How I became a Diaspora Champion

It wasn't that long ago, if you mentioned the word "diaspora" I would have looked at you puzzled. At most, I might have made a connection with the Jewish Diaspora,  And even with my knowledge of the involuntary and voluntary coming and going of people we teach in Perspectives, the idea of God having people on the move was rooted in a historical perspective, which is where we teach about it in Lesson 6 - "The History of the World Christian Movement." It is easy to see, in retrospect, how God moved over the centuries to accomplish his purposes by scattering people about. But my awareness of what the Lord was doing today began changing about a year and a half ago, as the Lord started getting my attention of what he was doing in our day.`

The word "diaspora" really only began to gain wide attention following the 3rd Lausanne Congress, held in Capetown,  in October of 2010. I take some solace in the fact that I wasn't alone in my ignorance. There were, of course, some who understood but not many. In fact, it wasn't that long ago that Dr. Ralph Winter said, "Diaspora missiology may well be the most important and undigested reality in mission thinking today." The "undigested" nature of what Dr. Winters says may be the most important "mission thinking" we can do today is quickly changing.  In April of 2011, it began to change for me. We need to think well about "diaspora" because these scattered people are changing our world.

Recently, I was asked by Dr. Joy Tira, the Lausanne Movement Senior Associate for Diasporas, to share my story about how the Lord got my attention and how I became, what Dr. Tira calls, a "Diaspora champion." You can read that story below or by clicking here