Context and Contextuality: The Mission of Migrant Churches with a Focus on the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association

Since 1988, hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians have migrated to the United States of America from former Soviet Union countries, establishing many Russian-speaking immigrant congregations across the country. This study analyzes how these immigrant churches function in their new cultural, social, and religious context. Dr Vyacheslav Tsvirinko, a Russian who lived in the USA for over twenty-five years, examines the holism, authenticity and contextuality of the mission work done by churches in the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association (PCSBA) in America. He defines authentic mission in light of three major Christian groups - the World Council of Churches, the Lausanne Movement, and Anabaptists - and uncovers startling insights on how PCSBA churches engage in mission, both back in their homeland and in the USA. The findings and conclusions of this work are invaluable to diasporic Christian communities who wish to address their authenticity in the way they do mission, both internationally and in their local context, creating a path to more fruitful gospel and kingdom work.

About the Author :
Vyacheslav Tsvirinko holds a PhD from the University of Wales and currently teaches at Divitia Gratiae University, Chisinau, Moldova, where he trains a new generation of Christian leaders. Persecution by the Soviet government led Dr Tsvirinko to immigrate to the USA with his wife Nina and their six sons in 1990 until 2016 when they felt called by God to move to Moldova as missionaries. In the USA, Dr Tsvirinko served as senior pastor of a Russian-speaking church and later, as President of the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association. He also worked at Fresno Pacific University, California, in admissions as well as serving as a regional campus director.

Review :
In the third millennium, missionary work cannot be authentic in the fulfilment of the missio Dei if it does not take into account the cultural, social and religious contexts. Dr Tsvirinko's book gives an excellent case study that shows missionary work in the contemporary Slavic diaspora on the Pacific coast of the USA, and also offers concrete ways to improve evangelistic and mission work in immigrant churches. This is a solid theoretical and practical foundation for those who want to study mission in various diasporas and who want to improve the fulfilment of Christ's Great Commission by their congregations. Dr Sergiy Sannikov, President, Euro-Asian Accrediting Association In the mission of the church, immigrants have very often played a key role, not only as recipients of the gospel, but also because they, being part of God's mission, are God's vehicle for spreading it. This research work by Vyacheslav Tsvirinko on the mission role of the Slavic Baptists of the Pacific Coast provides a good overview of issues with which immigrants struggle as they find themselves in a different context. He shows their response to the context, how their culture and role as a faith community in the US has changed them, and how their background and culture influences and shapes their views on their role in the mission of God. It is an exemplary research work that also shows how different other immigrant communities have found their role in society and the wider mission. The book points to ways that immigrant Slavic churches can learn from other Christian groups as well as from their own history on how to be a missional and witnessing community. All their experience, if they reflect well, can be seen as formation by God who challenges the Slavic Baptist groups of the US West Coast to authentic and contextually relevant witness in their new homeland as well as in the lands of Eastern Europe they once left behind. Dr Peter Penner, Director of Advanced Studies, Euro-Asian Accrediting Association