This is Part 4 of my Cultural Crossroads series. In the previous post, I explored the theme of resistance to God’s inclusive mission, tracing it from Jesus’ rejected sermon in Nazareth to Jonah’s reluctance to preach in Nineveh. Both stories highlight the human tendency toward ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s culture is superior, and how this mindset continues to challenge ethnic diaspora churches today. From the Homogeneous Unit Principle to tendencies toward isolationism, comfort, and cultural idolatry, churches often struggle with barriers that hinder their witness to “all nations.” Today’s post turns to the antidote: recovering a biblical vision of Missio Dei, God’s mission that transcends every cultural boundary.
The antidote to ethnocentrism is a theologically grounded understanding of Missio Dei. Our God who is on a mission, invites the church to join him in building his Kingdom. This divine mission transcends human boundaries, cultures, and prejudices. Embracing Missio Dei not only aligns ethnic diaspora churches with God’s greater purpose, but also empowers them to see themselves as participants in a global and transformative mission. This mission begins with faithful presence and engagement in the local community where God has planted them.
What is Missio Dei
The term Missio Dei, Latin for “the mission of God,” refers to the redemptive mission of the Triune God as the source and purpose of all missionary activity. According to Georg Vicedom in The Mission of God: An Introduction to a Theology of Mission, God is the originator of mission and is “the One who gives the orders, the Owner, the one who takes care of things. He is the Protagonist in the mission.”1 Similarly, David J. Bosch highlights the centrality of God in mission, stating, “Mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God.”2
This understanding of Missio Dei profoundly reshapes how the church sees its purpose.
Mission is not a peripheral activity of the church, but is central to its very identity. Missio Dei challenges the church to see itself not as the ultimate goal but as a vehicle through which God accomplishes His goals.
As theologian Jurgen Moltmann notes, “It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.”3
Too often, when discussing missions and evangelism, we start with ourselves, focusing on the latest strategies, statistics, and techniques from popular Christin blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, or magazines. Yet the concept of Missio Dei reminds us that it is God’s redemptive work, not human effort, that drives the mission of the church. This theological lens shifts our focus from “us-centered” approach to “God-Centered” one, where He is the initiator and sustainer of mission.
The Biblical Arc of Missio Dei in the Old Testament
The concept of Missio Dei can be traced throughout Scripture, beginning with Genesis 3:15, where God promises a solution to human sin problem, the “offspring” of a woman who will ultimately destroy sin and death. From the beginning, we see that God the Father is a sending God, initiating redemption by promising to send a Savior. As the biblical story unfolds, in Genesis 12:3 God makes another promise, this time to Abraham, that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise reveals the global vision of Missio Dei and establishes the missional trajectory of the Scriptures, where God’s heart is for all nations. God’s mission to reconcile and restore relationships with His creation is a recurring theme, seen in the sending of prophets, the movement of His people, the coming of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
One powerful example of the global reach of Missio Dei in the Old Testament is found in the previously mentioned book of Jonah, where God sends the reluctant prophet to the city of Nineveh. Despite Jonah’s persistent resistance to this calling, the people of that nation miraculously repent. Jonah 4:11 reveals God’s compassionate and merciful character when He proclaims, “should not I pity Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left…” The book of Jonah vividly demonstrates that God’s redemptive plan extends far beyond a single nation, affirming that Missio Dei encompasses all people, races, ethnicities, and cultures.
Additionally, migration plays a critical role in the unfolding of God’s mission. As Tsvirinko observes, “Migration is a part of the history of the people of God. Migration was a part of life for Jews in the Old Testament times. It has also been a part of the life of Christianity since its beginning… There is a link between the mission of God (Missio Dei) and migrant movements.”4
From patriarchs like Abraham and Joseph to the Babylonian exile, God uses the movement of His people to make Himself known. Often in the midst of suffering and exile in foreign lands, the Israelites bore witness about Yahweh through both their words and actions.
One such example is recorded in Jeremiah 29:7, where God commands His people while in Babylonian exile to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”. Earlier in the passage God encourages the exiles to integrate into their new communities by building homes, planting gardens, marrying and having children. This call demonstrates that even in foreign lands and in the midst of adversity, Missio Dei continues through the faithful presence and blessing of His people.
The Biblical Arc of Missio Dei in the New Testament
The trajectory of Missio Dei crescendos in the New Testament with the coming of Jesus the Messiah. The life and ministry of Jesus embody the ultimate act of God’s mission, in which God takes on human flesh to dwell among us, revealing His compassionate heart for humanity. Jesus began His ministry with this proclamation, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Through Jesus, the long-promised blessing to all nations takes on flesh and blood in Him, demonstrating that Missio Dei is not merely an abstract promise from the past, but a present reality.
Missio Dei reaches its pivotal moment in Jesus’ death and resurrection, fulfilling the ancient promise of Genesis 3:15: the head of the serpent is crushed, and the curse of sin and death is broken. Speaking to His disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, Jesus masterfully connects His suffering, death, and resurrection to the global mission of God, showing that His redemptive work is the foundation for the proclamation of salvation to all nations. Luke records Jesus saying, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).
