Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2010 - Cokesbury

of expressions of the faith itself. In an era in which we have come to expect the inevitable
advance of secularism in the U.S., the influx of robust Christian communities among new
immigrants once again amends the topographical map of the religious landscape.
Impediments to studying the experiences of these churches—language and cultural barriers,
absence of data sets and, institutional forms not easily accessible to researchers—
must be overcome if we are to obtain a deeper appreciation of how new immigrant
churches might yet redefine the shape of Christian life in America.
Highest Immigration to the United States
by Country of Birth*: 1961–2008
Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,373,466
Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,931,257
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,639,981
India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,388,825
Africa (All Countries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,337,659
Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,252,788
Cuba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,117,424
Dominican Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,060,517
Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .991,128
Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .796,641
United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .756,639
Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .739,334
El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .695,393
Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .604,186
Haiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .585,017
Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .484,301
Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .466,873
Iran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .417,093
Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413,192
Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .369,976
Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .339,087
Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332,227
All Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,479,210
*Data aggregated from U.S.A. Department of Homeland Security,
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2008
THE NEW IMMIGRANT
CHURCH
In the last decade marked progress has been made by a series of studies that have
addressed questions related to the new immigrant church. Some of these studies have
addressed the new immigrant church within the larger framework of immigrant religious
communities and others have addressed the immigrant Christian experience directly.
Among the studies forming this body of exploration are: The New Ethnic and Immigrant
Congregation Project (NEICP), Stephen Warner and Judith Wittner (1998), which examined
structural adaptations in diverse non-European immigrant religious communities;
Religion, Ethnicity and New Immigrant Research (RENIR), Helen Rose Ebaugh (2000),
which examined 13 immigrant congregations in Houston; and Religion and New
Immigrants: How Faith Forms Our Newest Citizens, Michael Foley and Dean Hoge,
(2007), which surveyed 200 immigrant congregations in the Washington, DC area.
These and other works raise a number of compelling questions for further exploration.
At least four implications might fairly be drawn from these studies:
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