Ecclesia Semper Migranda: Towards a Vision of a Migrant Church for Migrants

Abstract

While global migration poses a number of challenges in the life of Christian communities, it also provides a fresh opportunity for them to discover anew what the Church is at its very core—a community of believers that is constantly “on the move.” As a community of spiritual migrants, the Church faces the challenges of continual dislocation and transition on its journey towards its full participation in the life of a Triune God, who himself is Deus Migrator. This chapter offers some constructive suggestions for articulating a highly dynamic and theologically rooted vision of a migrant church for migrants. It argues that it is only by reawakening to the Spirit’s movement within, through, and around them that the community of believers can hope to re-discover their own nomadic nature and become open to embracing fellow migrants and committed to reducing their suffering. Through such encounters, the Church does not only serve the ones in need but can also itself be profoundly transformed towards what it is intended to be—ecclesia migrans.