World Assembly – day 2

Two of the presentations today dealt with serious topics. Dr Samuel Lee came as a migrant to Europe and is now a pastor in a migrant congregation in Amsterdam with refugees from West Africa and migrant domestic workers from the Philippines. His message was clear: we are the migration!

You are you because of your ancestors.

And if we check our DNA, we will all find that we are migrants. Migrants are not only figures, but everyone has their own story. He showed us very clearly how the Bible is all about migration. He spoke about four types of migration in the Bible:

1. Missionary type (Abraham, Genesis 12:1-4)

2. Human trafficking (Joseph, Genesis 37 and onwards)

3. Labour type (Naamans maid servant, 2 Kings 5)

4. Environmental type (Joseph’s brothers, Genesis 42)

The session ended with the launch of the Migration Bible. I will bring one copy to our Bible Shop. A very interesting edition of the Bible. And we need to read this Bible in our Swedish context where migrants are becoming the shape goats. I this presentation migrants were described as a gift to the hosting society. A very different perspective.

The second presentation was about Creation and Justice. Dr Carmody Grey really challenged us. She showed us that the Bible talks about:

1. The need to take responsibility

2. We must become stewards

3. Original justice: God gave the earth to all equally

4. We have a covenant with all creation

5. The poor come first

She also brought us back to the founder of the British and Foreign Bible Society, William Wilberforce. He was an abolitionist, but his words also apply to the climate crisis:

You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.

She also pointed to a leader like Martin Luther King Jr. Leaders that realised that not only individuals but the whole society needs to change.

After these presentations we have been talking about Bible Engagement. I have not seen a connection with these two topics in every conversation but at the end of the day, our Secretary General, Dirk Gevers, concluded that Bible Engagement has to do with Migration and Creation Care (and many other things).

When I write this blog post it is late in the evening. But the day was inspiring. The Bible speaks about our challenges.