The Wayfarer , livre ebook

The imperative to read the times where an unprecedented number of people have been displaced around the globe, along with reading the sacred texts of Scripture and the witness of Jesus Christ, is urgent. Weaving in his personal journey, Dr. Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah lays the groundwork to grasp the breadth and depth of the global and African challenge of migration and refugees to move the body of Christ to action. Practical paths for engagement are provided for people of faith and faith-communities to embody the good news. This book issues a call to use our collective power of Ubuntu towards hope and transformation, while recognizing the God-given image and resource of the stranger in our midst.
Selena D. Headley
Community Development, Sociology & Theology Lecturer,
Cornerstone Institute
Formation Coordinator,
Institute for Urban Ministry, Cape Town, South Africa
Dr. Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah has provided the scholarly community and the church a rare opportunity in which to engage with the prophetic and righteous work of siding with and supporting those on the margins. In Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus is recorded as saying that what we do for “the least of these” we are doing for Christ’s very self. Dr. Anzuruni’s book outlines the means by which the church can respond to the critical needs of refugees. In doing so, this work makes a defiant claim for the radical nature of God’s identification with those on the margins. This book is a must read!
Anthony Reddie
Professor Extraordinarious, University of South Africa
Director, Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture, University of Oxford, UK
Forced displacement is a defining issue of the twenty-first century. It is concerning this issue that Dr. Msabah speaks to the church at large. His life has been profoundly shaped by repeated forced displacement. He was born a refugee and later experienced the challenges of “returning” to a “homeland” that he had never seen. He was later internally displaced by war, separated from family, and uprooted across borders to once again become a refugee. He has reflected deeply concerning the experience of forced displacement and the mission of the church. He offers a clarion and passionate voice calling the church to holistic mission – to advocate for the dignity of all human beings and to serve as a catalyst for the integration of refugees into their host society.
Thomas Albinson
Ambassador for Refugees, Displaced and Stateless People,

World Evangelical Alliance
Founder and President, International Association for Refugees, USA

The Wayfarer
Perspectives on Forced Migration and Transformational Community Development
Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah

© 2021 Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah
Published 2021 by HippoBooks, an imprint of ACTS and Langham Publishing.
Africa Christian Textbooks (ACTS), TCNN, PMB 2020, Bukuru 930008, Plateau State, Nigeria
www.actsnigeria.org
Langham Publishing, PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langhampublishing.org
ISBNs:
978-1-83973-225-6 Print
978-1-83973-555-4 ePub
978-1-83973-556-1 Mobi
978-1-83973-557-8 PDF
Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
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Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-83973-225-6
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
The publishers of this book actively support theological dialogue and an author’s right to publish but do not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth here or in works referenced within this publication, nor guarantee technical and grammatical correctness. The publishers do not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

Converted to eBook by EasyEPUB

To
Rev. Dr. Hyung Kyu Kim
A spiritual father, close friend, and prayer partner who ignited in me the love of Christian spirituality.
Contents

Cover


Foreword


Acknowledgements


The Immigrants’ Creed


1 Introduction


Discussion Questions


2 Forced Migration: Facts and Figures


Sociopolitical Dynamics of Forced Migration


Economic Dynamics of Forced Migration


Other Dynamics of Forced Migration


Discussion Questions


3 Two Contexts, Four Constants


Context #1: The Church as Sanctuary


Context #2: The Church as Reconciler


Discussion Questions


4 Transformational Community Development as Ubuntu in Action


Ubuntu as Beatitudinal Care


Ubuntu as God’s Design for Communal Living


Discussion Questions


5 Transformational Community Development as Hope in Action


Development as an Expression of Missio Ecclesiae


Missio ecclesiae as faith-grounded development


Missio ecclesiae as people-centred development


Missio ecclesiae as the basis for human flourishing


How Ordinary People with Extraordinary Challenges Improve Livelihoods


Refugees Resolve to Build Resilience: Waiting for Godot?


Discussion Questions


6 Narratives of Hope


Materials and Methods


Demographic Profiling


Refugees’ Lived Experiences


Discussion Questions


7 Principles of Transformational Community Development


PRAISE: A Framework for Transformational Community Development


Discussion Questions


8 Conclusion


Discussion Questions


Bibliography

Endnotes
Foreword
I heard Dr. Barnabé Anzuruni Msabah’s story for the first time when I asked him to teach a class for me on migrants in an undergraduate theology and development class at the University of Stellenbosch. It is a story filled with challenges, hope, and resilience which begins this book. His story, and those of other refugees on the continent, are compellingly woven throughout and draw readers into the realities and pain of this journey in such a way that we cannot look away.
These stories together with a solid sociological description of the intersecting challenges of refugees paint a stark picture of the cross-cutting issues of armed conflict, gender-based violence, economic hardship, continuing dictatorships and corruption, climatic factors, and exploitation by the Global North of the mineral wealth of Africa. These are stories and challenges which we as Africans cannot look away from, and in terms of African integral mission discourse, we must continue to emphasize the intersectional and complex nature of poverty and marginalization on our continent in order to begin to seek to engage it.
This book is at its best in its rich theological engagement which seeks to deeply challenge the church to not only relieve the suffering of “those on the Jericho road” and welcome the strangers in their midst, but also to be a bearer of shalom – of hope, restoration, justice, and healing. I am particularly struck by the following quote from the book:

That is what this book is all about, assisting the local church in fixing the road and making it safer for all so that whoever walks on it in their life’s journey – including refugees – will not be mugged and left half dead on the roadside but will finish their journey and reach their intended destination unharmed.
This is the call of the book, and in challenging the church, Dr. Msabah puts forward several theological perspectives which are integral to our understanding of mission, but he re-inscribes them creatively. Perhaps most fittingly for a book written by an African scholar for Africans, Ubuntu is highlighted as a precious gift offered by Africans. Dr. Msabah calls on us as Africans to live out this gift and offer Ubuntu as a gift to each other and the world. This call to be contextual and intercultural is also distributed throughout the book. On our continent where tribalism and racism remain constant, The Wayfarer engages the church to make the kind of shifts which will not only accommodate refugees or advocate for their rights, but will indeed assist them in assuring livelihood sustainability and full integration into the community.
The Wayfarer contributes to the field of transformational development, and indeed to African practical theology, and creates new boundaries in doing so. Not only is the church positioned as an agent of change in addressing the refugee phenomenon, the book importantly positions migrants as having agency and recognizes them as putting hope into action. During the Apartheid years in South Africa, and indeed throughout the world, there has been a call for those on the margins to shape their own discourse with the rallying cry: “Nothing about us without us.” It remains troubling that so much written about marginalized groups comes from the centres of power – those who are removed from the realities of the topic they are engaging. I remember very well at an international conference on migrants that Dr. Msabah and I atten