Today, millions of Africans live outside of Africa: in North America, Europe, and around the globe – the African diaspora. There are pockets of Sudanese in Nebraska, Moroccans in the Netherlands, and Senegalese in Spain. Reaching out to these populations, and others like them, is called diaspora ministry.
God’s original call on Africa Inland Mission (AIM) was to go to the ‘Inlands’; Africa’s unreached; those who have yet to hear of the saving gospel of Christ. Many of those people groups remain unreached because they are difficult to access; because of their geographical location or increasingly, because adherence to Islam means that traditional mission work is not possible in their countries. But now, people in those locations are coming to us.
Thousands of Africans are journeying every month. Some are moving for economic reasons, some are escaping political oppression, and others are seeking to avoid religious persecution. Africans also come as students or as international employees.
AIM’s Diaspora Outreach Teams serve in strategic communities where significant populations of ethnic Africans live, and we seek partnerships with Christ-centred, biblically-based churches. Working in cooperation with these churches, AIM missionaries have a unique opportunity to build relationships and share the hope of Christ with people groups we would not normally have the opportunity to work among.
