Ethnic groups plant new places of worship

Ask the Rev. Jerry Xoom how many members belong to the St. Paul Hmong Alliance Church and he'll stare blankly for a few seconds. It's not that he doesn't know, it's just that the answer changes so quickly that he has to stop and ponder it every time the question comes up.

"It's about 1,300," he said. "Last month we added 60 new members."

The newcomers are part of an influx of immigrants who are reshaping the religious profile of the Twin Cities.

"In the last 10 years, they've probably launched a [combined total] of 1,000 churches," said the Rev. John Mayer, executive director of City Vision, a Minneapolis group that tracks religious demographics.

"We have the largest concentration of Somali immigrants in the United States," he said. "We have the largest concentration of Hmong, Liberians, Oromos [Ethiopian], Anuaks [Sudanese] and Karens [Burmese], and the second-largest concentration of Tibetans. Some of these churches are huge, with over 1,000 members. And yet, most of them exist below the radar of average Minnesotans."

But they do count, he said.

"Without them, the number of churches would be going down, there's no doubt about it," said Mayer, who wrote his doctoral thesis on immigrant churches. "A lot of white churches are dying. Ethnic churches are where all the growth is. Once you get a trickle, it becomes a flood."

But that doesn't mean that this is a recent phenomenon. Far from it. The latest trend is just a reworking of an old story.

"Go back four generations and you'd find exactly the same thing," he said. "But instead of saying 'Somali, Liberian and Hmong,' we'd be saying 'Norwegian, Swedish and German.' It's the same pattern."

Nor have the reasons behind the pattern changed. Immigrants, then and now, are drawn to support networks made up of the people they have the easiest time relating to: their fellow immigrants.

"People with the same background tend to come together," said the Rev. Charles Goah of United Christian Fellowship, a Liberian congregation in north Minneapolis.

Shifting demographics

Many newcomers are not Christians. According to Mayer's most recent statistical report, which uses the term "world religion," the number of world religion worship sites in the Twin Cities has grown from 85 to 229 in the past decade. They encompass a combined membership of 286,475.

"The largest Cambodian Buddhist temple in America is located in the Twin Cities suburb of Hampton," the report says. "The largest Hindu temple in America is located in Maple Grove."

The impact of immigrants on the religious landscape is not just a local occurrence. In a national study released in February, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said, "Latinos currently account for nearly one in three adult Catholics in the United States, and may account for an even larger share in the future. Although Latinos represent just one in eight U.S. Catholics age 70 and older (12 percent), they account for nearly half of all Catholics ages 18-29 (45 percent)."

Minnesota's large immigrant population is a reflection "of our value system," Mayer said. "There are five refugee resettlement agencies in the Twin Cities; a lot of areas our size don't have any. Our values support that system."

And the churches scramble to support the newcomers, serving as a stable environment that's as much a cultural as a religious center.

"For many people it is very important for their families to find fellowship with other families," Xoom said. "People help each other. And the more people you know, the more people [there are to offer] help."

The Rev. Melkamu Negeri of the Oromo Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis said that his congregation tries to "offer both spiritual and social service. We give them spiritual nourishment, but we realize that a lot of people are here to socialize with each other."

He said that the church helps arrivals adjust to their new home, including adapting to the climate. "They more or less look to the church for everything," he said.

Immigrant churches face the same challenges that their non-immigrant neighbors do, but usually with a twist, Goah said.

Take, for instance, finding people with time for volunteering, he said. "All churches have trouble finding people with time, but with immigrant groups, you've got a situation where many of the people have to work extra jobs, either to make ends meet or because they still have family members overseas that they have to support. Finding people to make a commitment [to volunteer at the church] is very tough."

Looking ahead

If current immigration rates continue, immigrants will make up 30 to 40 percent of the Twin Cities population in 25 years, Mayer said. He also predicted that the growth rate of immigrant churches will drop.

Looking at historic patterns, many of the children of immigrants -- especially those born in the United States -- tend to back away from their parents' cultures. Mayer already is seeing evidence of that among the offspring of immigrants who arrived in the 1980s and '90s.

"The kids of the second generation don't want to go to Mom and Dad's church," he said. "Of course, we're finding that that's true of all kids."

He also expects that the mixing of religions through marriage will cause a shift in church demographics.

"I think that we're going to see more multicultural churches," he said.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392