Missionaries and immigration
Missionaries and immigration is a complex interplay between religious outreach and the movement of people across borders. Christian missionaries, representing various denominations, engage in proselytizing efforts globally, often in developing nations or regions experiencing turmoil. Their work includes educational programs, medical assistance, and agricultural training, which can inadvertently inspire converts to seek a better life in the United States. The teachings of missionaries emphasize the values of democracy and stability, resonating with individuals in countries where such benefits are limited.
As missionaries introduce modern healthcare and agricultural practices, they often create high expectations among new converts, leading many to consider immigration as a means to improve their quality of life. Modern communication tools have facilitated these missionary efforts, allowing for cultural exchange and support for those seeking to immigrate. In recent years, there has also been a notable rise in foreign missionaries entering the United States, aiming to evangelize within American communities, particularly those perceived as spiritually underserved. This dynamic illustrates the significant role missionary work can play in influencing immigration patterns and shaping cultural interactions.
Missionaries and immigration
DEFINITION: Representatives of Christian denominations who work abroad, seeking converts to their faiths
SIGNIFICANCE: The proselyting and educational work of various Christian missionary groups in countries around the world has often had the unintended effect of encouraging foreign converts to immigrate to the United States. Consequently, rates of immigration have been higher from countries with American missionaries than from those not missionized.
American missionaries of all Christian denominations have used a wide assortment of programs to make converts in other countries, particularly those of developing nations and the newly liberated countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Their activities have included work in underdeveloped and undeveloped countries, and countries plagued by natural disasters and ethnic rivalry such as the Sudan. Their approaches have differed from country to country, and the extent of their success is not fully known. However, an unintended consequence of missionary work has been for many new converts to immigrate to the United States.
Missionary Tools
Many of the tools employed by Christian missionaries have been used for centuries; others have only recently become available. The various denominations have employed different tactics in their missionary work, but it is not always easy to generalize about specific denominations. A few broad points can, however, be made confidently. All Christian denominations preach to the oneness of humankind. As part of their teachings, missionaries proclaim Jesus Christ as the Lord and offer the universalism of the Christian gospel. The concepts of resurrection and the forgiveness of sin are elements used to convert people.
Motivations for Immigration
Because the great passion of many Christian converts to enjoy the benefits of a stable society preached by missionariesimmigrating to the United States is a natural attraction. As part of their proselyting work, missionaries preach the virtues of democracywhich many of their converts cannot enjoy in their native lands. Missionary schools tended to foster high levels of expectations among convertsinculcated with American values. To some extent, this results from deliberate missionary planning. For example, the Episcopal Church sent missions to Central America yearly to construct and maintain an infrastructure to “civilize” local peoples. Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church—the dominant religion in Central America—and of other denominations compete with Episcopal missionaries in the effort to “save souls for Christ.” Missionaries of all denominations taught hygiene and Bible studies, promoted attitudes of self-confidence among members of religious minorities, and worked to create atmospheres conducive to learning.
Medical and Agricultural Work
An important part of missionary work in many developing countries is the introduction of modern Western medicine among the indigenous peoples. The Roman Catholic Church excelled in this work, and other denominationssuch as the Mormonsalso sent equipment and trained personnel on missions. To increase local acceptance of Western medicine, missionaries typically provided documentation written in the local languages and made sure the medicines they distribute were labeled in the local languages. Within communities lacking modern medical services, health restoration can be viewed as a miracle and contributed to the acceptance of religious messages.
Missionary preaching about the importance of modern health care also contributed to converts’ interest in immigrating to America. However, in areas where missionaries send professional medical personnel and equip and maintain permanent healthcare facilities, access to healthcare becomes less of an incentive for immigration. The Denton Programa nondenominational missionary organizationused American military aircraft to transport medical personnel and equipment and worked with various federal government departments and agencies and the Agency for International Development as well as individual missionary bodies. American churches are careful to send people fluent in the local languages.
The Christian missionary movement also offered agricultural training in other countries, particularly in unfertile regions. Some groups stressed self-help and teach local farmers in the use of modern fertilizers, feeds, shelters, and farm equipment. Agricultural training often leads to encouraging converts to immigrate to regions of the United States that need agrarian workers.
Modern Communication Tools
One of the most striking developments in modern missionary work was the availability of powerful tools of communicationmany available at little or no cost. Missionary action was supported internationally by a chain of sites on the World Wide Web designed to provide support. In India, for example, missionaries used a website that assisted in language learning and helped them understand diverse cultures. Christian missionary worked in predominantly Hindu and Muslim country has been sufficiently successful to move the national government to suppress it.
Some companiessuch as the online SOON ministriesprovided evangelical movements with computer hardware at bargain prices, or even for free, for dissemination in developing countries. Missionary ham radio operators also assisted novices in other countries to become acquainted with American cultureoften helping converts prepare for immigration.
Evangelical missionary bodies have audio and video services that provide free support to many churches. For example, missionaries can download electronic texts of the Bible in 140 different languages. Some missionary bodies also provide information and assistance to foreign converts who wish to immigrate to the United States.
The Episcopal Church and other denominations sponsored retreats for converts considering immigration to the United States. Those aspiring to come to America attended sessions designed to strengthen the converts in their new religious beliefs and teach them about life in the United States.
Missionary Immigrants to the United States
In the 2020s, nontraditional types of foreign nationals more publicly emerged in the United States. These were missionaries who sought to proteolyze inside American borders. Although foreign individuals had conducted this type of outreach for decades, awareness of these groups increased during this decade.stimates were that 32,000 of these individuals were in the US for this work.
Foreign missionaries in the United States seemed to be opposite to an American tradition where it provided a disproportionately large percentage of overseas missionaries. Many of these travelers believed that the US had tipped over into excessive secularism and that US communities served as lucrative areas to secure religious converts. Many missionaries targeted American communities they believed to be religiously disenfranchised and assisted in missions such as substance and domestic abuse prevention. In other cases, foreign missionaries in the United States traveled to serve newly arrived immigrant communities as they assimilated to the new American culture.
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