THE GLOBAL DIASPORA FORUM MANILA 2015

By the end of the meeting: a picture of the group

The Global Diaspora Forum Manila in Philippines

The Lausanne Movement held in Manila, Philippines, from March 24 to 27, the Global Diaspora Forum. This meeting brought together leaders of the global Diaspora Missions and aimed to discuss the contents of the collection on Global Diaspora Missiology. This collection has been prepared by experts from all continents, we were invited to read, take notes and make comments providing our critics and our additional information in relation to our field experiences. At the end of the session, a comprehensive compendium on the Diaspora missiology will be published by the Lausanne Movement and will be freely available in all evangelization missions in the Global Diaspora.

Having ascertain that the world is moving, with the development of transport and communication means, the global population is experiencing even greater migration than ever in the past. When we examine the Word, especially the New Testament, we realize that most of the evangelization of the world known at that time was made by the diaspora. The disciples were scattered from Jerusalem, the mission entrusted to them by Christ to go and make disciples of all Nations to the end of the earth took shape with the forced dispersal due to persecution.

 An analogy can be made with current movement of migration for various reasons, starting with the economic difficulties, to persecution for several reasons including religious. This created an extraordinary opportunity for evangelization of people who could not be reached in their land of origin or nations. Hence the need to rethink missiology adapted to new data: Missiology of the Diaspora. That is why this book will be titled: “Scattered and gathered: A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology.”

For three days our work in committees, workshop and plenary sessions focused on the development and refinement of this compendium in order to make available to Global missions, a powerful and valuable tool. It was a real marathon to consider in three days, in commissions, workshops and discussion groups, being dispersed in different rooms, going up and down floors to find ourselves in plenary session at last, to hear different reports, add our experiences and write the final report subject by subject. Up early in the morning and sleep late in the night, I had to cancel the mission in Indonesia which was scheduled for the weekend there, in order to be able to get my Sunday evening flight to Europe.

But also, we have made some interesting encounters with leaders of the missions of the whole planet and appointments have been made for future collaboration in the areas of evangelization to the Diaspora and by the Diaspora, especially in Korea, China and in the same area of Southwest Asia. May the Lord be glorify and His will be done!