REVIEW OF A REFLECTION ON DIASPORA CROSS-CULTURAL EVANGELISM: AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In 2010, Abeneazer Gezahegn Urga immigrated from Ethiopia to America to attend seminary. Though he enjoyed his studies from the beginning, he found life in the West jarringly different than in his homeland. What he observed was confusing and often disturbing. He felt the world had turned upside down and he was not sure where he fit anymore.When feelings of dullness, depression, and purposelessness descended, Urga found solace in journaling. He poured out his observations, frustrations, struggles, and insights. He recorded stories of sorrows and victories. Step by step, God brought him out of the haze of culture shock by revealing the strategic role that he could play as a non-western cross-cultural evangelist in the West. He recorded this journey toward renewed joy and purpose in the same journal, recounting his exciting encounters in cross-cultural evangelism and his desire that other immigrants get involved. Eventually, in an effort to inspire and equip other immigrant believers in the Diaspora and those who want to help them, he compiled and edited his years of journaling into his 2015 self-published book: A Reflection on Diaspora Cross-Cultural Evangelism: An African Perspective.