I recently picked up the point made by Harvey Kwiyani that the future of European Christianity may, to a fair extent, lie in the hands of third-culture kids from Africa, Asia & Latin America. Harvey returned to this in his most recent Substack newsletter and again makes points that are worth thinking about.

Unfortunately for them, their multicultural identities are quite difficult to engage and disciple. Very few of our leaders have the skills for this. Their first-generation migrant parents are often helpless. Their ideas about youth ministry and discipleship are generally not useful here. Yes, they may understand some spiritual disciplines but they often lack the contextual awareness their children need to be faithful followers of Christ in Europe. In addition, they spend a great deal of energy negotiating their own cross-cultural challenges (and are often helped by their children who are better at this). Unfortunately, most European leaders are too far detached to be of any help. They may understand the dynamics of being a white child in Africa, but the world of a black child in Europe is totally different. If they try, a great deal of what they offer is often too culturally foreign for the second-generation diaspora to be relevant in their lives. Furthermore, the racial dynamics between European and diaspora leaders make it difficult for any sensible connections to develop with the second-generation diaspora. As such, we have a generation of global Christians growing up in Europe that nobody is discipling well. Many of us, denominational and congregational leaders as well as mission agencies, continue to ignore them to our own peril. No wonder, against all hopes, many of them are secularising just like their European counterparts. The secular culture out there is too strong. My students always ask, “Why would God send us here for us to lose our children?” And I ask them back, “What if this is really a problem of the older generations? European and diaspora?”

Harvey makes several key points that are worth extracting here:

1. Parents can’t help because they are facing their own cross-cultural challenges and often need the help of their kids.
2. European leaders can’t help because they are too detached or culturally clumsy.
3. Racial dynamics between European & diaspora leaders get in the way (*I’d argue that culture & to an extent theology are bigger obstacles*)
4. Denominations, mission agencies and sometimes even churches are not focusing on this issue
5. They are being discipled by the wider secular culture

I think Harvey is close to the mark here and the answers are not straightforward or necessarily easy to find. We probably need third-culture kids from previous waves of immigration who travelled this road to help us out and we need leaders willing to trust & empower them to do so.

I would also say that from a local church level the problems that the parents often have navigating their cultural shifts are often overwhelming that there is little resource or energy left over for the kids. They’re like the quiet middle kid who gets missed while oldest and youngest absorb all the parental bandwidth. Again, what to actually do about that is not so easy. But it helps to be able to see what the challenges are.