Abstract
This study examines African immigrants’ role in cross-cultural missions in the United States, focusing on their motivation, challenges, and strategies. A key motivation is the perception of America’s spiritual decline and Africa’s rise as a Christian hub. However, obstacles arising from both African immigrants and American society hinder their missional efforts. In response, African missionaries devise means in an attempt to engage Western communities. Partnerships between African and Western Christians further highlight the polycentric nature of missions. The examples of two African Anglican clergy support insights from the literature and highlight the many understudied African clergy serving in American Anglican denominations. Further qualitative research on African clergy in both mainline and migrant churches is recommended to enhance understanding of their impact on cross-cultural missions and missiological scholarship.
Keywords
Introduction
Can the white man’s burden be the messenger of the good news for North America? Can this even be considered a research topic? Yes, of course. However, there is a scarcity of research on the cross-cultural missions of majority-world Christian immigrants to North America. Exploring Korean missionaries to the United States, Kim (2016) acknowledged the inadequate existing “research on Christian immigrants’ cross-racial religious engagement” (p. 668). The deficit in research on the cross-cultural missions of African migrants in the West can be attributed to a combination of historical, methodological, and institutional factors. For instance, historically, missiology has prioritized Western missionary efforts, often neglecting the role of non-Western actors in global mission movements (Jenkins, 2006: 1).
The reverse dynamic of African migrants engaging in mission in the West has not received proportional attention, despite its growing significance (Burgess, 2020). Methodologically, academic studies of African migration to the West often emphasize socio-economic challenges, integration, and political activism, rather than religious practices or missionary engagement (Adogame, 2007: 494). Institutionally, African migrant churches’ alignment with established Western mainline denominational structures may limit their inclusion in mainstream missiological studies (Hanciles, 2008: 327). An example is the Ugandan and Kenyan Anglican churches in the United States whose alignment with either the Anglican Church in America (ACNA) or the Episcopal Church (TEC), may blur any possibility of a reverse mission dynamic.
This gap in scholarship on this issue reflects broader trends in migration studies and missiology, as well as structural limitations in academia. This article thus aims to describe and analyze the perceptions of new African immigrants’ cross-cultural mission engagement across the United States. We will first present the concept of reverse mission, which is a missiological idea that can be easily found in African discussion. This will be followed by a sketch on African mission personnel in the United States and then an analysis of pertinent literature related to cross-cultural missions of new African immigrants in United States. The final section presents the example of two African Anglican clergy, a Kenyan and Ugandan, who immigrated to the United States and are serving in the ACNA and TEC congregations.
Reverse mission
The notion of a cross-cultural mission engagement by new African immigrants in the US is closely linked to the concept of reverse mission. It means that churches and missionaries from the Global South, particularly Africa, Asia, and Latin America, evangelize and establish ministries in the historically Christian Global North. This trend reflects the shift in the center of gravity of global Christianity, from the West to the Global South, which has been increasingly evident since the latter half of the twentieth century. According to Burgess (2020), reverse mission mainly “refers to the purported historic shift in the direction of mission” (p. 243). In other words, mission flow has made a sharp turn from Africa, Asia and Latin America and is now headed to the historic mission sending regions of Europe and North America (Ojo, 2007: 380).
Some examples of reverse mission are Nigerian megachurches in London (Burgess, 2011: 431) and Kiev (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2005: 297–321). The latter was once considered the largest church in Europe and had a more than ninety percent white congregation. A North American example features Korean cross-cultural missions to white Americans (Kim, 2016). What is similar in the foregoing examples is the intentional outreach by non-Western Christians to white indigenous populations in Western nations. This indicates that non-Western Christians often perceive reverse mission as an obligation to evangelize contemporary Western society.
Nonetheless, some mission scholars challenge the cross-cultural missionary efforts of African, Asian and Latin American immigrants aimed at the white community in Western nations. The concept of reverse mission, while celebrated by some scholars as a dynamic shift in global Christianity, has also faced several criticisms and challenges. These critiques focus on practical, theological and cultural dimensions of the phenomenon.
Freston (2010) questions the practicality of the reverse mission effort by migrant church leaders, which is “usually low on the list of priorities, and gets constantly overridden by the demands of ministering to the diaspora communities” (p. 159). This frequent focus on diaspora populations, rather than engaging with broader society, is thought to significantly limit the wider impact of reverse mission on mainstream Western society.
