A Hybrid World

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A Hybrid World

Diaspora, Hybridity, and Missio Dei

Sadiri Joy Tira and Juliet Lee Uytanlet, editors

Linking . . . Blending . . . Intermixing with Divine Purpose

People are on the move. As individuals and people groups are constantly migrating, the unreached have become part of our communities. This reality provides local Christ-followers with the challenge and opportunity of navigating both the global diaspora and mixed ethnicities.

A Hybrid World is the product of a global consultation of church and mission leaders who discussed the implications of hybridity in the mission of God. The contributors draw from their collective experiences and perspectives, explore emerging concepts and initiatives, and ground them in authoritative Scripture for application to the challenges that hybridity presents to global missions.

This book honestly wrestles with the challenges of ethnic hybridity and ultimately encourages the global church to celebrate the opportunities that our sovereign and loving God provides for the world’s scattered people to be gathered to himself.

Endorsements

Prepare to be surprised, perhaps unsettled, to have familiar categories upended. Drawing from Scripture as well as multiple disciplines, the authors of this volume argue convincingly that the world in which we serve is far more complex than our classifications. An appreciation for hybridity opens new windows for insight, creativity, teamwork, pastoral care, and effective missional outreach.

David W. Bennett, DMin, PhDGlobal Assistant Director for Collaboration and Content
I like the fact that the contributors are all leading missiologists for whom the topic is a lived experience. Finally, I love this book because it helps me understand my own family better. I am an American raised in the Midwest who served in Japan for twenty years. We now have three adult children in New York City, Cambridge (UK) and London, who are married to a first generation Korean-American, a first generation Latina, and a first generation Englishman who was born in New Zealand to parents of medical missionaries to Africa. I need this book, and I am grateful for it! I commend it to my Lausanne friends around the world!The contributors in A Hybrid World are world-class leaders and scholars who have helped to prioritize opportunities, propose solutions with respect to the great sociological reality of our time, and live out what they discuss. Many will not recognize its timeliness and its global significance. However, for those who are ready to respectfully listen to voices from the non-Western world who will lead us into the new realities of a twenty-first century world, this book will prove to be illuminating and indispensable, i.e., "a must read!"

S. Douglas BirdsallHonorary Chair, The Lausanne Movement
This book is the fruit of an international diaspora consultation, not dominated by Western voices. The insights are enriched by the wide backgrounds and ministries of the contributors, ranging from the challenges facing bicultural families to the all-too-common experience of minority peoples estranged and marginalized in their own countries. The subject matter is as diverse as the contributors themselves. This book has my hearty endorsement and deep hope that it will remind us Christians wherever we find ourselves in the world that only together can we constitute the healthy and whole body of Christ (Eph 4). As the Ethiopian proverb puts it, "Without you there is no me."

Jonathan J. Bonk, PhDDirector, Dictionary of African Christian BiographyResearch Professor of Mission, Center for Global Christianity and Mission, Boston University School of Theology
A Hybrid World explores biblical, theological, and missional perspectives resulting from the complexities of culture in the context of global migration. Each of the contributors provide insights into issues inherent in the mixing of cultures and the living of life in today’s globalized world. This book is a major contribution to diaspora missiology as it calls us to be attentive to what is happening around us in real time. May the insights of this volume move us to further explore the role intentional intercultural congregations have in an increasingly hybridized world.

Charles A. Cook, PhDProfessor of Global Studies and Mission (Ambrose)Executive Director, Jaffray Centre for Global Initiatives, Ambrose University, Canada
In a world defined by people on the move, this exploration of diaspora and migration, identity, the mission of God, and hybrid cultural identity is a vital contribution to the task of Christian churches in navigating new and frequently perilous waters. If the authors of this excellent and ultimately hopeful volume are correct, the journey may be challenging, but it will be its own reward. I heartily recommend it.

Darrell Jackson, ThDAssociate Professor of Missiology, Morling College, Sydney, Australia
Diaspora and people movements are featured prominently in the biblical narrative and Christian history. However, the role of diasporic identity in the process of gospel transmission and appropriation remains understudied. This book fills the gap by highlighting the role of diasporic hybridity in uniquely shaping the identities of individuals, communities, and theologies for missional effectiveness.

Stanley John, PhDAssociate Professor of Intercultural Studies, Alliance Theological Seminary, Nyack, NY
This book takes a serious conceptual leap by adopting hybridity as a creative conceptual framework, which allows a wide variety of diaspora experiences and reflections in one table. The dynamic process of hybridization would open an unprecedented space to take live stories into the formulation of contextual theologies. The editors are to be highly commended for this creative work.

Wonsuk Ma, PhDDean and Distinguished Professor of Global Christianity, College of Theology and Ministry, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK
Hybridity is not only a matter of “cultural mixtures,” but has to do also with the consequences of multi-ethnic relationships. The word does not appear in the Scriptures, but the Scriptures are filled with examples. And most of the time, it seEMS, they highlight the intensity of such intermarriages and their theological consequences. But the Lord never opposed such “mixtures” per se. The problem was never “hybridization,” but theological beliefs. Such nuances, however, have been rarely taken into consideration in our missional diasporic studies. Therefore, I am glad for the initiative of Dr. Sadiri Joy Tira, a scholar on diaspora missiology, and Dr. Julie Lee Uytanlet for the publication of this relevant volume: A Hybrid World: Exploring Diaspora Living and Missio Dei.

Elias Medeiros, PhD Member of the Lausanne Global Diaspora Network Advisory Board and of the Brazilian Evangelical Diaspora movement
This book deals with important issues that any serious theologian and missiologist cannot ignore. As the pastor of one of the largest intercultural churches in the world, I affirm the hybridity of the local congregations, and that Latin American, Asian, and African Christians have something to bring to enrich God’s mission globally.

Sam Owusu, PhDSenior Pastor, Calvary Worship Centre, Surrey, British Columbia
Disunity set in at Babel; the mission of Church is reconciliation with God and restoration of unity among all people. Hybridity is an opportunity and instrument in the age of diaspora mission. This timely collection edited by Dr. Sadiri Joy Tira and Dr. Julie Lee Uytanlet offers biblical, theological, and historical reflections on hybridity as well as expert analyses of the mission strategy. Anyone with serious interest in missions will find much wisdom and encouragement here.

Eiko TakamizawaMongol Kids' Home: Support Manhole Children, Representative of the Supporting TeamSEANET, Steering CommitteeLausanne, Theological Working Core Group