On September 12–13, 2025, immigrant, non-immigrant and NextGen participants from 22 countries converged at Kingdom City Houston for the fourth annual Diaspora Network National Conference: Church Planting and the Renewal of the City. With Houston—America’s most international city—as its backdrop, the gathering highlighted a reality that is reshaping Christianity: Migration is not only moving people, it is renewing the Church.
The theme of this year’s conference centered on immigrant church planting and multiplication, equipping participants to join God’s work among diaspora communities while envisioning the transformation of cities across North America. Conference organizers came alongside diaspora leaders and movements, learning from them while developing training pipelines and multiplication incubators for immigrant-led congregations.
Worshiping the God of the Nations
The event began Friday evening with a Global Potluck and Nations Worship Festival, a vibrant display of cultural diversity where participants shared food, attire and artistic traditions from their backgrounds. Multilingual and multicultural worship set the tone, reminding attendees that the Church’s strength lies in its diversity. Pastor Daniel Yang of World Relief delivered the opening keynote, focusing on planting bridge-building and peacemaking churches for “such a time as this,” followed by testimonies from Houston-based church planters.
Teaching, Tracks and Transformation
Saturday featured a full day of worship, workshops and roundtable discussions. Pastor Robert Guerrero of Redeemer City to City anchored the morning plenary, speaking from Jeremiah 29 about pursuing the peace of the city. Participants then chose one of four conference tracks:
- La Iglesia Hispana en Misión (Spanish track), addressing intercultural mission and next-gen discipleship
- Woven for Witness, a Next Gen track for ages 16–29, helping young believers integrate faith and cultural identity
- Global Migration, examining how immigrant churches are reshaping the North American landscape
- Legacy in Motion, equipping leaders for intergenerational church planting in immigrant contexts
Lunch roundtables allowed deeper exploration of themes such as multicultural collaboration and advocacy for refugees. A roundtable conversation between Bishop Todd and Bishop Flavio Adair from the Anglican Church in Brazil focused on church planting lessons we can learn from the Global South. Afternoon sessions continued within the chosen tracks before the day closed with a plenary from the Rev. Teesha Hadra, board chair of the Diaspora Network, who preached from Esther on speaking up for the vulnerable. Diaspora Network team members also prayed for Bishop Todd and presented him with a special plaque honoring his 49 years of ministry and his guidance in creating and shaping the Diaspora Network.
The conference concluded with a symbolic foot-washing and commissioning service, underscoring its ethos of mutuality, humility and partnership.
From Gathering to Movement
Beyond the weekend, attendees were invited into ongoing Diaspora Network cohorts, launching in 2026, which provide spaces for mutual learning, leadership development and collaboration. These included a NextGen cohort for young leaders, a Legacy in Motion cohort for immigrant pastors, and bilingual training cohorts for Hispanic church planters. The goal is not only to connect participants but to catalyze a movement of church planting and city transformation led by diaspora Christians.
A Future-Shaping Moment
The 2025 Diaspora National Conference captured a historic moment. While the headlines often portray migration as a crisis, here it was framed as opportunity: the Spirit moving through global mobility to renew the Church. That vision came alive in worship, learning and the planting of seeds for the Church’s future.