Hybrid Christianity! A new approach to doing church in the context of migration

Abstract

The 21st century is dominated by many trends that are redefining human history. One of these characteristics is the influx of migrants from developing countries to developed nations. Although South-North migration cannot be viewed as new in the sense of the phenomena, its impact on Christianity is worth engaging. Scholars from diverse fields including religion and theology have conducted intensive research on these migrations’ pushing and pulling factors. This article aimed to analyse the impact of migration to the church in the Global North as several Christians from the Global South are now part of the Western Church. This coming, together of the former missionary and the former convert worshipping in the same church, calls for a redefinition of the church as a hybrid community. This article explores the relationship between the migrant and the host’s newfound space of faith, which is hybrid Christianity. In using the term hybrid Christianity, the article is informed by Homi Bhabha’s ‘third space’ where the host and the migrant redefine their new faith. The article applied qualitative research methodology to demonstrate how the hybridisation of Christianity is the best approach to doing church in the context of migration. The article started by defining hybrid and hybrid Christianity. This was followed by an engagement into the theological foundations of migration and hybridity in the context of migration. The article concluded by emphasising the third space as a platform for the renegotiation of faith by the host and the migrant to do church together.

Contribution: The reverse mission presupposes that Christians from the Global South are becoming the majority in the pews of the Global North. As the host and the migrant worship together, the history of the missionary convert is redefined into a new reality of a hybrid church of multiracial groups. Hybridity calls for the creation of a third space to accommodate the new faith.