Ethnic church question

[Urbanredneck]

Their are many churches with focus on a specific group - say Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hispanic, etc... A coworker of mine attends a Chinese church with services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Although she says the english service keeps growing and is now has about 50% and the Cantonese keeps getting smaller.

Now years ago one would see similar churches for say Danish, German, Swedish, etc... but over time those persons who spoke those languages dissapeared and those became ordinary congregations. for example the Covenant church was once called the Swedish Lutheran.

I wonder. How long does it take for an "ethnic" church to switch to being all english and dropping being special?

 

[buzuxi02]

It depends as some ethnic groups have stronger cultures and customs where they can literally retain elements of that culture making it permanent. If there is no influx of new immigrants and its in an area where there is already a small precense of the group, it will take a few generations maybe by the fourth assimilation will have taken place. I am Greek Orthodox and the title of "greek" is still found in the oldest Greek Church formed in 1865, but maybe only 20% is still conducted in greek. With Chinese and spanish who knows if ever , they are endless supply of immigrants to replace those that have assimilated

 

[SkyWriting]

Their are many churches with focus on a specific group - say Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hispanic, etc... A coworker of mine attends a Chinese church with services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Although she says the english service keeps growing and is now has about 50% and the Cantonese keeps getting smaller.

Now years ago one would see similar churches for say Danish, German, Swedish, etc... but over time those persons who spoke those languages dissapeared and those became ordinary congregations. for example the Covenant church was once called the Swedish Lutheran.

I wonder. How long does it take for an "ethnic" church to switch to being all english and dropping being special?

It all depends on how many people don't know English in the congregation.
And welcome to the forum, brand new member.

 

[Basil the Great]

Welcome to the forums and may God bless you very much.

 

[FireDragon76]

Their are many churches with focus on a specific group - say Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hispanic, etc... A coworker of mine attends a Chinese church with services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Although she says the english service keeps growing and is now has about 50% and the Cantonese keeps getting smaller.

Now years ago one would see similar churches for say Danish, German, Swedish, etc... but over time those persons who spoke those languages dissapeared and those became ordinary congregations. for example the Covenant church was once called the Swedish Lutheran.

I wonder. How long does it take for an "ethnic" church to switch to being all english and dropping being special?

The Covenant Church was always separate from the Lutherans. They are a pietist group originally from Sweden that broke away from Lutheranism centuries ago and have their own theology, similar to other evangelicals

What Buzuxi said is very much accurate. It just depends on immigration and how long a particular church can maintain ethnic ties, or desires to do so.

 

[Lotuspetal_uk]

Their are many churches with focus on a specific group - say Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hispanic, etc... A coworker of mine attends a Chinese church with services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Although she says the english service keeps growing and is now has about 50% and the Cantonese keeps getting smaller.

Now years ago one would see similar churches for say Danish, German, Swedish, etc... but over time those persons who spoke those languages dissapeared and those became ordinary congregations. for example the Covenant church was once called the Swedish Lutheran.

I wonder. How long does it take for an "ethnic" church to switch to being all english and dropping being special?

On speaking with such groups in the UK, the bigger factor was how unwelcome they were made to feel in the host country's churches. About 60 years ago, some of the new arrivals to the UK were told that (either overtly or passive aggressively) they were not welcome at the established churches so they created their own fellowship. But that is not so much of the case now. Factors such as language plays a part too. Overall though the thriving churches here are very much integrated with Chinese, Filipino, East Indian, African and English/European believers in Christ - in accordance with Galatians 3:28.

Our Catholic and Anglican churches which had a prominent presence in the rest of the old Common Wealth did not tend to have such a problem as all members of Christ were able to felllowship together and new arrivals were made to feel welcome.

Tbh, when I visited the States a few years back, I was shocked to witness how segregated the churches were which was a real shame.

 

[Dave-W]

Tbh, when I visited the States a few years back, I was shocked to witness how segregated the churches were which was a real shame.

