Migration has become a defining feature of the contemporary age. It has brought about significant changes in political, economic, social, and religious landscapes. This volume explores a question that has been little considered to date: how are churches being transformed in the face of global migration? The book features contributors from diverse national, denominational, cultural, professional, and linguistic backgrounds. Their essays reveal the ways in which migrants and the phenomenon of migration expose longstanding gaps and failings within Christian communities. However, the prevalence of migration and migrants simultaneously opens up fresh possibilities for churches to grow, renew, becoming more authentic, dynamic, and diverse. Church in an Age of Global Migration presents a collage of embodied ecclesial practices, understandings, and realities that have emerged and are continuing to develop in the face of global migration. Committed to transnational and ecumenical dialogue, and to integrating practical and theoretical perspectives, this volume is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of the ways in which churches are being changed by migrants.
Introduction: Moving Body; Susanna Snyder
PART I: DENOMINATIONAL VISIONS OF MIGRANT ECCLESIOLOGY
1. ‘You are Close to the Church’s Heart’: Pope Francis and Migrants; Gioacchino Campese
2. ‘Gathered from all Nations:’ Migration, Catholicity, and Reformed Ecclesiology; Joshua Ralston
3. Orthodox Church(es) Stepping Outside the Heartland; Maria Hämmerli
4. Being Church as Latina/o Pentecostals; Néstor Medina
PART II: REIMAGINING TRADITIONAL ECCLESIAL TASKS
5. The Promise of a Pilgrim Church: Ecclesiological Reflections on the Ethical Praxis of Kinship with Migrants; Kristin Heyer
6. Migration, Higher Education, and the Changing Church; James Walters
7. Liturgy in Migration and Migrants in Liturgy; Hyeran Kim-Cragg and Stephen Burns
8. Worshipping with the Homeless: Foreign Ecclesiologies; Claudio Carvalhaes
9. Woman, Where Have You Come from and Where Are You Going?’: Circular Female Migration, The Catholic Church and Pastoral Care in India; Patricia Santos
10. Patron Saint of Catholics and Hindus: Saint Antony and Ecclesial Hospitality in East London; Alana Harris
11. Not Quite Here: Queer Ecclesial Spaces in the Filipino Diaspora; Michael Sepidoza Campos
PART III: NEW ECCLESIAL STRUCTURES
12. Cyberchurch and Filipino Migrants in the Middle East; Agnes Brazal and Randy Odchigue
13. Vulnerable and Missional: Congregations of Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon; Daniel Chetti
14. Intentional Community and Displaced People: Dwelling Together in the Body of Christ; Jennifer Drago
15. Interreligious Dialogue in a Nomadic Church: The Witness of Jesuit Refugee Service in Eastern Africa; Deogratias Rwezaura
16. Ghanaian Presbyterians in America: Why Some Join American Denominations and Others Don’t; Moses Biney