Engaging the World

This volume deals with the lived experiences and expressions of Christians in diverse communities across the globe. Christian communities do not live in a vacuum but in complex, diverse social-cultural contexts; within wider communities of different faith and social realities. Power, identity and community are key issues in considering Christian communities in contemporary contexts. Also important is the nature and texture of mission; while a reflection on 'context' is a priority in working to improve peoples and communities. The interrelated themes: poverty, suffering and marginalized communities; globalization and the reproduction of hierarchies; Christianity and socio-political action; identity, gender and power; the interface of migration, diaspora and ethnicity; and HIV/AIDS, church and mission, were explored by academics, researchers, church leaders, religious non- governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, as well as policy makers. Such a multidimensional perspective was necessary for critical thinking about how missions is articulated and practiced in contemporary contexts and also towards charting new directions for engagement in Christian Mission in the 21st century. Engaging the World illuminates the transformative assemblage of fragmented worlds by vulnerable Christian communities in manifold mission contexts. In a multi-faceted approach the volume highlights the social reality of contemporary Christianity from a perspective of diaspora, migration, and minority experiences. With its focus on immigrant Christianities the book explores ethical problems manifest in world society. By covering issues of poverty alleviation, ethnicity or epidemics such as HIV and AIDS, the authors bridge concepts of holistic mission with the social engagement of secular actors in society. Likewise, the local agency of congregations and churches is webbed into transnational networks to stage the reconstructive dynamics of marginalized Christian communities. In short, the contributions present contextual immigrant theologies of empowerment in a globalising world. In this way the volume revisits the connection between local agencies and the omni-directional dynamics of global Christianity whose complexity may be termed 'rhizomatic' in character. Prof. Dr. Andreas Heuser, Extra-European Christianity, Basel University Afe Adogame is Senior Lecturer in World Christianity and Religious Studies at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. He served as Convener of Commission 7: Christian Communities in contemporary contexts during the Centenary of the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, 2010. His latest books are: The African Christian Diaspora: New Currents and Emerging Trends in World Christianity (2013); and (eds) Religion on the Move? New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World (2013). Janice A. McLean is a member of the faculty at City Seminary of New York. She is co-editor of Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls (Orbis 2012) and author of several articles on immigrant churches, and urban youth and religion. Anderson Jeremiah is an ordained Anglican Priest. He is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion of Lancaster University and the author of Community and Worldview among Paraiyars of South India: Lived' Religion (2012).