The theological assumptions underpinning reverse mission often emphasize the spiritual decline of the West and highlight the south-to-north migrations that are reorienting God’s mission. However, Kwiyani (2023) challenges this perceived shift in direction, arguing that “God’s mission is God’s mission, no matter where it originates or where it flows. Migration trends have reversed, but there is no such thing as reverse mission” (p. 97).
Reverse missionaries often face challenges adapting to the cultural, linguistic, and societal norms of Western contexts. For missionaries from the Global South to succeed, they will require cross-cultural skills, which calls for partnerships with Western Christians. In this context, Hanciles (2013) critiques the concept of reverse mission as a distortion, stating that it “beclouds the simple fact that partnership and collaboration between migrant actors and indigenous groups is indispensable for effective mission” (p. 84).
Criticisms that reverse mission is impractical, theologically questionable, or limited by cultural barriers may arise from a static and Western-centric understanding of mission. Practically, the challenges faced by migrant church leaders in engaging Western society should not obscure the modest gains of reverse mission. Migrant churches are increasingly active in multicultural urban centers, where they offer both social and spiritual services, often extending their reach to members of the host society. Additionally, the growing presence of Global South clergies within historic Western denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican churches, represents a concrete expression of reverse mission in action.
Theologically, reverse mission is firmly rooted in the biblical vision of a global and inclusive mandate. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20) is not geographically confined, and the New Testament contains numerous examples of mission that transcends cultural and ethnic boundaries (e.g., Acts 13; Galatians 2). If mission in the past was largely conceived as a movement from the West to the rest of the world, the contemporary landscape reflects from everywhere to everywhere, including from Africa to the US.
Cultural barriers do exist, but they are not unique to reverse mission. Western missionaries historically faced significant cultural and linguistic obstacles, yet their work was not dismissed on that account. Similarly, many Global South missionaries bring a subtle cross-cultural awareness, shaped by migration and transnational experiences. They are often ready to navigate pluralistic Western societies and offer compelling insights into issues of spirituality, family, and community, insights that increasingly resonate with spiritually disillusioned or secularized Western audiences.
It is evident that the ongoing debate on the issue of reverse mission reveals the underlying reality of the polycentric nature of mission in the 21st century. It does not mean that Western missionaries have ceased moving from their countries to the non-Western world. In fact, the United States remains the leading missionary-sending nation (Zurlo and Johnson, 2023). However, African and other Global South Christians are increasingly visible in 21st-century missions as they migrate to Western nations. In the West, this development is often viewed through the lens of “receiving mission” (Kim, 2011: 63).
Yet, in the era of polycentric mission, “it is fitting that the voices of majority world Christians are heard in regard to the conduct of missions” (Pocock et al., 2005: 13–14). Despite descriptions of the limited impact or even the perceived absence of reverse mission, it is essential that the voices of Global South Christians, particularly Africans continue to be heard regarding their perceptions of cross-cultural missions to Western nations. Their insights may provide a reliable foundation for motivating African immigrants to engage in cross-cultural missions. Additionally, host churches in the US may benefit from a renewed understanding of the challenges that hinder effective missional partnerships with African immigrant Christians.
A sketch on African mission workers in United States
It is really difficult to articulate the actual number of African missionaries and ministers in the US. This is partly due to the fact that the definition of missionary has changed, thus “making it much more difficult to assess how many missionaries there are in the world” (Zurlo et al., 2020: 12). There has been a noted increase in the number of missionaries “being sent from countries in the Global South” (Zurlo et al., 2021: 17) over the recent years. Four Global South nations rank as top missionary sending countries after the United States, with the only African nation being Nigeria which sent an estimated 25,000 missionaries in 2020 (Zurlo and Johnson, 2023). The total number of missionaries sent from Africa reached above 40,000 in the same period (Zurlo and Johnson, 2023). While the exact number of African mission workers in the US remains uncertain, their presence is becoming increasingly noticeable on the American ecclesial scene. For example, an increasing number of African Anglican clergy are active in the American Anglican churches, often described as part of a “process of reverse mission” (Ward, 2016: 637).
Some African churches have attempted to quantify their missionaries and ministers in the United States. For instance, a Ghanaian Pentecostal denomination provides statistics for their international mission personnel indicating a total of 73 missionaries and 1370 ministers in mission field at the end of 2022 (The Church of Pentecost-General Headquarters, 2024). While the US is mentioned as a destination for some of these mission personnel, an exact number is not given. Interestingly, The Church of Pentecost, General Council (2016, Art. 17, p. 57) defines a missionary to include those occupying a pastoral office. This further affirms that those engaged in reverse mission often do not conform to the conventional model. Rather, they represent a non-traditional category of mission workers who, as Escobar (2003) observes, often “do not appear in the records of missionary activity or the databanks of specialists” (p. 17).
