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Thirty participants gathered on 9-10 March in a ‘warsha’ - or workshop - entitled “Building Capacity for Migration & Multicultural Ministries: From Chaos to Hope” in Arusha, Tanzania.
“Warsha,” a Kiswahili term, defines an arena for discussing new ideas that advance creative thinking, in this case on how the the church today can inform and inspire mission and ministry with the migrants.
"Let us be like the ‘bad Samaritan’ and love strangers", said Prof. Revelation E. Velunta, associate professor of the New Testament and Cultural Studies at the Union Theological Seminary in Cavite, Philippines while reflecting on the story of the Good Samaritan and the innkeeper who took care of a stranger.
"The Samaritan, the enemy, the bad one we don't expect to know and to do, knows and does. The innkeeper as well. How do we in concrete terms today as sending and receiving communities, transform strangers into friends? Who are ‘bad Samaritans’ and innkeepers today?”
The workshop was part of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism held in Arusha from 8-13 March. Africa has witnessed a surge in migration into Europe and other parts of the world over the past several years mainly due to conflict and poverty. The situation was said to be similar in other parts of the developing world.
The participants were presented with a case study of migrants from the Philippines as a migrant-sending country with 10-15 million migrants scattered in at least 139 countries situated in Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe.
Learn more about the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism
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