At Wycliffe Canada, we believe that God has scattered peoples around the world to an unprecedented degree for His purpose, spreading the Good News to them and through them. This is why Wycliffe gladly embraces God’s vision for diaspora Christians in Canada (people living far from their homelands). Our goal is to engage with them in their own languages and in culturally appropriate ways, so they can be involved in Bible translation and help fulfil Christ’s Great Commission. 

Wycliffe Canada’s diaspora ministries began in the 1990s when Garland Hoel, a Wycliffe mobilizer who worked in the Greater Toronto Area, recognized the potential of Canada’s ethnic churches to help advance Bible translation. His vision was echoed and supported by a broader diaspora initiative from the Wycliffe Global Alliance in the early 2000s. As a result, Wycliffe Canada was able to officially launch ethnic ministries in 2003. Now known as the diaspora engagement team, its activities are currently focused on engaging Chinese- and Korean-Canadians in the Bible translation movement. 

We appreciate diaspora churches and their desire to worship and serve God, using their heart language and their own cultural expressions. At the same time, we encourage diaspora churches to identify with minority language groups around the world who still need God’s Word as they worship Him through their own language and culture. 

We heartily value the “fellowship of believers for the gospel” (Phil. 1:5, koinonia in Greek) and therefore want to see diaspora churches in Canada, together with national churches in the field, grow in Christ as they partner to end Bible poverty.  

This is why Wycliffe’s diaspora engagement team loves to serve Canada’s diaspora churches through various mission education and training programs, both by ourselves and in collaboration with other agencies. We also seek to provide them with opportunities to serve with national workers in the field through “Kingdom Friendship” trips.

We are very thankful for our partner churches and diaspora Christians in Canada who have been faithfully praying, giving and going with us to serve our field partners’ work in Bible translation, Scripture engagement, literacy and multilingual education. We invite more ethnic groups in Canada to be part of this diaspora movement and strengthen the  diaspora engagement team through their God-given passion and vision for ministry.

Gyoojun Lee serves as National Director of Diaspora Engagement for Wycliffe Canada. He can be reached at gyoojun_lee@wycliffe.ca

Related links: 

http://wordlovers.ca/ (Korean site)