With regards to Roman Catholics, some investigators (Gautier et al., 2014: 28) estimated the total number of African catholic priests in the US at about 18% of the more than 6000 foreign-born priests in 2012, which would translate to about 1080 African catholic priests. The same estimates indicated that most African catholic missionary priests in the US were from Nigeria (Gautier et al., 2014: 21).
Apart from priests, there were African nuns who are missionaries in the United States. A survey (Johnson and Gautier, 2018: 159, 164) conducted between 2016 and 2017 identified over 4000 foreign-born sisters in the United States. Johnson and Gautier (2018) further note that results from the more than 1000 survey responses indicated that “38 percent of the sisters are from Nigeria, 16 percent from Uganda, over 10 percent from Kenya, and 10 percent from Tanzania” (pp. 165–166). Similar to statistics on the number of African priests in the US, the majority of the surveyed sisters were from Nigeria. However, there was a significant number of East African sisters as represented by the three countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Relatedly, several African Anglican clergy lead church plants in major cities across America. Others serve as incumbents or curates in American parishes (Hanciles, 2013: 75). Estimates of Africans ministering in the United States can also be made from a scrutiny of denominational websites. For example, it is possible to guess how many Ugandan and Kenyan Anglican ministers are in the US by looking at the online parish and diocesan directories of both TEC and ACNA websites. Judging by Ugandan and Kenyan indigenous names, there may be 25 Ugandan and Kenyan born Anglican clergies. These pastors fall in two categories: those ministering directly within American churches and those affiliated with them. TEC has been known for employing such African clergy (Ward, 2016: 637). The affiliates are often leaders of diaspora churches composed of migrants from their home country and who mostly associate with the ACNA. Unlike their counterparts who minister within American churches, affiliated clergy are not directly engaged in cross-cultural missions. However, like other African diaspora pastors, some of their mission activities, such as community outreach, nonetheless extend to members of the host society (Frederiks, 2022: 674).
New African immigrants’ perceptions of cross-cultural missions
Cross-cultural mission in the US, despite its Christian majority, may operate as a form of re-evangelization, prophetic engagement, and mutual enrichment. In such a context, mission is broader than preaching and includes offering pastoral care to marginalized groups, challenging consumerism, individualism, and secularism (Frederiks, 2022: 674). Cross-cultural mission from African pastors can function as prophetic witness, calling American churches back to spiritual vitality. For instance, the revival ethos of East African Anglicans is seen as “a missionary calling to the rest of the world” and that includes America (Hassett, 2007: 198).
The involvement of African immigrants in cross-cultural missions in the United States can be understood in terms of their motivation, barriers, and strategies. As a growing and dynamic community, African immigrants bring unique perspectives and experiences to mission work, often shaped by their diverse cultural and spiritual backgrounds. Their participation not only enriches the mission field but also highlights the importance of addressing the challenges they face, such as cultural adaptation and resource limitations.
Motivation
The motivation of African cross-cultural mission engagement in the United States can be understood as arising from two perspectives. The perspective that America is experiencing a spiritual and cultural descent and then that of Africa’s ascent in global Christianity.
According to Asamoah-Gyadu (2015), many African Christian immigrants embrace a perception that Americans have departed from the true gospel and need deliverance from the prisons of secularism and sexual deviance (p. 191). The secularized American society, in which God is secondary, thus serves as a motivation for African immigrant pastors in cross-cultural mission efforts to the American society. The analyses of Asamoah-Gyadu relate to that of Udotong’s (2010) study on African immigrant churches in the metropolitan Atlanta area which revealed that some of the pastors perceived mission to America in terms of a rescue of the “dying world” (p. 214). He further noted that other pastors thought of America as a place that is spiritually decayed and necessitates “a reaching out to the un-churched” (Udotong, 2010: 220).
Similar perceptions are echoed in Grant Miller’s study of African immigrants in the United States and how they negotiate their identity in the diasporic context of the US. The respondents included several pastors from mainline denominations (Miller, 2016). According to Miller, African pastors pointed to evangelistic struggles that they face in reaching Americans. These pastors believed that Americans are too secularized that they pay little attention to the need for God in their lives. Related to the secular outlook of American society was the fast-paced nature of life in the country. African pastors thus thought that the Americans are often beyond reach since their busy schedules leave no time for a possible encounter with the gospel (Miller, 2016: 167–168).
