It seems that the world’s population is on the move! Nowhere is this more showcased than at an international airport on any given day.
Migration is not new. It has been part of the human story from the dawn of civilization. Venturesome individuals, hunter- gatherers, nomadic tribes, enterprising traders, and conquering armies have traversed the globe for millennia. In 1960, international immigrants made up 2.6% of the world’s population, but by 2023, it was 3.5%. This means that there are more people living outside their homeland than at any time in history, and there is no sign of this recent mobility trend slowing down.

1.   Migration is a global phenomenon

No one can deny the massive surge in migration worldwide nor can anyone escape it. Movement is occurring at an accelerated pace, on an unprecedented scale, and in unpredictable directions. It is a demographic reality that no community can avoid, no country can be immune to, and no shoreline can remain unaffected by. Even countries that boasted of their ethnic homogeneity and proactively restricted the right to citizenship in the past are increasingly confronted with the inevitability of becoming multiethnic and multicultural societies.
International migration, in its endless motion, surrounds and pervades almost every dimension of contemporary society. This explains why the United Nations Secretary–General, António Guterres, urged world leaders in January 2018 “to celebrate global migration as a positive global phenomenon.” We are truly living in the Age of Migration.

2.   Migration is caused by multiple factors

The motivations and factors causing people to move fluctuate considerably. Those depend upon the people group, the time of migration, the socio- economic conditions in both countries, marriage alliances, or family sponsorships.
Some move because of man-made disasters (sustained civil unrest, economic collapse, environmental degradation, ethnic cleansing, political oppression, or religious persecution). Others move because they are forced to leave their native lands. They are victims of natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, famines, floods, climate change, volcanic eruptions, etc.
A very large percentage of people migrate because they have made a conscious and calculated decision to move to greener pastures—to improve their academic credentials, in search of economic benefits, to experience better living conditions, or to gain greater freedom.

3.   Migration today is multidirectional

For centuries, the migration of people was from the South and East to the North and West. But in recent decades, transnational migration is occurring at an unprecedented pace and in all directions. Hence, in contemporary migration there is no single origin and no simple end. It is an ongoing process and needs to be seen as an open voyage. Furthermore, departures and returns are often not final. Therefore, migration is polycentric and poly-directional. It is now “everyone to anywhere or everywhere and from everywhere to anywhere.”

4.   Migration is massively transformational

The great flow of people around the world is drastically changing many important aspects of societies. It is an uncontrollable change agent transforming the social, cultural, economic, religious, and even political landscapes of communities, countries, and continents. Migration releases imaginative energies to create new realities and make new adaptations. It is also causing the development of an exilic consciousness, which can result in confusion, panic, turmoil, and conflicts—both personal and inter-relational.

5.   Migration creates diasporas

A diaspora can be defined as a national, cultural, ethnic, or religious group who have a common origin or homeland, dispersed to different countries, but having a shared identity. The term diaspora has a strong emotional connotation because of the grassroots initiatives by immigrants and their home–country counterparts. A diaspora community refers to migrants and their descendants’ generations whose identity has been shaped by their total experience of dislocation, settlement, and continued transnational interactions. One who belongs to a diaspora can even develop a diasporic consciousness.
The growing significance of diasporas in the economy of low-income countries is profound. Diasporas can contribute capital remittances, mobilize, and transfer resources for investment and development. They can also transfer knowledge and professional skills while facilitating temporary or permanent return of experts to their homelands.

6.   Migration impacts a person’s cultural identity

Since the dawn of modernity around the eighteenth century, most people have understood their sense of belonging in terms of an allegiance to a nation-state.
Nation-states are composed of people with different ethnic and cultural identities. A key goal of nation building is the unification of these diverse peoples under a common identity with an exclusive national citizenship, expected political allegiance, demonstrated social cohesion, and regulated border controls.
The twin processes of globalization and migration threaten the integrity, authority, and autonomy of the nation-state and shift the question of cultural identity and belonging. They also impact the established notion of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
With transnational migration and the formation of diasporic communities, bi-local affiliations have been generated. The sense of community may often be defined more out of common interests of religion, language, or cultural practices than territorial commitments. Therefore, the cultural identity of the migrant person must be seen as being partly formed by one’s journey and the process of that journey.

7.   Migration amplifies global Christianity

Christianity was meant to be a global movement. From its inception, Christianity was missional and globally oriented with Christ’s commission to cross all geographical, social, cultural, linguistic, and generational borders, and make disci- ples of all people groups (Acts 1:8; Matt 28:19–20). The global Christian movement today is transcontinental, transcultur- al, and multifaceted.
Over the past century, Christianity has become a global religion as never before. Today, one out of every three persons self-identifies as a “Christian.” In 1900, more than 80% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America. Most of the world’s missionaries were sent out by churches in the West. Christianity is now predominantly the religion of Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans with diversity of Christian thought, life, and worship. Currently, 70% of the world’s Christians live in the Majority World, and they are sending nearly half of the missionaries.
Though only 30% of the world population adheres to the Christian faith, 47% of the world’s migrants are Christians. The impact of migrating Christians has been huge and complex. They have increased the cultural and ethnic diversity within the church.
Majority World Christians are de–colonizing Christianity and globalizing local, regional, and national expressions of the Christian faith. They are contributing to a multicultural missional hermeneutic. This is resulting in the message of Christianity and the understanding of God for the global community of faith becoming fuller and more complete. Migrant Christians are also providing stimuli and hope to the anemic and complacent congregations in their host countries. This is evidence that all regions are both simultaneously mission fields and mission forces.