Spreading the word: religious beliefs and the evolution of immigrant congregations

Sociology of Religion, Summer, 2004 by David W. Stevens

One of the transformations that new immigrant religious communities in the United States are undergoing is the growing inclusiveness of their membership (Yang and Ebaugh 2001a). As they move from "particularism to greater universalism in membership," immigrant Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and even Hindus have seen increased participation from people outside of their own ethnic groups, including fellow immigrants, as well as native-born black and white Americans (Yang and Ebaugh 2001a:281). Holding services in English is a strategy that these communities use to become more inclusive since English-language services allow for participation across ethnic groups and across generations within immigrant communities (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000).

Models of the evolution of ethnic churches contend that such changes are indicative of the process by which immigrant ethnic churches become more assimilated over time, moving from mono-lingual churches where services are conducted in the immigrants' home language to bi-lingual or mono-lingual churches where English predominates (Goette 2001; Mullins 1987). What drives this change, they argue, are conflicts between first- and second-generation congregants. In the first stage of Mullins' (1987) three-stage model, a strong first generation leadership establishes an ethnic church in response to their cultural and linguistic differences, as well as discrimination faced in other churches. As later generations culturally assimilate, churches enter the second stage, where congregations experience a shift in language and introduce English language services and bilingual ministers. Finally, the third stage is brought about as subsequent generations become more structurally assimilated and enter into the cliques, clubs and institutions of the host society. As this happens, the appeal of ethnic churches gradually diminishes for them and the church is transformed into a multi-ethnic, English-speaking congregation.

Goette's (2001) six-stage model is also driven by growing conflicts between the generations. As the children of immigrants become older, Sunday school and religious services must be conducted in English to meet their new needs. Eventually this leads to the establishment of two parallel congregations, one in the home language and the other in English, each of which holds equal power and influence. In the final stage, as the older generation dies and becomes less active, the church becomes a predominately English-speaking church with a foreign language department to meet the needs of the remaining first generation. Goette estimates that it will take the average church between twenty-five and forty years to complete this process.

From these models we would expect that a first-generation ethnic church will be primarily concerned with the social needs of the first generation and will emphasize their home culture, especially through language. We should also find that pressure to institutionally acculturate would come from the second and third generation's attempts to meet their unique social needs. In this paper I examine an immigrant church in which neither of these predictions holds true: Abundant Life Ministries Chicago (ALMC), (1) a Ghanaian immigrant Pentecostal congregation. At its inauguration in 1992, ALMC provided a supportive environment for its recent immigrant members by holding services in their home language and reaffirming their ethnic heritage (Hurgh and Kim 1990; Kim 1981; Williams 1988). By 1997 however, a mere five years later, the church had an English and Twi service. Using this anomalous case, I develop an alternative explanation for why ethnic churches change. I argue that ethnic congregations also adapt in response to normative pressures generated by religious beliefs.

EXPLAINING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

In current models of ethnic churches' evolution, generational change is the primary catalyst of language and other cultural changes. The goal of ethnic churches--to provide a safe and comfortable social space for new immigrants--becomes more and more irrelevant once an immigrant community has a significant acculturated second and third generation. Goette (2001) argues that as second-generation members become older, ethnic churches face a series of crises resulting from the difficulties of trying to minister to this increasingly English-language oriented group. Similarly, Mullins (1987) contends that ethnic churches "encounter a number of organizational dilemmas" as later generations begin to shift the cultural and linguistic focus of congregations (325). As these crises and dilemmas become more acute

    ethnic churches have a "choice between going out of business or
    developing a new goal" (Hall 1972, p. 92). If ethnic churches
    de-ethnicize their religious tradition and broaden their base of
    relevance, organizational survival is a possibility. In order to
    recruit non-ethnics (as well as acculturated members of the ethnic
    group), churches must broaden their original goal to include these
    "outsiders" and create an environment which would be equally
    attractive to them (Mullins 1987:327).