The African’s perspective of America’s spiritual and cultural descent is also directly linked to the notion of spiritual agency. In this regard, Olupona and Gemignani (2009: 341) point to a “prophetic dimension” wherein new African immigrants view themselves as spiritual agents sent to address the secularism that plagues the US and other western societies. The view that secularism had turned the United States into an arena for mission prompted some leaders of African immigrant churches in the US to become intentional with regard to cross-cultural missions (Hanciles, 2008: 343).
The other perspective gives prominence to Africa’s ascent in global Christianity. For instance, Jacob Olupona notes that African immigrant pastors ministering in American mainline churches, such as the Episcopal, believe that they are performing a missionary function. Olupona (2003) adds that these pastors claim that “Africa has become a center of Christianity developed enough to send missionaries abroad” (p. 91). In this way, Africa’s prominence in global Christianity is linked to the emergence of African immigrant pastors in American congregations particularly in the Anglican and Roman Catholic where they are increasingly filling pastoral roles. Such a development can further motivate other African immigrant pastors to take on similar roles. Even then, the forces of globalization need to be considered in Africa’s ascent in global Christianity. Thus, in regard to the Anglican Communion, Hassett (2007) challenges the notion that the increased global activism of church leaders from the Global South is due to southward shift in world Christianity’s center of gravity (p. 3). Instead, this activism by the southern Christians owes to forces of globalization reflected in the transnational ties between “American conservative dissidents and a number of Southern Anglican leaders since the mid-1990s” (Hassett, 2007: 4). Either way, the continued growth of Africa as a center of global Christianity combined with increased international migration out of Africa, “explains why African Christians form a significant segment of the missionary movement propelled by migration in the present age” (Hanciles, 2013: 72).
Barriers
Barriers are also observable in African immigrants’ perceptions of their cross-cultural mission involvement in in the United States. These barriers can be understood as either emerging from the African immigrants or from American society. The former includes issues such as the overly strong African way of worship, overemphasis on spirituality, a lack of confidence and their economic concerns which often overwhelm any missional intents, while the latter category includes issues to do with prejudice, racism and secular laws.
According to Kumolalo (2015: 231), the worship practices of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, North America (RCCGNA) in the US only served to distance non-Nigerians from the church. This was linked to the member’s overly strong Nigerian cultural expressions in the church which alienates non-Nigerians. Similarly, Norton and Nyanni (2023), note that many African Christian immigrants belonging to Church of Pentecost (CoP) in the United States, “believe that their congregations should do more to reach non-Africans” (p. 221). But they further add that the younger generation “expressed dissatisfaction when the church’s culture felt oppressive” such as when only the native African language was used in worship (Norton and Nyanni, 2023: 223). Thus, the younger members were less likely to ask a non-African friend to church. They felt that this was down to the African way of worship which would appear unwelcoming to non-Africans (Norton and Nyanni, 2023: 223). This suggests that some African Christian immigrants in the United States, view the worship format in their own immigrant churches, as a barrier to cross-cultural missions.
African immigrant Christians have sometimes been known to place too much stress on spiritual issues. Hanciles notes how an African immigrant pastor expressed reservations about how some fellow Africans often overemphasize spirituality and underestimate preparation and training. Such a predisposition can emerge as a hindrance to the cross-cultural mission efforts of the African pastors (Hanciles, 2008: 337).
The low self-esteem among African immigrants has also emerged as a barrier to their involvement in cross-cultural missions. Grace Gichuru’s study on African immigrants and their integration with American churches reveals two perceptions with regard to cross-cultural missions of the African immigrants. She notes that some African Christian immigrants reported a lack confidence and that they “feel inferior” to reach out to Americans with the gospel (Gichuru, 2019: 116). Gichuru’s findings about the inferiority complex that affects African missionaries in the US, relates to Hassett’s (2007: 198) findings in which her African respondents thought that Africans lack the confidence to encounter the white Americans with the gospel message.
Communication barriers are also evident in the experiences of African immigrant Christians as they attempt to evangelize Americans. According to Miller (2016: 216), African pastors reported that accent was one of the issues which impeded communication between African Christian immigrants and Americans. This meant that even when Africans immigrants shared the gospel, for instance among co-workers, their American colleagues could not readily understand them (Miller, 2016: 169).
