Between late summer 2008 and late summer 2009 four first-generation immigrant clergy were called to serve small-town Presbyterian congregations in Manitoba. The three Koreans and one Congolese serve congregations which are almost entirely Caucasian. One-fifth of Presbyterian parish clergy in Canadian Prairie communities with populations under 50,000 are ethnically African or Asian. This is an example of the "mission rebound": countries that received Christian missionaries now send Christian missionaries to the very countries that had sent them missionaries. Receivers become senders and senders become receivers.
This study explores how cross-cultural ministries are changing Presbyterian congregations in small-town Prairie Canada; and conversely how the realities of small town ministry in Canada are forming the Asian and African clergy who serve these congregations. I will visit 10 to 12 congregations across the three Prairie provinces asking both clergy and congregational leaders a set of prepared and tested questions covering matters including, but not limited to: the welcome received by the new clergy, impact on the worship life, changes in the congregation's leadership culture, the renewal of evangelism, and re-thinking the mission of the church.
As a result of an analysis of the data gathered I hope to draw out patterns and conclusions.
Through my connections with various publications I will make the results of the study available to clergy and lay leaders in both mainline and evangelical churches in North America.
Image | Title | Year | Type | Contributor(s) | Other Info |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Missionary Rebound | 2012 | Magazine Article |
Peter G. Bush |
June 2012: 36-41 http://presbyterianrecord.ca/2012/06/01/missionary-rebound/ | |
Immigrant Ministers Shine Brightly | 2012 | Magazine Article |
Peter G. Bush |
July/August 2012: 24-27 |