Strangers in the Kingdom: Ministering to Refugees, Migrants and the Stateless

by Rupen Das, Charles Lyonhart & the Junkyard Angels

Overview

Today’s refugee crisis has engulfed public policy and politics in countries around the world, deeply dividing communities. With increased migration many fear terrorism, crime and a dilution of their perceived national identity, while others embrace it as an inevitable reality of the globalized world in which we live. But what does the Bible have to say about migration and displacement and how refugees, migrants, and the stateless should be treated? Strangers in the Kingdom asks why God cares for the displaced, presenting biblical, theological, and missiological foundations for ministries to those who have been uprooted from their homes and all that is familiar. Rupen Das and Brent Hamoud apply their experience and expertise to provide timely answers that the Christian community is waiting to hear. Addressing the humanitarian and legal needs of the displaced is the starting point, but relief, repatriation, and resettlement programs need to help the stranger find a place to belong, a place to call home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783682782
Publisher:	Langham Creative Projects
Publication date:	05/14/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	742 KB

About the Author

RUPEN DAS has extensive global experience in relief and development and has worked with several organizations, including World Vision. He works for the Canadian Bible Society as their National Director. Previously he was Research Professor of Social Justice, Compassion and Development at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto, Canada, as well as on the faculty of the International Baptist Theological Study Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

BRENT HAMOUD lives with his family in Beirut, Lebanon, where he is a Projects Manager with Kids Alive International, a faith-based organization working with at-risk children. His work includes ministry to refugee, migrant, and stateless children and youth. He has a Master of Religion in Middle Eastern and North African Studies from the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Beirut, Lebanon.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

PART I: Foundations for Ministries to the Displaced

1 Introduction

2 The Global Context

3 Biblical Foundations 1

Belonging, Displacement, and the Foreigner in the Old Testament

4 Biblical Foundations 2

The Foreigner and Migrant in the New Testament and the Early Church

5 Theological Foundations

The Importance of Place and the Need to Belong

6 Missiological Foundations

Responding to Those Who Do Not Belong

PART II: Ministries to Refugees, Migrants and the Stateless

7 The Local Church and Other Ministries

Enabling the Displaced to Find Space and a Place

Conclusion

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

This is a theological treatise that needs to be read no matter where you stand in the socio-political positioning of the day. More importantly, it is a book that places demands on you if you are truly going to follow Jesus.

Gary V. Nelson

President, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Canada

Forced displacement and homelessness is a physical reality for a growing number of humans and a spiritual reality for us all. When God pulled out all stops to show his solution, he didn’t write a book but was himself displaced, becoming flesh, running towards us, stretching wide his arms. The teachings of this book fly in the face of current fear-driven conclusions about migration and immigration. However, Das and Hamoud don’t ultimately write to change our minds or politics (though I’ll be absorbing and sharing its truths). It is written so more of us will follow Jesus Christ in fleshing out the heart of God for our world’s refugees.

Paul Carline

Director, Inter-Cultural Ministries, Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada

We hope that we shall soon live in a world where no one is ever forced to ee their homes, villages, towns, and country. Until the dream comes true, anyone who has a heart and feels compelled to dedicate time to ministry among refugees, migrants, and stateless people, now has available to them a carefully crafted guide.

Nabil Costa

Executive Director, Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development

One of every one hundred and thirteen people with whom we share the planet is a refugee, internally displaced, or a migrant on the move. Desperation may drive them to simply cross a border, climb into a small boat, or walk thousands of kilometers through foreign lands. The reaction in many northern countries has been to erect real or figurative walls to keep people out. Rupen Das and Brent Hamoud have made an outstanding contribution to those of us caught between harsh political rhetoric and the gospel teaching of compassion. The analysis of the impact of loss of identity and not belonging is compelling and opens our missional understanding of welcoming the stranger.

Gordon King

Canadian Baptist Ministries

Former Member, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

This is a profound book that moves the reader deep into the stories and challenges of the displaced. The complexities are many, but Strangers in the Kingdom reminds us that each life is precious and that God’s concern is for all peoples and all nations.

Will Postma

Executive Director, The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund

In today’s world of increasing division and barriers, Das and Hamoud provide a timely counter-narrative by suggesting that the church’s imperative to respond to the needs of “outsiders” comes from the very nature of who God is. By looking more deeply at the theological and personal significance of place and belonging, and illustrated by stories from those who have lived the experience, Strangers in the Kingdom reveals the importance of the church’s unique role in creating and participating in a place of genuine welcome where people are valued as those made in God’s image.

Kezia M’Clelland

Viva

Perhaps this book’s greatest contribution is to push towards a more profound understanding of the refugee experience, one that moves us away from a theoretical political analysis to a more intimate understanding of the pain of losing one’s place, one’s roots – essentially all that is familiar and what makes us who we are.

Nadia Khouri

Community Health Center Director, Lebanon

From the Publisher