Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / Regional Conference 2025 - Mark Louw | People on the Move

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Regional Conference 2025 - Mark Louw | People on the Move · Eurasia Region Podcast

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Welcome to the Eurasia Region Podcast channel.
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In this podcast episode, you can listen to the sermon from
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Eurasia Regional Director Mark Law.
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The sermon took place at the Eurasia Regional Conference 2025
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in Albania. Mark spoke about the team people
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on the move. We thank you, God, that you
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inhabit the praises of your people.
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We thank you that you've honoured us with your presence
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this week. We thank you that you have met
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together the prayers, the messages, the activities of this
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conference and shown us your love for us tonight as we gather
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here in this final service. As as we concluded with your
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table, we pray that you would fill us again with your Holy
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Spirit, that we would leave this place as your instruments of
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righteousness for your holy and we desire to be your holy people
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that live in this world, this dark place where people will see
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the light and the hope that you offer them.
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I pray for your anointing now that you touched my mouth and my
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frail body, that you might be glorified.
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Amen. Have you been blessed this week?
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Have you been blessed this week? I don't know about you.
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Seems like some of you have not been too blessed, but I've been
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very, very blessed. Blessed too much.
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Can one be blessed too much is the question that I have.
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No, no Have you experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit
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during our services, during our worship, in our times of prayer?
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If you haven't, you must be dead.
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He is alive. He is at work amongst us.
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These three days together have been a reminder to us of so many
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things. We've been inspired.
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We've been challenged to allow the transforming grace of God to
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work in US and through us, that we might be ministers of
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reconciliation, ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.
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We've been reminded that we have a responsibility to care for
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creation and the vulnerable, that we should join the cause,
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the worthy cause of the King and the Kingdom.
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We have been reminded that we should not forget the new
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massive digital communities that exist out there that is part of
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this world that is not going to go away and that we must embrace
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it and know how to make Christ like disciples through those
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mediums. We have been reminded that we
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must stand strong against the unethical systems of the world
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and resist the temptations and opportunities that might come
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our way and mislead us. And today we've been reminded
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that we are to resist the pressures of the secular age,
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the pressure to conform to its systems, and that instead we,
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the body of Christ, are to become and our worships and
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services should be centres of holy fire, there where the
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manifest power of heaven is seen here on earth.
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Do you hunger for that? Do you desire that in your
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church? Do you know how different your
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life would be if we could experience that?
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Tomorrow we'll start leaving this place.
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And this is where the true impact of this conference we'll
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begin to to be assessed. My fear is always that we come
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to these conferences, we get energized, we get excited, we
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get filled and we go home and we just say, oh, there was a good
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conference that was a good event, great worship and all
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that stuff. We had a great time together.
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We engaged in gap conversations that were stimulating, we made
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new friends, we had awesome workshops.
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But what now? What will be different?
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That is my prayer, that we will go back and be different.
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We're going back to there where we came from, back to the world
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that is lost in its lostness. We're going back to a world that
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is uncertain about its future, a world filled with evil.
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But I pray that we're returning home differently, Not to camp
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inside of the walls of our sanctuaries, but to be unleashed
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into the neighborhoods that we live in and that we worship Him.
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You may wonder about where and how to begin.
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My response is simply that of Jesus.
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Look up. Look up and you'll see that the
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fields are white unto harvest. Stop looking down.
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Stop looking inward. Look outward.
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Stop texting as you walk. Look up.
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There's a world out there, a lost world.
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The world is all around you, maybe even in your home.
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Let's live like a people who are baptized with supernatural power
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to be witnesses in our Jerusalems, our Judeas, our
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Samaria's throughout the world. The mission field is all around
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us. It's not just out there.
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This evening. My primary text comes from
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Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 22.
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And yes, I did bring my my Bible.
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It's catching on, Jim, because you've been sitting for about 5
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minutes. Would you stand with me as we
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read this rather lengthy text? Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11,
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through the end of that chapter, which is verse 22.
