Migration and the Church in East Asia

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Migration in East Asia 7

Existing Scholarship Relevant to Migration 27

Migration and the Ancient Faith Community 37

Migration and the Expanding Faith Community 47

Towards a Response to Migration in East Asia 53

Conclusions, Implications, and Suggestions 67

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Paul Woods is a reflective practitioner who has previously ministered among Chinese migrants in the UK. He has moved from engineering, through linguistics, and into theology. His theology PhD is from AGST Alliance in Singapore. He previously taught at Singapore Bible College and is now on the faculty of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.

The Asian church has begun to respond and reach out to migrants. However, this concern for the other is patchy and lacks robust theological foundations. This work is an adaptation of the author’s major study, Theologising Migration: Otherness and Liminality in East Asia, using otherness and liminality as lenses to examine the scripture in order to understand God’s heart for migrants and the responsibility of His people towards them. It ends with some pointers towards concrete action by the church.

Sociology and theology meet in a highly productive synthesis as the author tackles one of today’s unignorable global challenges – migration. The focus may be East Asia but the lessons to be learned from this outstanding piece of research are relevant for anyone who cares about God’s mission in the world today.
Dr Jonathan Ingleby, Formerly Head of Mission Studies, Redcliffe College