A decentred church in the context of migration is one in which the poor and marginalised refugees and migrants, those who are often regarded as objects of the churches’ aid and charity, turn around the tables to become subjects and agents in their own situation, Prof Trygve Wyller of the University of Oslo has said.
Prof Wyller was delivering a lecture on Religion and Migration to students and academics from SMMS and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, on 3 March.
In his research on migrants in both Africa and Europe, Prof Wyller said he coined the term heterotopic ecclesiology to refer to the presence and impact of foreigners and migrants over locals.
“I find that migrants tend to have a much stronger presence and impact in both church and faith-run projects. My hypothesis from the Swedish experience is that the way the church facilitates the drive towards agency among migrants and refugees could be its most significant contribution. This is why I called it heterotopic ecclesiology because people who are traditionally thought to be at the mercy of the church, the ones we do something for, seem to take another role – that of participants and actors in spite of the classical colonial power structure in churches.
“A decentred church enhances others, not itself. The church is not an end in itself. The freedom of humanity is. The decentering of the church is not a step away from faith. It is at the core of faith to facilitate agency to persons,” he said.
Prof Wyller gave an example of a poor refugee woman from Congo who, after some hours of interviewing her, invited him for lunch, which he gladly accepted.
He said, “I think this meal was the most important part of the day, more than the long interview. This meal was a classic example of the kind of church we might be seeing emerging in the context of migration. A decentering church is an important alternative and a new start for a migration theology. It changes the other from stranger to ‘stranger-neighbour’. The decentering church enhances the non-othering; the migrant identity is perceived as a subject, rather than the object of help, assistance, oppression and exploitation.”
Prof Wyller also spoke about the connection between the decentred church and citizenship, adding that a new form of citizenship is emerging -‘citizenship without frontiers.’
“The new citizenship is not necessarily one based on possession of identity documents and passports to cross border posts. The new citizenship moves beyond and knows no borders. These citizens shape their own identity as new political subjects. This is the future of citizenship and migrants are an important part of this unfolding citizenship,” he said.
