4 Key Trends in North American Christianity
Why we do what we do as the Diaspora Network
The following four dynamics drive the work we do as the Diaspora Network and are foundational for why we long to see deep mutuality in mission between immigrant and non-immigrant Christians. These dynamics also apply to the relationship between the Church in North America and the Church in the Global South. (There are different power dynamics and challenges, though, at play, locally and globally. Often, sadly, it’s easier for churches to build a partnership with Christians across an ocean than on the other side of the tracks.)
The center of gravity is shifting towards diaspora Christianity
As the numerical and spiritual center of Global Christianity has shifted to the Global South, immigrant Christians coming to the US are now bringing this same transformation to the North American church. Leaders such as Dr. Soong-Chan Rah have been pointing toward this coming transformation for years. In 2009 in “The Next Evangelicalism” he said: “Contrary to popular opinion, the church is not dying in America; It is alive and well, but it alive and well among the immigrant … communities”. While many in the broader, mainstream society of the US are leaving the church (what many are calling the “great de-churching) the opposite is happening in immigrant spaces where churches are rapidly growing and multiplying. The most prominent example is that of the Latino church, which is the fastest growing sector of the church in the US. Latinos are already constitute the largest group of Sunday attenders in many cities and states such as Texas. Immigrants represent not the de-Christianization of America, as many might decry, but the “de-Europeanization of American Christianity” as Stephen Warner puts it in his study Immigrants and the Faith They Bring. The future is diaspora and it is Latino (and African and Asian).
Diaspora churches and leaders are often on the margins
That the center of gravity is shifting towards immigrant Christians and churches is hard for many to believe, whether they be immigrant or non-immigrant. This is in part due to the “underground” nature of many diaspora churches and ministry networks. Diaspora pastors are often bivocational, as is the norm in the Global South. Many churches, especially those for newer immigrants, meet in homes or borrow space from other churches and don’t necessarily own their own buildings. (But just do a Google search in your city for Chinese and Korean churches to see an exception to this). Furthermore, in diaspora contexts there is often more dependence on direct, word of mouth communication and less on websites and social media advertising. These factors combine with the fact that both non-immigrant and immigrant churches usually operate In separate, parallel, and self-contained ecosystems (aka. cultural bubbles) that keep their members from interacting with Christians (and non-Christians) from other cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. For immigrant Christians this is often a necessity of survival and one of the only spaces where they can be with others that share a similar culture and worship in their mother tongue. For non-immigrant White American Christians it is often a result of privilege. For both groups it is difficult to step out of these spaces of isolation and comfort in order to engage the other, whether on mission to those outside the church or in partnership with Christians from other cultures and backgrounds. We believe that God has a special love for those on the margins and that the marginalized are in the center of his plans and purposes in the world and so we desire to join God in this centering work.
3. Diaspora Christians represent one of the greatest hopes for renewal of the church
Some of the very conditions of marginality also create the soil for vibrancy and vitality. Suffering, strangeness and sacrificial servanthood are central to the identity of much of the global church and to much of immigrant Christianity in the US. Passionate faith and regular prayer and fasting fuel diaspora ministry rather than a reliance on staffing, budgets and buildings (though these often follow). “Churches that have been used to being close to the centers of power will have to learn from churches that have historically been on the margins” says Abraham Cho. Furthermore, diaspora churches show much higher rates of evangelism and conversion-based growth than non-immigrant churches. Dr. Timothy Tennet, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, notes that “86 percent of the immigrant population in North America are likely to either be Christians or become Christians,” which, he notes, is significantly higher than the national average. “The immigrant population actually presents the greatest hope for Christian renewal in North America,” (For more on this see: Immigrants: the Best Hope for a Christian Renewal in America and Reclaiming the Spirituality of the Margins for the American Church)
4. Diaspora requires a radical shift of mission paradigms
What happens when unreached people groups from remote areas of the world relocate to the US as refugees or come to study as international students? What happens when some of the former “mission fields” now are the ones sending missionaries to Europe and the West? Diaspora requires new paradigms for mission, both locally and globally. Dr. Sam George says that in light of diaspora mission models must be reimagined so as to be “from everywhere to everywhere, multilateral, multidirectional, sending as well as receiving.” Diaspora Christians not only are active in mission in the US locally, but their ties to their home countries leads them to having global impact. A Nepali church in Austin, Texas, for example, every summer trains Nepali youth who come from around theUS and the world. On zoom they daily pray with Nepali in Israel, Scotland and Nepal and send missionaries back to Nepal and India. Why would a non-immigrant based church in the US not partner with them either in reaching local Nepalis or in sending global teams to Nepal? These trends also require non-immigrant led ministries to change from “mission to” (hospitality), to “mission with” (household) and finally to take an even more difficult step of giving up power and being willing to be led by diaspora and global leaders. This is “ministry under” (mutuality) and “ministry from. This is a variation of the ministry models proposed by Dr. Soong-Chan Rah in his book “Many Colors “ where he talks about moving from hostility, to hospitality to household. The move to mutuality seems to require an even further step: centering the agency and leadership of diaspora and people of color.