Del 165 - Studien zur interkulturellen Geschichte des Christentums / Etudes d'histoire interculturelle du christianisme / Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity
This publication investigates new ways of understanding international churches. Based upon recent fieldwork, six migrant Christian communities in Rotterdam were analysed using congregational study methods on how they construct identity. Through the frames of ‘koinonia’, ‘diakonia’ and ‘kerygma’, this research reflects on their composition, characteristics, leadership style, language and social capital. Language is found to be an important shaper or ‘carrier’ of identity and acts both as badge and bridge of identity. In building identity, MCCs do not behave in ways expected or consistent with the process of integration.