37e jaargang nr. 1 (sept. 2022)
thema: Ongehoorde stemmen in de Bijbel
Samuel Ekpo
Bible Reading: A Migrant’s Perspective
How do non-western migrant churches read the Bible? Which stories and voices in the Bible are important to them? Which stories and voices in the Bible are read differently or from a different perspective than the average local Dutch church’s perspective? In this article I will share my views on these topics, as a non-western theologian and pastor in a migrant congregation.
My way of reading the holy Bible is a sacred experience that involves theological reflections, inductive Bible study and the application of personal experience.
When I read the holy Bible, I read with a ‘third eye’; for me this entails reading as a biblical scholar who looks at the historical, geographical and cultural contexts of a particular part of the Bible. According to Dr. Samuel Lee in his blog How do I Read the Bible, ‘reading the Bible from a metaphorical perspective can be very inspiring. Poetry and metaphors play an essential role in all the biblical languages. We can, first of all, take Adam as an example. In Genesis, Adam is one person, but at the same time, Adam represents humanity as a whole. Jacob is later named Israel (Gen. 35:10), while Jacob also represents Israel as an entire tribe. Abraham is one person in the Bible, but he also represents all nations simultaneously — he is the father of many nations (Gen. 17: 5).’[1] Lee also reads the Bible from Jesus’ perspective: ‘when reading the Bible, the person Jesus is central to me. For me, the Old Testament is a foreshadow that refers to Jesus. In the New Testament, Jesus is the foundation for me, not Paul, Peter, or the apostles. I read and interpret the Bible through the eyes of Jesus: for me, this is the foundation of my belief.’[2]
Stories and voices of Scripture
There are several stories and characters in the Bible that are of particular importance for non-western immigrant churches. For instance, Abraham and Sarah moved to a different land to survive a famine (Gen. 12).
- Using modern terms; we could refer to Abraham and Sarah as environmentally induced involuntary migrants. In other words, they had been forced to move from the place where they lived because of an environmental crisis. They moved in hope of something better.
- The Book of Ruth contains migration stories; how she moved from her Moabite background to join the people of Israel in Bethlehem by marrying Boaz (Ruth 2). The book of Ruth points to another Redeemer. Looking at the gospel of Matthew, we can read that Ruth is mentioned as part of the genealogy of Jesus, a very vital theological fact that Jesus is a descendent of a Moabite migrant.
- Jesus, the migrant, is another example: Jesus travelled from town to town, living on the support of people who valued his teaching (Matthew 8:20). Jesus’ message is very unique. Only through death can He redeem His people. He will be marginalized; He will be sent out of his home country; He will be rejected. However, the only way to prevent separation from Him is through His death.
Migrants are so open to the Christian faith because the Bible is a story of migration. Migrant churches can identify with a migrant Savior because in Christ, they have found a home (Hebr. 11:10). One unique practice the stories in the Bible have shaped in migrant churches is hospitality. Hospitality means different things to different cultures and traditions. To contextualize and emphasize this: I would say hospitality is the process whereby the identity of an unfamiliar person is changed into that of a visitor. That means, the unfamiliar person is welcomed into the community to become a friend.
The voices in sermons from migrant churches are expressed with love and hospitality. This helps them to recognize their own life story and to find acknowledgement of their story in the Bible; the concept of double transformation is achieved in this process. The friend has become a brother or a sister, now adopted into the family of God. The Book of Ezra tells the story of how the prophet, upon learning that members of his community had married women of ‘neighboring peoples,’ ordered them exiled from the community (Ezra 9-10). In Deuteronomy, the Israelites are commanded to destroy and show no mercy to people of other nations, and are forbidden from intermarrying with them (Deut. 7:1-4). Reconciling these and other Old Testament examples of fearing and punishing the stranger with the biblical call to practice hospitality is part of a larger conversation about scriptural interpretation that is open for debate.
These migrant Christians are, in the words of Peter, ‘God’s elect’ and ‘sojourners’ (1 Peter 1:1). According to Yang’s research among Chinese immigrants who converted to Christianity found that migration increased a sense of homelessness.[3] The Bible records many stories of strangers. Migrants easily identify with them and understand what it means to be a stranger. They enjoy fellowship with each other; they are evangelistic toward their neighbors. These migrant churches form a community of faith who help other migrants with the jarring reality of living on the margins. The pressure of being a chosen sojourner is something they will carry the rest of their lives, until they are strangers no more, together with God’s people, forever.