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Therefore remember that formally you who are Gentiles by birth
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and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the
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circumcision that's done in the body by the hands of men.
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Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
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excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the
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covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the
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world. But now in Christ Jesus you were
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once were far away, have been brought near through the blood
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of Christ, for He Himself is our peace was made the 21 and has
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destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by
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abolishing in His flesh the Law with its commandments and
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regulations. His purpose was to create in
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Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in
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this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross
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by which He put to death their hostility.
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He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace
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to those who were near, for through Him we both have access
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to the Father by 1 Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer
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foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizen with God's people
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and members of God's household built on the foundation of the
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apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the
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chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is
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joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord
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and in Him you 2 are being built together to become a dwelling
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place in which God lives by His Spirit.
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This is the Word of God for the people of God.
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And we say, thanks be to God, you may be seated.
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The theme of the evening is that of people on the move, and I
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particularly want to address the issues of the migrant and the
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refugee amongst us. The one in our neighborhood that
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maybe looks different, that has just moved in.
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The stranger who is our neighbor or the neighbor who is a
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stranger. We all have a story of where we
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came from. No one is truly from here,
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meaning your current place of residence.
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If you trace your family back far enough, you'll see that
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everyone of us is the descendant of migrants, settlers, displaced
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people, or Wanderers. I call myself South African, but
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my ancestors came from the Netherlands, they came from
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France, they came from Germany, they came from England.
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I'm a South African, a migrant, long ago to a land.
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When I immigrated to America, I was a migrant, an immigrant.
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Some of us sitting in this room knows what that feels like.
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If you trace your family back, you're going to find that
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movement is part of the human story today.
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We live in a moment when more people are on the move than at
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any other point in time in recorded history.
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It's one of the defining realities of our age.
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Get this. I'm going to be low on
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statistics, but here's a good one for you.
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One in 27 people in the world today is an international
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migrant. One in 27 people.
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I think we did it the first night, but I want to do it
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again. If you currently live in a
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nation wherein you were not born, would you stand up?
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If you are currently living in a nation wherein you were not
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born. Wow.
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We are an immigrant church, friends.
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We are a Church of migrants. Praise be to God, you may be
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seated. Get this.
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If all migrants formed one country, that would be the fifth
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largest nation on earth. If all migrants formed one
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country, it would be the 5th largest nation on earth.
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Movement is happening globally, S to north, east to West, within
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nations. Some move for safety, some move
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for opportunity, some move because of war, of economics, of
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climate, or simply to survive. In this very room, some of you
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have been refugees, some of you are newly arrived migrants, some
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of been where there are for years and years.
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Just we heard the story this morning or yesterday morning of
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a brother that has not known life without war in the nation.
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This is the reality of this region particularly.
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But some of you, those of you didn't stand up when the rest of
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us did, have lived in your neighborhoods for a long, long
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time, and you feel settled. And some maybe even feel
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threatened by the new faces that are moving in to your suburb.
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Regardless of who you are, where you are, the church must have
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something to say and do about this.
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We cannot be passive. We cannot put our heads in the
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sand. We cannot turn a blind eye.
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So the question for the church today is not whether there are
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people on the move. The question is rather, how do
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we respond to them? How will we respond to the
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immigrant, the migrant, the refugee, the displaced person
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that is in our midst today? What are we individually and as
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the body of Christ doing about the stranger in our midst?
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The world is changed and the world continues to change
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rapidly. Global migration is changing
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neighborhoods, it's changing cities, it's changing economies
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and entire nations. When strangers arrive in our
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cities, in our neighborhoods and churches, do we view them as
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intruders? Do we view them with fear or
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even indifference? Or do we view them as
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opportunities for us to love and embrace as Christ embraces us?
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Tonight I want to share 6 considerations with you. 6
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things that we need to think about as we wrestle with this in
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our own context. Firstly, God sees people on the
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move. God sees people on the move.
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From Genesis to Revelation, the people of God are a wandering
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people. Abram left home.
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Israel journeyed through the wilderness.
