President's Blog

I attended the Baptist World Alliance Conference in July 2025. Along with 4000+ Baptists from 138 countries. An amazing gathering.

I enjoyed one workshop led by Rev Darrell Jackson, the principal of Whitley College in Melbourne, Australia. I want to share with you some interesting insights from Professor Jackson from his workshop entitled “Diaspora Mission in a Changing World”.

What changes define this moment in history? Could these changes help define how the Church conducts mission? Could the changes be reflected in the global movement of people entering Canada and our communities? Some have called this the “age of migration”.

In 2024 there were 304 million international migrants worldwide, which is one person in every twenty-seven.

The drivers of this movement include climate change, economic opportunity, conflict, and persecution.

Attempts to resist this movement include the construction of border walls and fences, the implementation of legal and policy restrictions, and the rise of various forms of nationalism including Christian nationalism.

It’s ironic that the more we try to stop migration, the more we underscore its transformative power. It’s somewhat paradoxical that the growing hostility towards migrants and resistance to migration merely serves to underscore the unprecedented and unstoppable impact of migration upon the communities, societies, and nations of our changing world.

Reframing the Conversation

So, lets pose another question: “What if we’ve been asking the wrong questions about migration and mission?”

Traditionally, we’ve tended to ask the question “How do we do mission BECAUSE the world is changing?”

Migration and diaspora aren’t challenges to overcome–we need to be comfortable with the possibility that they are, in fact, pathways to transforming how we do mission in Canada and beyond.

Four Dimensions of Diaspora Mission

1. Mission TO the diaspora: “Meeting people where they are”

When we talk about “Mission TO the diaspora,” we’re talking about where they’ve chosen to gather, rather than where they were born. Amazingly, most of these communities in Canada remain completely unengaged with congregations committed to following Jesus.

Geography is now an ally. Right now, in Los Angeles, you can access more Iranians in a few neighbourhoods than you could reach in most cities across Iran. In Melbourne, the Greek diaspora community is more concentrated and accessible than in many regions of Greece itself.

This is more than convenience–it’s an unprecedented opportunity. Entire communities who might be difficult to reach in their home countries are now our neighbours, shopping in our grocery stores, sending their children to our local schools.

In these situations, you don’t just show up with a megaphone and a tract. Cultural sensitivity isn’t optional–it’s essential. These communities carry their homeland in their hearts, alongside complex emotions of displacement, hope, and identity.

Authentic relationship-building is the bridge. Meeting people where they are. Not just geographically, but culturally, emotionally, spiritually. Diaspora mission isn’t about conquering territory. It’s about crossing the street with genuine love and stepping into someone else’s story.

The question isn’t whether the opportunity exists. The question is: are we ready to cross the street?

2. Mission AMONG the diaspora: “Living in the in-between”

But, what happens when you don’t just cross the street, you live on both sides of it simultaneously? This is mission AMONG the diaspora.

Imagine this: every morning, you wake up Korean. Every evening, you go to sleep Canadian. You bow to your grandmother while texting your college friends. You know the weight of han-the uniquely Korean concept of deep sorrow–and you also know the lightness of Canadian optimism. You are perpetually translating, not just languages, but entire worlds.

This is the reality for second- and third-generation diaspora communities. A constant identity negotiation: preserving the sacred traditions of their parents while embracing the possibilities of their new home. Is this a burden, or a ministry asset?

Well, this bicultural perspective doesn’t dilute the Gospel–it reveals dimensions of God’s character that monocultural communities don’t see.

In the in-between space, ministry doesn’t just happen. It transforms. And sometimes, the most fruitful missionaries are those who’ve learned to call two worlds home. This not just life in the gap–at its best, it’s bridging the gap. In multiple ways.

3. Mission WITH the diaspora: “Towards partnership in a mobile world”

What if the most effective global missionaries today aren’t necessarily the ones with seminary degrees? What if they’re nurses?

Consider a Filipino nurse in Dubai. She video-calls her family every Sunday. She sends money home monthly. She maintains WhatsApp friendships across three continents. She’s not just an immigrant–she’s a living, breathing transnational network.

Now, multiply that by millions. Filipino nurses work in hospitals worldwide. They’re not just moving money across borders – they’re moving relationships, ideas, spiritual relationships, and genuine care.

One nurse prays with a patient in London. She shares the need for prayer with a church in the Philippines. It travels to a prayer group in Singapore.

Diaspora Christians are creating new mission strategies, leveraging global networks in ways that traditional missionaries sometimes struggle to replicate.

It’s sustainable. There’s no reliance on foreign funding. It’s globally connected. It’s organic yet intentional. It’s professional yet deeply personal.

In a world where people, ideas, and influence move at the speed of fibre-optic cables, mission WITH the diaspora isn’t just effective–it’s inevitable. The question can’t be whether we’ll partner with these networks of people in diaspora. The questions should be whether we’re ready to follow their lead, because they’re already changing the world. One patient, one conversation, one connection at a time.

4. Mission AS diaspora: “A new paradigm for a mobile age”

What if diaspora IS mission?

Four thousand years ago, God told Abraham, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household.” (Genesis 12:1a, BSB) It seems that diaspora serves God’s missionary purposes.

Ruth leaves Moab for Bethlehem. Daniel is exiled to Babylon. Paul travels relentlessly across the Mediterranean. The pattern is unmistakable: God’s people are a people on the move, and mobility is the method.

Seventy percent of a new church plants across Europe have been started by diaspora Christians. Nigerian pastors are revitalizing empty churches in London. Korean professionals are planting churches in Berlin. Congolese refugees are planting churches in Brussels.

This isn’t just changing how we do mission–it’s revealing what mission was always meant to be. Not a Western export or a professional specialty, but as natural as human movement itself. As Jesus says in Matthew 28, Wherever you find yourself, make disciples. Wherever you find yourself.

In a world where 304 million people live outside their country of birth, mission AS diaspora isn’t the future of global evangelism, it’s a present reality.

“The invitation of Our Age”

So, we’re brought back to our opening questions: “How do we do mission because the world is changing rather than mission in a world that is changing?”

Simply put, this requires us to recalibrate our assumptions.

Why do we still imagine mission is primarily about conquest, destination, or as institution?

What’s to stop us re-imagining mission as a conversation, as a journey, and as a movement?

• - From mission as conquest to mission as conversation

• - From mission as destination to mission as journey

• - From mission as institution to mission as movement

Each of us can readily consider what concrete steps to take next:

Step One: I’d encourage you to see differently.

                See diaspora communities as mission partners, not just mission targets.

Step Two: I’d encourage you to connect intentionally.

                Build relationships across cultural and national boundaries in your own community.

Step Three: I’d encourage you to journey with purpose.

                Whether you’re crossing the street or crossing an ocean, carry mission consciousness.