By the Rev. Jonathan Kindberg, Diaspora Mobilizer of C4SO’s Diaspora Network

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” (Acts 17:26-28 NIV)

What an amazing time we had together at the Diaspora Network Launch Conference hosted by Church of the Cross in Austin, Texas! Immigrant and diaspora leaders from across the United States (and around the world), as well as C4SO church leaders desiring to partner with and learn from immigrants, came together October 7-8 for a multilingual and multicultural conference to launch this new ministry.

Our opening worship night (called “The Nations Worship”) brought together Austin-area immigrant churches who led those gathered in song, scripture reading and prayer in Spanish, Portuguese, Igbo, Lingala, Nepali, French, Swahili and English, among other languages. A highlight from the night was hearing from key-note speaker Dr. Bulus Galadima, Diaspora Catalyst for the Lausanne Movement. Sharing from his own background as an immigrant to the United States who was born and raised in Jos, Nigeria, he said:

“I am from a small tribe called Afizere. This is probably the only time you will ever meet an Afizere person in your life. But isn’t God wonderful that he would pick somebody like me from a small ethnic group that nobody knows and place them in a place where they would be able to share the good news with people from so many different nations? This is what our great God does. And this is what God wants to do through you.”

Speaking to the immigrants and diaspora churches gathered, Galadima went on to reference Acts 17:

“You are not here by accident. God chose to have you here. If you begin to think about the implications of all of these things, it’s awesome. God is at work. God is doing something. God uses nations and individuals to accomplish his purpose. How can you bring your culture, your personality, your gifts to the feet of Jesus for service? God is the one who is orchestrating all these things. God is a subversive God.”

Galadima concluded by showing how the church in Antioch (Acts 11) was planted and started by diasporans (immigrants). See minutes 57-1:02 of his talk from “The Nations Worship” night here.

Saturday featured conversation and sharing in small groups; Mexican and Nigerian meals; and workshops around different topics including Border Ministry with Asylum Seekers and the unique challenges and gifts of 2nd generation folks who were born in the United States to immigrant parents. We closed with a bilingual (English/Spanish) Eucharist using the Kenyan Liturgy and celebrated by the Revs. Kimberly Deckel and José Zurita. The Rev. Teesha Hadra preached a powerful, translated message based on Matthew 8:5-13 sharing how, by coming to the table, we were enacting together the future kingdom vision Jesus spoke about in this passage: “In a few moments the nations will indeed stream to the table. The nations will come to the highest mountain to eat together.”

Tatiana, a recent arrival in Austin from the Anglican Church in Chile, was one of the conference participants. She started attending Church of the Cross in Austin several months ago after walking by the church building one day and wondering if it was an Anglican church. She emailed the church office (in Spanish) and quickly got connected to Sunday services and a mid-week bilingual small group. She has already started serving immigrant children from Central America in Austin and has brought a Honduran woman to church.

“This weekend [at the conference] was wonderful because I never thought or imagined what I was being invited to,” Tatiana says. “The truth is that I experienced a huge family that I didn’t know I had so close even though I am far from my homeland.”

Moving forward, participants were encouraged to pray and discern what next steps God might be calling them into, including:

• Building Relationships: regularly visiting and getting to know an immigrant church in your city

• Learning From: inviting Diaspora leaders to help guide your Global and local mission work and strategy

• Praying and Fasting: for an unreached people group in your city, praying with the weekly Nigerian or Latino Zoom prayer times, praying regularly on Sundays for the Nations

• Partnering: hosting an immigrant church in your building, financially supporting an immigrant pastor or church

• Multiplying: planting an immigrant church or an immigrant-focused church service

• Financial Partnering with the Diaspora Network

This event was an amazing kickoff to the ministry of the Diaspora Network! We are excited to gather for this annual conference each year to discover more of what God has in store in and through 1st and 2nd generation immigrants in our midst!

Learn more about the Diaspora Network.

The Rev. Jonathan Kindberg is resident clergy and a mission partner at Church of the Cross Austin, helping the church grow in their cross-cultural and community engagement in Northeast Austin. Jonathan has extensive experience in cross-cultural ministry in the United States and beyond. He has been instrumental in various ACNA initiatives related to engagement with the Latino community and church throughout North America. Jonathan is serving in Austin with a non-profit to connect churches to refugees and immigrants. Jonathan is mobilizing C4SO’s new Diaspora Network to support immigrant churches in our diocese.