However, the mission of God did not stop with Jesus, it presses outward through the commissioning of His followers. After the resurrection, Jesus declares to His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20). The Great Commission is a defining moment in Jesus’ earthly ministry and a call for His disciples to carry that mission forward.
Just as Jesus was sent by God the Father, Jesus now sends His church to embody and proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom to all nations, ethnicities, languages, races, and cultures.
Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit enables the disciples to speak in various languages, reaching many ethnicities and nationalities with the gospel (Acts 2). The birth of the church at Pentecost further reveals Missio Dei and God’s heart for all nations. In this moment, the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel is symbolically reversed, as God used the diversity of languages to unify people around the message of the gospel. On that day a multicultural church was born that served as a re-creation of God’s original intention for His creation.5
Not long after Pentecost, Stephen becomes the first follower of Jesus to lay down his life for this new movement. After his martyrdom, persecution scattered believers as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, leading to the spread of the gospel beyond Jerusalem (Acts 8-11). Once again, human mobility, whether forced by circumstances or voluntary, served to advance the Missio Dei. As these early Christians carried their faith to new contexts, they witnessed to both Jews and Gentiles, often contextualizing the message to resonate with diverse audiences.
Antioch: Case Study of the First Ethnic Church
The church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-30) provides a compelling case study of Missio Dei as it relates to migration and ethnic diaspora communities. Established by the Jewish believers who fled persecution after Stephen’s death, the Antioch church became a multicultural and missional community. Unlike other Jewish diaspora communities that limited their evangelistic efforts to fellow Jews, the believers in Antioch actively preached the gospel to Greeks as well, forming a diverse congregation.
Several key observations highlight the significance of the Antioch church as it relates to Missio Dei. First, as mentioned above, this church was born out of the displacement and migration of Jewish Christians, showing how God uses migration to advance His mission (Acts 11:19-21). Jehu Hanciles, commenting on the genesis of the church in Antioch observes, “The act of migration unleashed missionary purpose and galvanized cross-cultural expansion.”6 Second, the church’s intentional outreach to the local people groups reflects a willingness to cross cultural boundaries and engage with those beyond their ethnic community. Luke notes that certain men from Cyprus and Cyrene, “who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20).
Furthermore, the leadership structure of the Antioch church from the very beginning reflected its diverse context. These leaders came from various ethnic, linguistic, and social backgrounds (Acts 13:1), demonstrating that God’s mission flourishes in environments where differences are embraced rather than avoided. Lastly, Antioch’s connection to the home church in Jerusalem demonstrates their commitment to honoring its leadership and traditions. At the same time, their innovative approach to mission paved the way for cross-cultural expansion (Acts 11:22-23; Acts 15:1-2, 22-23).
These observations reveal the Antioch church as a prototype for how ethnic diaspora churches can participate meaningfully in the Missio Dei. By His grace and providence, God used this community of displaced believers to reach both their own people and the broader society. Dean Flemming, a New Testament scholar known for his work on mission, highlights this dynamic in his commentary on Acts. He writes, “Luke relates how a group of Jewish Hellenists evangelize Gentile ‘Greeks’ in Antioch and establish the first truly multicultural church (Acts 11:19-26). This ‘model’ community in Luke’s story reflects an ethos of innovation.”7 The church in Antioch proves that God’s vision for the ethnic church extends far beyond being mere centers of cultural preservation. His desire is for these communities to serve as vital instruments in the Missio Dei.
In understanding and embracing the Missio Dei, ethnic diaspora churches can move beyond ethnocentrism and narrow cultural confines to participate in God’s mission. For ethnic churches in America, embracing Missio Dei not only aligns them with God’s vision but also empowers them to navigate the cultural crossroads they face. Positioned as bridges between cultures, they have the unique ability to transform challenges into opportunities for greater gospel impact, which will be precisely the focus of the next post in this series next week.
Thank you for reading Part 4 of the series Cultural Crossroads: From Challenges to Impact – Ethnic Diaspora Churches in the American Mosaic, an ongoing journey into how immigrant churches navigate cultural gaps, preserve their heritage, and engage their communities to make a lasting gospel impact in the United States.
1 Vicedom, George. The Mission of God: An Introduction to a Theology of Mission (St. Lis: Concordia, 1965), 5.
2 Bosch, David. Transforming Mission (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991), 389-390.
3 Moltmann, Jurgen. The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology (London: SCM Press, 1977), 64.
4 Tsvirinko, Vyacheslav. Context and Contextuality: Towards an Authentic Mission Perspective for the Churches of the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association (Carlisle: Langham Monographs, 2018), 347.
5 DeYoung, Curtiss Paul, Michael O. Emerson, George A. Yancey and Karen Cai Kim. United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 131.
6 Jehu Hanciles. Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008), 152.
7 Dean Flemming. Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 43.
