9 Immigrant & church

Do your local churches provide newcomers with social support?

In the 20th century, many Chinese churches in the US and Canada hosted Christmas parties for “the city's lonely immigrants”. At Christmas parties, churches offered them potluck dinners and practical help.

Many Chinese immigrants converted to Christianity over Christmas!

(Kids performing Christmas play in the Canadian Chinese Presbyterian Church in the 1970s)

For lonely immigrants, Christmas can be when they find their faith and sense of belonging.

Sadly, sometimes Christmas celebrations triggered racism...

Reference:

Cao, Nanlai, ‘The Church as a Surrogate Family for Working Class Immigrant Chinese Youth: An Ethnography of Segmented Assimilation’, Sociology of Religion, Vol. 66, No. 2 (2005)

Marshall, Alison R., ‘Everyday Religion and Identity in a Western Manitoban Chinese Community: Christianity, the KMT, Foodways and Related Events’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 77, No. 3 (2009)

Zhang, Xuefeng, ‘How Religious Organizations Influence Chinese Conversion to Evangelical Protestantism in the United States’, Sociology of Religion, Vol. 67, No. 2, Special Issue: Conversion to Christianity among the Chinese (2006)

Lee, Rose Hum, ‘Social Institutions of a Rocky Mountain Chinatown’, Social Forces, Vol. 27, No. 1 (1949)

Nichole, D’Angela, ‘The Photos of the Christmas Past’, The Presbyterian Church of Canada Archive (31 December 2021) <https://presbyterianarchives.ca/2021/12/13/the-photos-of-christmas-past/>