Another perception among African Christian immigrants in the United States that creates a missional barrier is the belief that cross-cultural missions is a worthy endeavor whose time has not fully come. According to Nwoji (2009), The African “Christian community in diaspora may have a missionary program but the individual Christians may not yet be convinced that they must pursue it” (p. 164). He adds that this weak missional identity of ordinary African Christian immigrants in the US is because “the economic aspect seems to be of higher priority than the missional nature of the community” (Nwoji, 2009: 164).
Other barriers to cross-cultural mission efforts of African immigrants in the US can be understood to emerge from the American society. Hassett portrays the negative perception that Americans have about African visiting preachers in the United States. Based on her interview of Ugandans who had ministered in the US, Hassett (2007) notes that “sometimes African desires to preach the gospel come into conflict with American aestheticizations of African poverty and suffering, and the Americans’ corresponding interest in hearing about how awful things are in Africa” (p. 201). In other words, the Americans “seem to view their visitor as a representative of a continent in crisis. The visitor, however, views himself as a guest preacher, come to share the gospel” (Hassett, 2007: 201). This prejudice from the wider society and church is what African missionaries must prepare for in the US (Kwiyani, 2014: 139).
There are also issues of racism and power that African immigrants have to deal with in their cross-cultural mission efforts in the United States. Kwiyani (2014) notes that, “any African missionary who desires to reach white Americans and other Westerns must be prepared to deal with discrimination from the wider Western culture and segregation within Christianity” (p. 139). Likewise, Hassett (2007) mentions the experience of a senior Kenyan Anglican clergy who encountered “resistance when preaching in the United States” (p. 201). Hassett (2007: 201) reports that this senior Kenyan Anglican clergy had prepared to preach on homosexuality in an Episcopal church that hosted him, but that the invitation was promptly cancelled when the African refused to alter his sermon. This indicates that African missionaries in the United States, especially those serving in American churches, may face restrictions on what to preach about and this ultimately hinders their message.
Furthermore, broader US society often conflates recent African immigrants with African Americans. This not only renders African immigrants socially invisible, “but also imposes a stereotypical minority status on them” (Hanciles, 2008: 319). However, African immigrants differ from African Americans in terms of racial identity, on economic grounds and cultural values. As a result, there is often limited “interaction and cooperation between African migrant churches and the more numerous African American denominations and congregations” (Hanciles, 2013: 82).
At other times, barriers to cross-cultural mission efforts of African immigrants in the US emerge from the secular legal system in the American society. According to Miller (2016: 169), some of the African immigrant Christians express difficulty in reaching Americans because of the “secular laws” which make it prohibitive to share the gospel in public places or at work. Despite the observable barriers, African immigrants are devising ways of engaging in cross-cultural mission within in the United States.
Strategies
The perceptions underlying the cross-cultural mission efforts of African immigrants in the United States can be divided broadly in two. Active strategies, which are already observable among African immigrants in the United States, and advocated strategies which may not be readily observed but are suggested for consideration.
Udotong’s study on African immigrant churches in metropolitan Atlanta pointed out that some pastors have implemented a strategy of providing meals to the homeless with the aim of reaching out to non-Africans. But alongside charitable acts such as feeding the homeless and founding charter schools, many African-led churches now emphasize broader community integration through health initiatives, social services, and civic participation. These approaches signal a shift from inward-facing ministry models to public-facing, neighborhood-oriented engagement (Adogame, 2007: 508–509). For example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, North America (RCCGNA), acquired over 800 acres land in “Dallas, Texas, to serve as a hub of its missionary enterprise in North America, dubbed Christian Disneyland” (Adedibu, 2019: 8). Such efforts are not merely development projects but strategic interventions aimed at fostering meaningful connections with local American communities.
Another strategy was to make changes to their worship materials and forms so as to make the worship inclusive of non-Africans. But Udotong (2010) notes that even though some African immigrant churches had attracted white Americans, they “often do not stay” (p. 236). While others may stay for the service, but then “in most cases never show up again” (Udotong, 2010: 224). It is thus evident that the cross-cultural missions of African immigrants in the United States are still an evolving process in need of more strategies.
Yet, as Miller (2016: 169–170) notes, there is a persistence among some African immigrants who go on to pray for Americans with whom they share a neighborhood or workplace. Even when these African pastors often find it difficult to see American people accept the invitation to surrender to God, they point to the need for patience and perseverance in reaching Americans (Miller, 2016: 170). The combination of prayer, patience and perseverance has therefore emerged as a strategy that some African immigrant pastors have used in the difficult cross-cultural missional environment of the United States.
