Who were the Diaspora Jews? Diaspora is “to migrate or scatter.” These Jews were exiled and forced to live outside of Israel. The Diaspora occurred in 722 BC, when the Assyrians conquered Northern Israel, and in 588 BC when the Babylonians conquered Judah. They were also called Hellenistic Jews, because they lived in Greek speaking territories. Living outside of Israel, they eventually lost the Hebrew language, and by the 1st century mainly spoke Greek. The Hebrew speaking Jews despised the Diaspora Jews, because they didn’t speak or write in Hebrew, “God’s language.” Indeed, they became culturally and religiously marginalized.

It was not by accident. God raised up this “marginalized” group of Jews as his instrument to bring the gospel to the Gentile world. Stephen, Paul of Tarsus, Barnabas, Timothy were all Hellenized Jews. God used them as a bridge to bring the gospel out of rigid Jerusalem, to the Greek speaking Gentiles, and eventually to the ends of the earth.

The missionary children in UBF (and any missionary children) have some similarities to the Diaspora Jews. They are multicultural. They may feel marginalized. They may feel ethnically confused, seeking a real identity. They may have felt discriminated against from time to time. God can use them greatly as his cross cultural witnesses. They understand the rigors of their parent’s sacrificial lives in Christ. They easily come to understand the culture and language of the where they are living. What effective communicators of the gospel they can be! How fearless they can be to bring God’s word and the gospel of Jesus to people of different cultures and languages!

Yesterday I witnessed a joyful wedding between two missionary children. One was raised in the USA, the other in Korea and Argentina. I was so moved that one of their prayer topics as a couple is to go out as missionaries. There is a beautiful Filipino American family. They started raising their children in Chicago, then went out as missionaries to the Ukraine seven years ago. Now two of their daughters are going to school in Turkey and fearlessly and effectively support the UBF gospel ministry there. My son-in-law is a multicultural son of missionaries. He, without hesitation and without fear, is willing to go out to wherever God leads his growing family to advance the gospel.

I stand amazed at God and his ways of working. Praise God that He works through any group of persons who become uniquely useful to him. As he used the Diaspora Jews as a bridge to the Gentile world, may God use multicultural children of missionaries to bridge and advance the gospel of Jesus Christ to peoples of every nation.