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Ruth crossed borders to survive. Jesus was a child refugee in
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Egypt. The early church spread because
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believers were scattered. The Bible is a migrant book
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written by migrant people, for migrant people.
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Let me say that again. The Bible is a migrant book
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written by migrant people for migrant people.
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Movement is not a disruption to God's plan.
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Movement is one of the ways God accomplishes His plan.
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Did you get that? Movement is not a disruption to
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God's plan. Movement is one of the ways God
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accomplishes His plan. The second consideration is that
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knowing this, the church must make room.
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The call to love the foreigner is not new.
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It runs through all of scripture.
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In Exodus, for example, for you as strangers in Egypt in
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Deuteronomy love the foreigner since you were foreigners.
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Leviticus treat the stranger as the native born, that means
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without discrimination or prejudice, and love them as
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yourself. Again, in Deuteronomy, cursed is
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anyone who withholds justice from a foreigner.
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God has always commanded these people to remember where they
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came from, don't forget where you came from and to treat the
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newcomer with dignity. That's why Paul reminds us in
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Ephesians chapter 2, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,
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but fellow citizens, members of God's household.
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Wow, do you feel at home? You feel at home in the family
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of God. I've heard so many people
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comment this week that it's awesome to be part of a family,
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a family of multi languages, multi nations, multi colors.
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We represent the Kingdom of God. You're on earth and it's a
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beautiful, beautiful picture. How we view ourselves as the
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body of Christ is therefore critically important.
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The church is not a cultural club.
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It should not be defined by language, by national identity,
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by tradition, or by heritage. Instead, the church is defined
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by Christ. By Christ, Christ alone, the
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church should be defined by a new creation identity been built
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in US and flowing out from love, and the church should be defined
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by a shared belonging in the household of God.
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We are the people of God. If we do not welcome the
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stranger, we forget who we once were.
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We forget that we were strangers in Egypt.
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We forget that we must love the foreigner, for you were
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foreigners. We love therefore out of memory.
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Do you love out of memory? God says remember where you came
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from. Remember what went before you
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encountered me? Remember the path you were
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walking on before you started following me?
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Remember the church that fails to remember dies.
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It dies. We have many churches on this
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region that are in the final stages of life that are going to
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die because they've forgotten the reason that God brought them
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to a community. The church, however, that
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welcomes flourishes. The third consideration is that
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migration is a mission field that is already at a doorstep.
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Anthony prayed that, you know, let me just digress you a little
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bit and say sometimes it is troubling when the one that
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prays praise your whole sermon this this morning Joel with his
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little thing basically shared a lot of what Carla wanted to
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share tonight. Anthony said a whole lot of what
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I want to say. You can view it that way.
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The other way of viewing it is that God is on the move, that
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God is speaking to many people about the same thing, about the
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same thing. And that therefore encourages me
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because I know that God has a message for us, that this
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message, this gap that we've identified is a real gap.
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The movement of peoples is a missional opportunity, not just
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a social issue. The nations are no longer only
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over there. The nations are now here.
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They are our neighbors. How we view ourselves must
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therefore change. We must adapt to our reality and
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become the incarnational presence of Christ in the
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neighborhood wherein we live and worship.
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Is your local church the incarnational presence of the
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living God in your neighborhood? We need to be reminded that the
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church does not only send missionaries, but that the
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church is surrounded by mission fields.
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You're one of the tragedies of acts of our ministry.
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When I first went to America, I joined the Nazarene church that
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Linda was a part of. It was an incredible, thriving
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church, large church. They were surrounded by
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immigrants. The people moved out of the
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neighborhood and they started commuting, and soon they were so
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inward focused about surviving that they forgot where they were
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placed. That church doesn't exist today.
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That church died. That is tragic for the lack of
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vision. People perish.
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When we don't open our eyes and see that the fields are whitened
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to harvest all around us, we will perish.
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Migrants who are Christians are people who God is accompanied to
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strengthen and renew our churches.
