‘Give the Grant Money to the Youth’: From Youth Departure to Belonging in the Ethnic Church

Abstract

This paper uses sociological theories of religious change to explain findings from action research on intergenerational relations at two ethnic churches in the U.S. At the outset of our study, immigrant adults felt threatened that younger congregants preferred non-ethnic churches. When these churches used research funds to support youth development and outreach programs, they experienced intergenerational congregational belonging. We ask, do existing sociological theories sufficiently explain how these ethnic churches responded to the ecclesial problem of youth departure? Can we use action research to advance theories of how youth practice belonging within ethnic churches? We show how action research produced anomalous cases of intergenerational partnership that begs the integration of market-based and neo-institutional theories of religious change. We argue that future action research targeting youth ministries and civic activism in ethnic churches can explain how American religion is changing through the immigrant youth demographic.