Some of the advocated strategies include cultivating partnerships and relationships between African immigrant Christians and American Christians. Kwiyani (2014) argues that Western Christians ought not to avoid partnership with Africans and that the latter should not be content with merely maintaining a presence in Western nations (pp. 152–153). This implies that relationships are at the core of missional activities and a successful cross-cultural outreach by African immigrant Christians to United States has to be built on relationship between the Africans and their American counterparts.
Kwiyani (2014) also suggests that, “for Africans to be effective missionaries to the West, they need to incarnate themselves in Western culture, and that may mean disbanding some of their immigrant congregations to serve as members in Western congregations” (p. 150). But such an endeavor is often difficult for first generation African immigrants whose entry into American culture is bound to clash with their home country culture.
The other advocated strategy thus relates to the second generation or the children of these African immigrants. In this regard, Gichuru notes that some African immigrant pastors believe that it is the second generation that will be able to bridge the gap with the wider American society. It is hoped that this second generation will have a greater awareness of American culture, stronger command of English and more secure finances (Gichuru, 2019: 117–118). But until then, the duty is on the first-generation African immigrants in the United States, to tackle the task of cross-cultural missions and this ought to begin with an understanding of their own perceptions in evangelizing the predominately white American society.
Two examples of African missionaries in the US
In this section, we present brief profiles of two African Anglican clergies, a Kenyan and a Ugandan, who immigrated to the United States and are serving in the ACNA and TEC congregations. The aim is to provide an example of how African immigrant pastors from mainline denominations in East Africa, perceive the task of cross-cultural mission engagement in the United States. African immigrants from East Africa as well as those from mainline churches in Africa, are not often studied in research on African immigrant Christianity in the United States. Thus, our choice to include their profile in this study.
In an interview, Sang recounts challenges and strategies in his cross-cultural mission engagement:
Being a pastor, I thought well serving will be easy in this country. But when I came it was somehow very hard to be able to serve in a white church. Because one, the culture is different and uh yeah some of the churches you may not be welcomed as such. And so I thought about what should I do [sic] to be able to achieve the goal and the calling that God has called me. And so that is how I ended up pursuing to be a chaplain. Because that is the ministry where I thought well. This is where I will be able to meet all kinds of people from different races [and] cultures. And I will feel welcome because everybody comes to the hospital. Everybody needs that support right. So that is actually how this shaped my perception and the character (EnerJennyTV, 2020: 2:51- 3:55).
Sang faced the cultural barriers alongside the discrimination from white churches. He also came up with a bi-vocational strategy that would open the door for him to interact with the wider American society, which could potentially create cross-cultural missional relationships. This implies that African immigrant pastors in American churches may overcome the barriers to cross-cultural mission engagement within the congregation with a strategic option to take up a job or role in the wider American community.
In an interview with the Episcopal News Service, Twinamaani suggested that in the practice of evangelism, churches in the US may learn the Ugandan way and that TEC ought to learn from the Ugandan Anglican Church where the clergy “equip the people and they go out and do it” (Schjonberg, 2016). She also points out Twinamaani’s reservations about the clerical nature of TEC and how the “clergy can get in the way sometimes and be a bottleneck” in evangelism (Schjonberg, 2016).
Twinamaani’s perceptions recognize the limitations that the mainline institutional structure may impose on an African immigrant pastor’s missional effort. But he also points to a partnership strategy that African clergy serving in TEC may employ in their cross-cultural mission efforts. African immigrant pastors employed by American churches could invest their efforts in equipping the host Christians to evangelize fellow Americans. In this way, both the Africans and Americans can share in the fruits of evangelizing American society.
Conclusion
This article aimed to examine and explain how African immigrants perceive cross-cultural missions in the United States. We highlighted that, despite claims of a minimal impact or even the perceived nonexistence of reverse mission, it is crucial to amplify the voices of Global South Christians concerning cross-cultural missions in the West. The review of relevant literature confirmed that African immigrants’ involvement in cross-cultural missions in the West is shaped by various forms of motivation, challenges, and strategies. A brief examination of two African Anglican clergies in the United States supported insights from the literature and pointed to the fact that Ugandan and Kenyan Anglican clergies are actively ministering in America, though their perspectives remain understudied. Future research should thus focus on a qualitative study of Ugandan and Kenyan Anglican clergies serving in the United States to explore their perspectives on cross-cultural missions.
Footnotes
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.