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Anthony spoke about that. We are in Northern Europe
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especially. We are experiencing and West
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mad. We are experiencing an
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incredible influx of Christians into our church that is bringing
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new life, new passion, new excitement, new vision, and we
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thank God for them. The scary attitude would be, oh,
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bunch of foreigners here, they're going to take over our
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church. What happens if we let them use
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our facility? They might ruin the carpet.
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I laughed. To hear amongst the young people
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because I think they've heard that.
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I think they've seen it. Yeah.
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I have a lot of heads nodding there in the crowd.
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Thank you. I'm not imagining this.
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This is the reality many migrant immigrant churches today are
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reviving the global church in France, in Spain, in the Benelux
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district, in the British Isles districts in Switzerland, in the
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Middle East. Are you in your neighborhood
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seizing the opportunity? Or are you concerned about the
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impact of opening your facility to an ethnic community?
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Are we welcoming or are we waiting?
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Are we bold or are we intimidated?
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We are called to respond, not with speeches, not with
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committees, but by daily practice, by living out our
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faith. And allow me to suggest just
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three things to you today. The first Anthony said
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hospitality hospitality Hebrews 13 two says do not neglect to
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show hospitality to strangers. Hospitality is not hosting
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dinner, it's about making space in your life.
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Hospitality means invite and make room at your table.
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Ask a name of a stranger. You're the names of some
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strangers in this place. Have you asked the names?
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Fortunately, we'll wear name badges if they don't turn around
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the wrong way like they often do.
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It means seeing the person in front of you learn the story of
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that person. Include them in decisions that
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affect them. Hospitality means breaking down
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the power barriers of resident versus stranger, the insurance
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versus the outs, the of year versus the not of year.
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Hospitality says you're welcome here and you are under my
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protection. That show hospitality.
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The second thing we can do is compassion.
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In Matthew 25, I was a stranger, Jesus says.
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And you welcomed me. Jesus identifies himself with
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the one who is displaced. Compassion means we notice
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suffering. Compassion means we notice
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injustice and discrimination. Compassion means we notice abuse
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and neglect. We move toward it, not away from
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it. Too often we as Christians are
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afraid of moving toward it because we feel we'll we're
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getting deeper than we can handle.
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We don't know what to do with it.
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It's messy, it's difficult. How do we deal with the trauma,
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the grief, the anger, the hatred?
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Jesus didn't run away from the needy, he moved towards the
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need. And as his people, as Christ
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like disciples, we are to be compassionate because Jesus is
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compassionate and we need to move towards the need instead of
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avoiding it. The third very simple thing that
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we can do in response or as a daily practice is that we can
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show neighborly love. This is these are all such
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simple things, such simple things.
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Jesus tells us that love is the greatest of all things, the love
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of God and the love of your neighbor.
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This is the greatest thing. Instead, we complain about the
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dog barking at 2:00 in the morning, or the car started up
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at 5:00 AM and the big old truck and while we're trying to sleep.
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I'm speaking from experience when when pressed regarding who
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one's neighbor might be, Jesus tells the story of the Good
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Samaritan and we all know it. A man was travelling from
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Jerusalem to Jericho. He was attacked, he was robbed,
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he was beat up, he lost everything.
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And then the interesting thing about the Scripture, it says
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luckily, luckily a priest was on his way.
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Luckily a Christian was on his way.
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But when the Christian, sorry, when the priest saw what was
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there, you know what he did? He crossed over to the other
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side of the road and walked away.
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And then the Levite came, a religious man, pious, but he
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also avoided the injured man. And then, wouldn't you believe
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it, a Samaritan came. Of all the people, the
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Samaritan, the ones that Jews tried to avoid, he came and he
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administered compassion. Jesus asked which of these three
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became a neighbor to the man, the one who showed compassion,
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the one who treated the victim kindly.
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Jesus says to us, go and do the same.
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You may ask who is my neighbor? I believe for the Christ like
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follower of Jesus, this is the wrong question.
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The real question should be to whom will I be a neighbor?
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To whom will I be a neighbor? Love crosses the road.
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Love is expressed in mercy and grace.