It has been said that the most segregated part of US culture is Sunday morning church services. That is true. It is expected. I grew up near one of the Seventh Day Adventist seminaries which is on the outskirts of a small town (4000 give or take) and it had at least a dozen SDA congregations. My aunt belongs to the Korean one.

The ONLY group that gets guff about being "segregationist" is us Messianics for focusing on the Jews.

Apparently it is ok to have a Chinese church, a Korean church, an Ethiopian church, a Brazilian church, a Mexican church ... and so on; but a Jewish church? No way.

 

[buzuxi02]

All religion is basically ethnic. In fact Americas obsession with fusion is an anomaly. It does not matter if its hindu, there is punjabi and sikh specific sub ethnic groups with their own customs. Jews generally consider themselves both a religious and ethnic group, Orthodox jews tend to be insular Russian origination jewish sub group. Tibetan buddhism for tibetans but Zen buddhism for Han chinese and Shinto for japanese. Theravade buddhism for the Thais and Sri Lankans. There is the Armenian rite, the Ethiopian rite, the Coptic rite, the Chaldean rite (iraqi and persian christians), maronites (mostly lebanese) etc. Persians are shiites, arabs are sunni, etc

 

[Inhocsigno]

It depends as some ethnic groups have stronger cultures and customs where they can literally retain elements of that culture making it permanent. If there is no influx of new immigrants and its in an area where there is already a small precense of the group, it will take a few generations maybe by the fourth assimilation will have taken place. I am Greek Orthodox and the title of "greek" is still found in the oldest Greek Church formed in 1865, but maybe only 20% is still conducted in greek. With Chinese and spanish who knows if ever , they are endless supply of immigrants to replace those that have assimilated

Yes this is very true, it should not be a default assumption of any church "switching over" as the United States is a vast land with many peoples who have been present since the nation's earliest days, and it is important to respect these customs to reach the parishioners. Years ago I helped prepare a sermon in Spanish for parishioners in Texas, I was surprised at first until I was told that the church effectively had roots stretching back to 1810, long before Texas had any "Anglo" character at all. This church had not and never will "switch" to English, it has been Spanish from its founding and the Latinos there are descended from its founders. The same goes for the churches in native American lands in the US, who long predate the English language, it is a fascinating experience to help prepare Bibles and translate hymnals into Cherokee! The same with French in Louisiana and Maine, German in parts of Pennsylvania and the Midwest, Hawaiian in Hawaii, the churches in these regions will never "switch over". The US has no official language, it is a vast continent formed and comprised of many distinct peoples, and particularly when creating and distributing texts and worship materials that address spiritual questions, that diverse heritage must always be respected. All of our mission efforts whether domestic or foreign, have depended on reaching people in the language of their hearts. The Gospels after all originated in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin long before the US was ever conceived as a nation, and they will translate to touch the hearts of parishioners in any language.

 

[cafefan374]

On speaking with such groups in the UK, the bigger factor was how unwelcome they were made to feel in the host country's churches. About 60 years ago, some of the new arrivals to the UK were told that (either overtly or passive aggressively) they were not welcome at the established churches so they created their own fellowship. But that is not so much of the case now. Factors such as language plays a part too. Overall though the thriving churches here are very much integrated with Chinese, Filipino, East Indian, African and English/European believers in Christ - in accordance with Galatians 3:28. To be honest, you are more likely to find a church such as this in a larger city than you would be a small metropolitan. Also, church size and community location play a factor. Some churches........here in the States in particular have members who have known each other all their life and they are family and friends. In turn, their off spring go to the same church.

Our Catholic and Anglican churches which had a prominent presence in the rest of the old Common Wealth did not tend to have such a problem as all members of Christ were able to felllowship together and new arrivals were made to feel welcome. That happens in the U.S. often when it comes to a christian concert

Tbh, when I visited the States a few years back, I was shocked to witness how segregated the churches were which was a real shame. I wouldn't call it sad necessarily, depending on the motives. Sometimes it's a worship style. Sometimes, it's an ethnic church where the services are conducted in a specific language.

See blue.