Pentecostal Migration Must Build Belonging in Both Directions

Pentecostal Christianity has always travelled with people. Workers, students, refugees, traders, spouses, professionals and families carry songs, prayers, testimonies, Scripture and expectations of the Spirit into new cities. Some establish congregations. Others renew existing churches, form prayer networks or sustain faith through digital connections across several countries at once.

This movement is rightly recognised as missional. Yet migration is not a church programme, and a migrant is not raw material for a strategy. People cross borders for many reasons, sometimes freely and sometimes under profound constraint. They may carry a missionary vocation, but they also need safety, work, legal clarity, friendship, worship, family continuity and room to become at home without surrendering their history.

The central Pentecostal question is therefore not simply whether African Christians can evangelise another region. It is whether Spirit-filled communities can build belonging in both directions: strengthening the bonds through which migrants survive, opening bridges into host communities, forming accountable relationships with public institutions and allowing the gifts and questions of every community to reshape shared witness.

On 12 September 2026, HTS Theological Studies published Akinyemi Alawode's peer-reviewed article on migration and mission. The article reviews literature on historical missionary movement, contemporary migration from the Global South and the language of reverse mission. It argues that migrant Christians should develop cultural intelligence and move beyond ministry chiefly among fellow migrants if…