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It is expressed in responding to need.
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The 5th consideration is that God is building 1 new humanity.
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And back to our text in Ephesians 2 we read He Himself
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is our peace that He might create in Himself one new
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humanity, reconciling both to God.
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Jesus is our peace. He is the Prince of Peace.
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Christ does not simply forgive and help people.
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He's bringing peace into the world and forming a new people.
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People that were at war with each other, people that hated
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each other. He breaks down those walls.
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He breaks down those animosities.
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He brings about restoration and reconciliation.
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He is our peace. He's forming a new people.
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This is why the church gathers and scatters.
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We gathered to be formed in Christ, to become more like
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Christ. You know those who say, oh, I
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don't have to go to church, I can just watch it online?
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Yeah, there are some Sundays when you may be not feeling well
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and you watch it online. But I believe the depths of my
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heart that flesh and blood should meet in person to be
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formed in the image of Christ, that we might become more like
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Christ. And then once we have gathered,
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we have scattered, We scatter to join God's mission in the world
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just as we have gathered here in this place and we have been
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formed. Inspired, challenge, maybe even
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transformation has happened. We're going to leave here.
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We're going to scatter into this region.
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Why? To join the mission of God.
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You guys, ladies, men, boys, girls, we've been unleashed to
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go into the world. In Ephesians 2 we read in Him
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the whole building is joined together, and in Him you 2 are
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being built together to become a dwelling place in which God
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lives. Wow.
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This is not sentimental language.
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This is construction language. When I say that God is building
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1 new humanity, here it is. God is forming something that is
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joined, not scattered. We are joined together as the
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body of Christ. We are built.
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It doesn't happen accidentally. He is building us into His
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household of faith, not alone in isolation, but together,
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together. You know the little saying, we
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are Better Together. We are stronger together.
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We're more effective together together.
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And we're not building a monument, He is building a
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dwelling. God's goal is not that we simply
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gather, but that we become the place where he dwells, that we
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become the place where he dwells, where he is seen, where
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he is known. The church, the people of God,
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is God's address in the world. The people of God are God's
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address in the world. When we worked amongst the
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Muslim people, a question was asked that is stuck with Linda
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and myself. Or was this, If a Muslim has a
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dream of Jesus and they want to ask a Christian about that, and
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they are your neighbor, will they come to you to seek the
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answer? Will they come to you?
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If your family member, if your friend, they may be a secular
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atheist, they may be a humanist, they may be of another faith.
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If they have a question about Jesus, will they come to you?
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Why? Because they see Jesus in here.
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They see a transformed life. They see something different
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because you are God's address in the world.
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Christianity is always spread through ordinary believers like
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us and believers on the move who have carried the gospel.
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So where do we go? So what are we going to do about
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this? I'd like to leave you with this
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call to action or a challenge. This is some homework for each
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of us this week. Upon your return, I would like
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to challenge you to identify one person you know or you notice
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who is new, who is displaced, or who is searching for belonging.
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One person in your neighborhood who is new, displaced, or
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searching for belonging. It could be a new student, a
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family recently relocated, someone between jobs, a believer
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who doesn't yet have a church home, a foreigner or a transient
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or a beggar on the street. Will you lift up your eyes and
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see that the fields are white unto harvest?
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Do you know, do you see one person, that mother with a
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babysitting in front of the store day after day, that new
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immigrant moving into the neighborhood, Do you see them?
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Will you do these three things? Invite them?
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Invite them to take a walk with you, to drink a coffee with you,
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to have a conversation with you, to sit down and have a
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McDonald's with you. Invite them.
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And once you invite them, learn their story by truly hearing.
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Hear their heart, hear their story, and then treat them with
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dignity as if they already belong.
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That's an easy homework assignment this week.
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Once you go back, identify one person who is new.
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A transient, a new immigrant, A refugee, a new student,
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whatever. But they are new.
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They are new. And then take the initiative.
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Don't wait for them. Jesus didn't wait for us.
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He came, He came. Invite them, learn this story
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and treat them with love and respect.
