Many college students have spent one or more Summers in a mission internship in an African nation. In the last several decades, many churches have sent missionaries, initiated development projects, dug wells, opened schools, and many other projects in countries in Africa. Today, there are also many Africans migrating globally to arrive in U.S. cities. Some represent unreached people groups with few or no churches within their tribe or culture and no bible translation in their language, and they are the nations next door in Houston, Dallas, or New York City. Others are Christians who migrated to the U.S. and have planted churches or are helping revitalize existing congregations. Disciple-Makers with a passion for impacting African nations may be surprised to find where they might encounter global migrants from the African continent.
Cities like New York have received global migrants from Sengal, Ghana, and virtually every nation in West Africa. Philadelphia and Providence have long been home to many migrants from Liberia. Washington D.C. has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Africa, and places like Minneapolis, Columbus, or Seattle are hubs of the Somali community in the U.S. However, one might be surprised to find out that Dallas-Ft. Worth is the one of the largest African communities in the United States.
In 1980 there were less than 150,000 immigrants from Sub-Sahara Africa across all U.S. cities. Today there are more than 2 million migrants from Sub-Sahara Africa in the U.S. In recent years, Texas has been the number one state for new arrivals from the continent of Africa, and Dallas-Ft. Worth is the 5th largest destination for African immigrants in the U.S. The DFW area hosts the largest Igbo community (from Nigeria) in North America, as well as migrants from Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and many other countries of origin. Many of the newest dialects to the DFW metroplex are African languages.
While many African immigrants to North Texas are already Christians and have planted to new churches in the region, there remains very many unreached peoples as well. Cross-cultural workers returning to the U.S. from an African nation or those who simply have a heart for reaching displaced people with the good news, may find opportunities to continue serving migrant families & communities from Africa in the DFW Metroplex. Beyond the typical cultural perceptions of Dallas, Texas, it is home to African families arriving from nations & peoples throughout the continent.
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