The corona crisis has taught the Danish Church what it means to be a migrant congregation
Many migrant congregations would not exist at all without social media and digital platforms for their church activities
The other day we held a Zoom meeting with a group of migrant pastors. When we asked how they handled the quarantine situation, an African priest replied: “It is going well. It is not much different than what we usually do”.
The conditions and limitations that the Danish Church is currently experiencing for the first time during the corona crisis are commonplace for many migrant congregations. Here one is used to using social media and digital platforms for church activities. In fact, some migrant churches would not exist without it at all.
The Danish Church is organized in a parish structure, which means that it consists of local geographically defined communities. This is not the case with migrant congregations. Instead, they are built around ethnic, cultural, and language communities, which are spread over a larger geographical area than the parishes. It is not uncommon to have to travel a few hours to get to church - if you are at all fortunate enough to have a physical room to meet in. But when the physical distance is great and it is difficult to meet, then you are forced to learn to come together in other ways.
Many migrant congregations, both inside and outside the Danish Church are therefore used to being a church "separately together", as the parishes of the Danish National Church are only now learning.
The digital age is chalking up the field in a new way. The geographically defined church still has something to offer but it must be complemented by initiatives of a digital kind. This applies especially to the Danish Church's connection to global Christianity, including those who have immigrated to Denmark.
For example, in the Danish Church we have over 1000 Persian-speaking members with a background in Iran and the surrounding area. These Danish-Persian Christians are via online channels part of a global network whose physical base is in England. This is based on a steady stream of online services, Christian literature and online theological teaching in Persian, which has proven popular in Denmark. When Persian Christians in Denmark sing together, they do not use hymn books but instead videos from the internet with music and lyrics which are shown on a big screen, accompany the song. As a majority church, we can choose to ignore this digital reality from afar but in the long run, if we want to play our part and be a church for everyone, we will have to get digitally involved.
There are also a number of online offers which are popular among African Christians living here. For example, many Danish-Ethiopian Orthodox Christians sat in front of the screen and streamed the Easter service from Ethiopia's capital. Nigerian church life is particularly influential on the global stage. The well-known Nigerian denomination, Redeemed Christian Church of God, constantly broadcasts online programs on all social media platforms with Bible study, worship services and more. They currently have 850 congregations in the UK alone. In Denmark, they have existed for 25 years and are established in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.
If you take the current digital reality and future seriously, then religious influences can also go the other way, from Denmark to overseas. A newly started Danish association, Al Beshara, has set out to produce videos with Christian content targeted at Arabic-speaking Muslims. In a short time 32,000 followers have been reached on Facebook of which followers from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Jordan make up some of the largest groups. A digital form of church opens up completely new possibilities.
The parish church is not dead. We still need to belong to a local community. But if we ignore the digital networking church, then we overlook an increasingly dominant part of our reality and make ourselves irrelevant in a world where the local and the global have become two sides of the same coin.
Article by:
Clement Dachet, partner coordinator in Mission Africa and consultant on migrant congregations in the Danish Church's Christian Migrant Network.
Wessam Youssef, cross-cultural employee of Indre Mission, leader of the Arab congregation Good News at Christianskirken in Aarhus and co-founder of the association Al Beshara.
Naser Rezaeih, coordinator for Farsi-speaking migrants in the Danish Church's Christian Migrant Network and leader of the Persian congregation Emmanuel at Christianskirken in Aarhus.
Søren Dalsgaard, coordinator for the Danish Church's Christian Migrant Network under the Danish Church's Interchurch Council.
Translation by:
Anne Katrine Ebbesen