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This week, reach out. One invitation can change the
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direction of life. The King of Kings in Matthew 25
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says I was hungry and you fed me.
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I was thirsty. And you gave me a drink.
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I was homeless and you gave me a room.
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I was shivering and you gave me clothes.
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I was sick and you stopped to visit.
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I was in prison and you came to me.
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You came to me. Remember in Christ, my friends,
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no one is a stranger. In Christ no one is forgotten.
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In Christ no one is alone. They all belong to his family.
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They are not a program, they are not a project.
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They are a person created in the image of God.
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So as a church, will you ask yourselves, what are you doing
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as salt and light to the stranger in your community?
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What are you doing? As I conclude, I'd like us to
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remember that once you were far away, that once you were
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alienated from God, that once you were separated.
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But now, now you've been brought near.
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Now you've been united in Christ.
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Now you are part of the family of God.
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Now you're a child of the Creator.
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Christ has broken down the wall of separation.
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God is forming 1 new humanity. In Christ, we are no longer
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strangers. We are the household of God.
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So, my dear friends, when people come to our cities, our
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neighborhoods, and our churches, do not fear their arrival,
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instead recognize God's purpose and embrace them.
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So now as we conclude this gathering, during which time we
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have been fed during these three weeks together, sorry, three
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days together, I must confess it feels like 3 weeks to me.
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During these three days that we've been together, we've been
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fed from the Word of God, we have been nourished by the Holy
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Spirit, we have worshipped, we've been deepened through
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fellowship. But tonight, as we conclude,
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Christ again invites us to His table, a table of grace and
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mercy, a table of hospitality that is extended to the least of
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these. We come to His table to receive
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and to again be reminded of what God has done for us.
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We come to the table and remember who we are.
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There are some people that are going to move.
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Do you have the elements? There are some people that are
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going to move to six stations, I believe, and this can be chaos
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unless you follow the instructions that I'm about to
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give you. There will be elements in the
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front and in the back of each section.
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OK, I will ask you in a moment once I've read from Scripture to
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stand up and then everyone, this is the important part.
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Starting in the front, everyone move to their left and receive
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the element and then go back to your seat.
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And then the 2nd row, the first person in the left hand column,
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you're important. You're the guide of your row.
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Once you see they are there, come in.
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OK, so it's going to be a circular motion.
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That way we're going to avoid traffic jams and confusion.
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So I see of you, we are going to be, we are going to be receiving
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the bread and the wine through intinction.
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That means you will break the bread and you will dip it in the
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cup and you will drink. You will eat it right there and
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then you will come back to your place, to your seat.
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Lord, we come to your table in gratitude for what we have
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become, for who we now are. We thank You that you have
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broken down the barriers that separate us.
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We thank You that you have broken down and removed from us
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the veils of discrimination and prejudice.
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Lord, help us to see the world as you see it.
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We thank you that it's through the blood of Jesus that we are
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saved, that our sins are forgiven, and that we have hope.
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The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread and
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when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my
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body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
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Lord, tonight we remember what you've done.
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Remember how your body was broken for us.
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We thank you that by your stripes we are healed in the
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same way. After supper he took the cup,
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saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
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Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.
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For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
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the Lord's death until he comes. Oh God, we thank you for this
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new covenant in your blood. We thank you that we can drink
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this cup tonight in remembrance of you, and that we can proclaim
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your death and resurrection until you come again.
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So now we come to the table, Lord, with grateful hearts.
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We come to acknowledge that Your body was broken for us and that
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Your blood was shed for the remission of all sin.
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We come to the table, Father, to receive Your means of grace to
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us, so that we might give to others that which we have
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received from You. Help us give Jesus and His
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redeeming love so that others might experience the love and
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peace of God. We come to the table to receive
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that which You have promised us, the infilling of your holy
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power, your spirit of victory and resurrection.
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We come to the table in confession that we might go out
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in your power and be witnesses to all of your creation.
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We thank you for this privilege to be able to partake in this
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manner. In Jesus name I pray.
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