232 Helen Rose Ebaugh
Religion and the Incorporation of Immigrants into U.S. Society
Immigrants’ congregations also help their adaptation to American society by provid-
ing much of the information and services required in the course of settlement in a new
country. While some churches, in particular Catholic and mainline Protestant ones,
offer an array of formal social services, such as food pantries, clothes closets, emer-
gency financial assistance, job hotlines, immigration status assistance, and ESL, GED,
and citizenship classes, the use of informal networks among congregational members
is far more common (Ebaugh and Pipes 2001). Religious institutions provide places
where immigrants meet one another, discuss their needs, and share information about
resources that are available in the community.
There are two major reasons that most immigrant congregations offer few formal
social services. First, most members of many immigrant groups arrive in the United
States with high levels of education and jobs already lined up and therefore have little
need for such services or are capable of purchasing any that might be required. Second,
both religious leaders and most members of several religions (e.g., Hindu, Buddhist)
define formal social service delivery as outside the scope of religious institutions. Many
Asian groups, in particular, look to family, kin, and close friends for material assistance
and are embarrassed to have to resort to outside agencies, including religious institu-
tions. Many immigrant populations largely take care of their own members, turning
infrequently to religiously based service providers outside of the informal networks that
exist within their immigrant congregations (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000b; Ebaugh and
Pipes 2001).
While few immigrant congregations have formal structures to assist their members,
immigrants are being assisted by larger formal bodies such as interfaith coalitions. These
groups consist of local congregations, comprised mostly of native-born members, that
join together to provide social services for the needy and are part of the faith-based
organizations that are now eligible for “charitable choice” monies provided by the
Ashcroft provision of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 (Cnaan 1997; Cnaan 1999; Ebaugh
and Pipes 2001). These coalitions are financed primarily by member congregations,
usually mainline Protestant ones, and by resale shops that are run by volunteers from
participating congregations.
By providing the social space for immigrants to gather and engage in shared religious
services, immigrant congregations facilitate the informal networks that constitute the
major pathway to learning about and accessing services that are essential in their set-
tlement. Frequently, when new immigrants arrive in the United States they turn first to
an ethnic congregation where they are assured they will encounter fellow-countrymen
and women who will understand not only their native language but the challenges
they face as newcomers in a strange and foreign country (Kwon 1997; George 1998;
Wellmeier 1998).
Congregationalism as a Form of Organization
Immigrant congregations often differ substantially from the ways in which they were
structured and functioned in their homelands. These differences occur as a response
to the adaptations required in the context of a new land and social environment. In
particular, immigrant religious institutions tend to become more congregational in the