Going to Nations… just around the corner

In recent months, we've been encountering more and more Christians who share a common point: they gave their lives to God outside their culture of origin.

A Vietnamese student who converts in London during her studies, a young French atheist who gives his heart to Jesus in Texas, a Welsh journalist who discovers God in Dubai, and the list goes on. Naturally, this intrigues us!

And of course, we question the reasons for this phenomenon. We can see several ways to explain it:

1. Increased Propensity for Mobility
   The numbers are undeniable: in almost 20 years, the number of international tourists has more than doubled, from 674 million (in 2000) to 1.5 billion (in 2019). As for studying abroad, the increase is over 150% over the same period, from 2 to 5.3 million foreign students worldwide (sources: UNWTO and UNESCO). These sharp increases can be explained by several factors: the decrease in airfare prices, boosted by low-cost airlines, the increase in living standards in many countries, and the facilitation of visa and immigration procedures.
   

2. More and More Reasons to Expatriate
   This growing mobility goes far beyond tourism or studying abroad. In recent years, the explosion of the digital economy has given rise to a new category of workers: Digital Nomads, attracted by countries with a relatively low cost of living (Bali, Thailand, etc.). Some of these countries have even created specific visas. Others are looking for quality of life, like the many American and British retirees who come to spend their golden years in the south of France. And then there are those who fall in love with a country, a culture, and who don't hesitate to rebuild their lives there, like the thousands of French people in South Korea. There are many online tools to measure expatriate populations (for example: France Diplomatie for French people and sites like that of the French-Korean Chambers of Commerce).
   

3. Greater Vulnerability?
   This lead is in the form of a question because, to our knowledge, no study seems to support it. It's just a very human intuition that once far from home, family, and familiar landmarks, one might be more inclined to open up to others, realize one's limits, and seek help. A breeding ground of humility conducive to encountering God.
   

4. A Reset?
   Again, a question mark is necessary. But we can imagine that far from one's culture, there's a kind of reset of preconceptions, preconceived ideas, and cultural references. Taking the example of our French friend converted in Texas, he concedes that his "French" vision of God was very conditioned by the Catholic heritage and secularism. His French culture and education had shaped in him an image of God that didn't make him want to meet Him. His Texan immersion, his daily life with Christians who live what they believe, and his first services in an evangelical church swept away everything he thought he knew about God.

These reflections weigh more and more on our hearts, and this week, while reading my Bible, a passage (which I thought I knew well) about Paul's conversion struck me:

"As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied." (Acts 9:3-5)

Even Paul was far from his country when Jesus revealed Himself to him. He was near Damascus, in Syria, about 270 km northeast of Jerusalem. He took his first steps in faith with Ananias, a man from a different culture than his own.

In fact, the Bible is full of similar stories: encounters with God or acts of repentance far from one’s country or culture of origin:

• Moses and the burning bush (having received an Egyptian education),

• Jacob fleeing from his brother and his homeland, dreaming of the ladder at Bethel,

• Daniel receiving divine revelations while held captive in Babylon,

• Naaman miraculously healed in the Jordan, far from his country, Syria,

• The prodigal son realizing his sin and his need to return to his father, "in a distant country."

Today, more than ever before, our cities are full of students and workers far from their country, their securities... and their preconceived ideas about God. It's a perfect timing to reach them, to present their Father and Savior to them as they've never seen or heard before. For us Christians, and the local churches we represent, this can become a real mission field.

Concretely, how to do it? There's no magic recipe, but there's at least one prerequisite to fulfill: speaking their language (or at least English). Thus, every bilingual member of your church becomes a potential translator, but above all, a potential missionary. And logistically, no need to be a megachurch! It can also be done very simply, since everyone already has their equipment: their phone and headphones.

Here's a suggestion of how to set it up and adapt it to everyone's constraints:

• Create a corner at the back of the church for translators,

• Create a WhatsApp group for each translated language,

• At the beginning of the service, interested people scan the QR code corresponding to the WhatsApp group of their language to become members of this group.

• Before the service, the translator starts an audio call to the group

• Everyone picks up and puts their headphones on their phone, mutes their microphone, and enjoys the translation

Translation can be a service like any other in the church, but it can also be the starting point for missionary work. Particularly in countries where expatriates have come out of love for the people and culture: they seek integration and contact with locals. If the local church realizes this and becomes intentional about reaching out to them and loving them, it can create spaces to welcome them: exchanges at the end of the service with bilinguals, house groups, picnics, etc.

The Bible says, "Like a bird that strays from its nest is a person who strays from home." (Proverbs 27:8). The Church can be for them a new nest, a new family.

Jesus commands us to go to the Nations, but more and more, they are just around the corner.