Today hospitality is seen as a matter of etiquette, not ethics, a gracious welcome extended to dinner guests at home or in a restaurant. But in the Bible hospitality is a basic virtue demanded of every disciple and community.[4] Much more than courtesy to friends or clients, the biblical hospitality demanded by God in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures requires that believers breach the walls separating them from needy strangers, welcoming the stranger as an honored guest by offering food, shelter and protection, as well as companionship and service.
Love for immigrants
What role does the Bible play in non-western immigrant churches? Some evangelicals in the western churches are often criticized for their lack of care for migrants and refugees. One evangelical writer has lamented, ‘Is our lack of care for the refugee and the stranger an innocent lack of opportunity, or is it a form of willful violence? Is it a reasonable act of self-preservation, or is it obdurate sin?’[5]
The role the Bible and stories in the Bible play in the non-western context is that of a ‘life manual’. The stories from the Bible provide the guidelines to practice justice and love for immigrants. The Mosaic Law was filled with both commands and motivations (Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:17-19; 27:19). From the Scripture, God’s people were commanded not to oppress the strangers in the land because they themselves knew what it was like to be a stranger. Those who did not help them on their sojourn out of Egypt were excluded from religious practices and community (Deut. 23:3-4). Those who read the Bible and interpret these stories from the migrant’s lens or worldview tend to extrapolate their transit area as a challenging place to advocate for migrants when systems are broken. The Bible stories, therefore, bring hope and courage to live in an uncertain condition. Immigrant churches sometimes try to help migrants by sending translators they trust to have fellowship and hear their own stories. For example, in situations of asylum cases, raising children and integration. They collaborate with other agencies to help migrants communicate and adapt to Western culture.
The Bible and the western culture
As migrant Christians we need to ask ourselves the question: what is biblical faith and what is the western cultural overlay in the transmission of the gospel to us? The struggle to be biblical vs. western is often a chaotic adventure to the average church member. At this point, those who believe the Bible is God’s revealed Word want to be ‘biblical’ in the sense that they are faithful to what it teaches and commands. However, to show one is not ‘western’ often just means a rejection of the way of ‘doing church’ in a western way. ‘Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the world’s most secular regions. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. People say they gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey of religious beliefs and practices in Western Europe.[6] Although many non-practicing Christians say they do not believe in God ‘as described in the Bible,’ they do tend to believe in some other higher power or spiritual force. By contrast, most church-attending Christians say they believe in the biblical depiction of God. And a clear majority of religiously unaffiliated adults do not believe in any type of higher power or spiritual force in the universe. ‘Christian identity in Western Europe is associated with higher levels of negative sentiment toward immigrants and religious minorities. Generally speaking, self-identified Christians – whether they attend church or not – are more likely than religiously unaffiliated people to express negative views of immigrants, as well as of Muslims and Jews.’[7] As we’ve seen, that is not a biblical inspired position to hold on.
When migrants came to faith in Christ with little or no knowledge of global Christianity, their mentors shaped their view of Christian faith and practice. There will be difference in obvious ways, as the Bible confronts cultural and religious practices deemed unacceptable, but also in ways that are not as clear, like how to handle authority or resolve conflict. These disputes are not new – they have been present since Jews and Gentiles began worshipping together under the gospel of the risen Christ.
In summary, I hope that my journey with the holy Bible will encourage others to start this engagement.
S.J. Ekpo is voorganger in een migrantenkerk in Zoetermeer, werkt als relatiebeheerder bij de NBG en is PhD-student aan de Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn. Mailadres:
[1] Samuel Lee, How Do I Read the Bible? https://www.samlee.org/single-post/how-do-i-read-the-bible (Accessed 6th August, 2022).
[2] Ibid.
[3] F. Yang, Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation and Adhesive Identities, Pennsylvania, 1999.
[4] Christine D. Pore, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition 3-6 (1999); Hampton Morgan Jr., Remember to Show Hospitality: A Sign of Grace in Graceless Times, 87 INT'L REV. OF MISSION 535-39 (1998).
[5] R.C. Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key, Wheaton, 2018, 115.
[6] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/ (Accessed 31/08/2022).
[7] Idem.
- Raadplegingen: 62