspect of our response and on addressing the urgent needs in specific situations. Beyond the sociological and ethnographic analyses about the shifts of religious composition of communities brought about by migration, the studies in this book also ask the more theologically nuanced questions related to the changes in the identity, practices, and the future of historical denominations that migration brings about. This is, indeed, a pioneering new field of exploration in migration studies, especially from a Christian perspective, and the book offers persuasive arguments for “ecclesiological reformulations in the light of migration.” This is an excellent effort to rediscover very relevant conceptions of the church as a pilgrim community, kingdom community, and inclusive community.
Church in an Age of Global Migration represents a large ecumenical perspective and builds on previous ecumenical contributions and insights and offers further theological and missiological developments on the issue of migration. The explorations in this book are a proof that the way the global church mobilizes together to reflect and act on behalf of displaced people represents an opportunity for partnership and dialogue among different Christian churches and denominations.
In a context of worldwide increasing violence and the amplification of various forms of intolerance and exclusion, this book is a timely call to the urgency of profound reflection and speedy action on behalf of migrants. It portrays afresh the task of the churches and how they can become agents of peace, welcome, and hospitality for the stranger, the migrant, and the displaced. This is an excellent recourse for scholars, educators, pastors, and church leaders, and for all those interested in, and committed to, an appropriate response to the global crisis of migration.