Weakness and Humiliation of the Cross: Theological Reflection on 'Mission Beyond the Diaspora'

Abstract

This thesis engages in the present debate of diaspora missiology – the proposal and the criticism of diaspora missiology – concerning the missiological significance of the international migration and the growth of diaspora population in the western societies. As a response to the debate, this thesis examines the nature and significance of the missionary initiative of diaspora Christians. The methodology of this study is a theological reflection. This study employs Lesslie Newbigin’s theology of the cross as a criterion to assess the diaspora initiatives, with a focus on vulnerability that inheres the life and mission of diaspora Christians. As also reviewing the broader scholarship of missiology to discern how vulnerability is integral to the non-western missionary endeavor, this study explores a perspective that arises from the experience and reality of diaspora. Finally, the investigation of this study leads to its main argument which is that contemporary population movement from the majority world to the west entails the design of God’s mission as to how God uses the non-western missionary initiatives: the apparent helplessness of diaspora Christians is the occasion by which God reveals the presence and power of His kingdom. In its missionary encounter with the west, the initiatives of diaspora Christians will prove ‘the efficacy of weakness.’