After 23 years of life and ministry in Bosnia & Hercegovina, I briefly considered coasting for a few years while transitioning from Bosnia to Kentucky Bluegrass. However, I’m not good at being idle. Or I should say, being idle isn’t good for me. Whichever, I do best with a challenge. So, instead of playing golf or rocking on the front porch of our rented patio home, I’m happily immersed in the vibrant immigrant church scene of Louisville, Kentucky. Kentucky is 4th in the nation in the number of refugee arrivals for resettlement, making Louisville a true kaleidoscope of cultures, including Christian faith communities from around the world.
The Christian life is one of building bridges, bridges of reconciliation, vertically, between God and people, and horizontally, between each other. This proved to be a difficult task in Bosnia, fraught with metaphorical and actual minefields. But I’m still on the same mission. Just a different people and place. Lord willing, I hope to help build bridges to connect immigrant and non-immigrant churches, fostering partnerships that will transform existing church communities to reflect the rapidly evolving multicultural reality of Kentucky and the entire country.
Rather than fretting or feeling threatened, I hope to show how it can be embraced as part of God’s sovereign design to bless the nations, including this one. After all, speaking about the migration of people, the Bible says, “….he (God) determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him…” (Acts 17:26-27). Since God is orchestrating the migration of people from all over the world to our American neighborhoods, it has to ultimately be for his glory and our good.
That being true, this blog will also be a place to discuss, advocate, and work for these intercultural ministry partnerships. Along the way, I’ll explore some hidden blessings of Louisville’s immigrant churches, and their role in helping to revitalize the church in North America. We’ll celebrate their stories, and hopefully, inspire enough missional collaboration to make Kentucky feel like a real foretaste of heaven! (Revelations 7:9)
Besides that, there will be plenty of “sve i svašta” (Bosnian for everything and anything). But mostly, I’ll comment on other mission-related topics, share lessons learned about life and ministry from Bosnia, and make an occasional observation on faith and culture from a cultural outsider who looks like an insider.
Congratulations Jim on your new blog and doctoral program. I appreciate your faithful service and look forward to following your writings.
Thanks brother and bro-in-law!!
Love this! Thanks for your life and journey, Jim and Jacq’!
thanks Doug!
You know we love and appreciate what you are striving to see happen in KY and other parts of our nation in behalf of the immigrant church!
Thanks for the blog, Jim. I’m excited to see how God is working and what you are learning and teaching going forward. May God continue to make your path straight and bless you with every spiritual blessing.