Lusophony Pentecostal Churches in Berlin: Religious Identities Between Integration and Transatlantic Boundaries

Abstract

Although migration is a constant in human history, current trajectories have new quantitative and qualitative features with religious implications, which are addressed in this article. What is new and paradoxical about what is commonly referred to as globalization is the diffuse nature of worldwide migration and the mobility of people, ideas, and goods. This article therefore explores how members of Brazilian Pentecostal congregations in Berlin use specific functions and patterns of interpretation communicated or generated by discourses of the churches to cope with the lack of social capital in a new social and cultural environment and how their interpretations and orientations shape everyday actions. This article is an attempt to capture the ambiguous role of religious resources in the process of migration and social integration as well as the actions of community members. Although a growing body of literature explores the influence of migrant organizations on its members, new church actors of Christian migrants in Germany are rarely considered as drivers of religious pluralization. Therefore, this article reflects on the different functions of Brazilian Pentecostal congregations for the integration of Lusophone Pentecostal migrants in Berlin. In order to identify the functions of Pentecostal organizations, a theoretical framework is determined and related to the statements of the interview partners and to findings from observations. To answer the research question, this article draws on field research conducted between November 2019 and June 2020. The empirical analysis uses data from four narrative interviews and over 40 participant observations in four different transnational congregations belonging to a Brazilian Pentecostal network of churches. The results show that individual religiosity and belonging to a particular religious group not only provide social relationships and a network of solidarity for individuals, but also reinterpret the social exclusion and marginalization of migrants.

Immigrant pentecostalism in the emergence of the COVID-19 crisis: reactions and responses from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Berlin

“…To address the research question of this article, the findings of the ethnographic field research conducted at the German headquarter of the UCKG in Berlin will be drawn upon. The research was originally conducted under the question, of how Brazilian Pentecostal churches in Berlin can be understood as self-organizations of migrants and which social resources and networks of solidarity the visitors provide for each other (van der Hoek 2021 ). The project was scheduled for the period from January to June 2020 and included next to the UCKG in Berlin also congregations from other Brazilian networks of Pentecostal churches such as Assembleia de Deus, Lagoinha, and Videira.…”

“…The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) is a Brazilian Pentecostal megachurch that has spread worldwide in recent decades and has been the subject of international research on global Pentecostalism (Openshaw 2021 ; van der Hoek 2021 ; Vasconcelos de Castro Moreira 2021 ). The UCKG is a prominent example of so-called ‘Neo-Pentecostalism’ (Freston 1993 , p. 95; Chesnut 2003 , p. 12; Mattos 2021 , p. 401; Fernandes 2022 , p. 55).…”

“…The UCKG has also spread to various countries in Europe (Jenkins 2007 , p. 90; Oro 2019 , p. 309). In Germany, the UCKG has been active since the 1990s and attracts members primarily from the migration milieu (van der Hoek 2021 ). Compared to cities like London and Paris, where the UCKG planted several congregations and conducts its services in prestigious buildings such as the Rainbow Theater in London, the UCKG in Germany has just eight locations throughout the whole country.…”