A Review of American History to Understand
America’s Current Cultural Status and The
Implications for Evangelization
(Part 1)
Original Edition Prepared For:
NAMB’s 2006 Leadership Summit
Current Revision Prepared For:
SBC State Convention Directors of Mission
& Missouri, Oklahoma & South Carolina Staff Meetings in 2007
Prepared by: Dr. James B. Slack, Missiologist of IMB, SBC
A Note To The Viewers & Users
of this PowerPoint Presentation
This PowerPoint presentation is supported
by at least two other Word source documents.
The major one of the two is Frontiers of
Lostness in the US.
The Aim and Context of this Ethnic
Immigration History Presentation
The aim of this presentation is to explore and
present a history of immigration into the USA
from 1775 to the present with a view to
exposing major implications concerning
church planting then and now.
Section 1: Biblical Background
for Evangelizers
Context of This Presentation
All that is presented in this biblical background section goes at least
back to Abraham when God moved to make Abraham the father of ethnic
peoples, ethnic evangelization and ethnic blessings that extended
even to the families (phulagi in Greek).
Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your
country and from your family and from your father's house, into
the land to which I will be your guide: 2 And I will make of you a
great nation [ethnos—an ethnic people group), blessing you
and making your name great; and you will be a blessing. 3 I will
bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses
you; And in you all the families (tribes, clans, peoples) of the
earth shall be blessed."
To bring Himself as Saviour into this world in an incarnate
state, God chose Abraham as the basis for developing a distinct
ethnic people group—Israel (the people of God). Israel would
be the channel through which the lineage and heritage of Jesus
would flow and come into this world in the flesh.
Context of This Presentation
God promised Abraham and us through Abraham that
He would make of Abraham a great “nation” (ethnic
people group) through whom (Israel-the people of
God) He would engage and blessn not only every
ethnic group but also every tribe (phulagi—translated
as tribe and family that follows within the lineage of a
clan, a tribe, an ethnic group).
Throughout God’s developing of His ethnic people
group Israel, God continually pleaded that Israel put
Him first, clean up their life--personal and national-and ultimately take His hope of salvation to the “panta
ta ethne” (each and every ethnic group). All of this
history from Abraham in Genesis is summarized in
Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:19 & 20).
Context of Presentation
For Israel from its beginning in Abraham unto
spiritual Israel now (each Christian and each Church),
the “panta ta ethne” was and is the focus of “making
disciples.” The “panta ta ethne” obligation can be
seen in the Old Testament in the “stranger in thy
home,” the “stranger (ethnic) in thy midst.”
On occasion in the O.T., as with Jonah, God called
individual witnesses to take His message to other
ethnic groups. In Jonah’s eyes, Nineveh was a major
enemy of Israel, deserving to be damned forever. In
God’s eyes the people of Nineveh were a “lost” ethne
to be “evangelized.” And, God worked to make him
go.
Context of Title & Presentation
The story of Jonah is one of a number of stories as
to how God reminded Israel that their mission in life
was to be the channel of the Messiah to lost ethnes.
Israel was to be the messenger to the lost (enemy or
not) concerning God’s promise of salvation.
In this case, with significant coaxing, Jonah came
through, Nineveh was delivered, and Israel continued
in its move toward its destiny. Even then, Jonah’s
ethnocentricity would not allow him to enjoy the
conversion of an entire city. All Christians face this
same issue of the ethnic people groups, friends or
foes among us, who need to be evangelized.
Context of Title & Presentation
However, in multiple other situations like the one
Jonah faced, Israel did not respond to God’s coaxing
to clean up their lives and be His messenger to the
“panta ta ethne.” As a result, God punished Israel by
allowing Israel’s enemies to occupy Israel, the Holy
Land, allowed them to take His people into captivity.
Only by means of a remnant that God saved and
brought out of those in captivity did Israel survive.
Throughout the Testament history it continued to be
difficult for Israel to remember and respond to God’s
mission to the “panta ta ethne” through them—His
chosen people.
Context of Title & Presentation
In the last two years, Acts 1:8 has been a major theme of the
SBC and the focus of many SBC events. Southern Baptists
could have no more biblical nor historically appropriate theme
at this time in its history.
However, many fail to interpret Acts 1:8 in the context of the
“panta ta ethne” in Matthew 28:19 & 20 which is telling the new
Christian believers that they are to be conscious of, identify,
engage and evangelize every ethnic group (panta ta ethne) in
one’s Jerusalem; every ethnic group in one’s Judea; every
ethnic group in one’s Samaria; and every ethnic group in one’s
uttermost. This connection is much easier to grasp when one
reads Matthew 28:19 & 20 followed immediately by Acts 1 and
the illustration of the “panta ta ethne” in their Jerusalem in
Acts 2.
My thanks goes out to my fellow presenters during this
NAMB leaders summit for parts of their presentations that have
laid the foundation for this topic. (Remember or notice that the first edition
of this presentation was first developed and presented during a leadership summit of
NAMB when multiple presenters preceded this presentation.)
Contextual Issues other Presenters
Covered During the Summit
I am grateful that Dr. Towns of Liberty
University reviewed the foundation of “ta
ethne” as God’s mandate from Christ and
the Scripture for all believers of all times.
From the time of God’s call and
promise to Abraham and beyond to Jesus’
giving His Great Commission’s “ta ethne”
focus, an ethnolinguistic people group
focus has existed for all believers. Acts
1:8 and all of Acts 1 & 2 underlines the
Great Commission’s ethnic mandate.
Contextual Issues other Presenters
Covered
I am grateful to Dr. Roy Fish for talking about
historic awakening type growth in the 1950s and
about the importance of Worldview awareness in
ministering to any ethnic of any time.
I am also grateful to Dr. Lawless for talking
about “Exegeting the City” and giving attention to
the variety of ethnic, Great Commission, people
groups during his Acts 1:8 presentations.
I am also committed to Dr. Fish’s worldview
emphasis because dealing with “worldview” is one
of basic reasons for a biblical “ta ethne” focus and
mandate.
Contextual Issues Assumed As
Background
Acts 1:8 has less to do with the actual or
symbolic geographical implications related to
“Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost”
than to it’s link with the Great Commission’s “panta
ta ethne” focus. Thus, a “panta ta ethne” focus
starts in Jerusalem and remains a priority in each
of those geographic settings. Luke 24, Matthew 28
and Acts 2 present Jesus as placing the “seeing”
and “engaging” of the “panta ta ethne” (ethnic
engagement) in one’s heart language foremost in
the life of every believer.
Echoing a Pleading of God about His “ta
ethne” Focus Given to Israel & Christians
• The Great Commission’s “panta ta ethne”
mandate is:
– to engage every ethnolinguistic group in the world
– to engage each ethne in their heart language, and
– to engage them at their worldview belief, habits,
values and living level--a paramount obligation for
every Christian in the Great Commission and
elsewhere in the Scriptures.
At the same time, a people group focus does not rule
out engaging society according to other groupings
such as students, the classes, etc., as long as the
primary commitment is that of engaging every
ethnic group in one’s midst.
Echoing a Pleading of God about His “ta
ethne” Focus Given to Israel & Christians
Even though other groupings of people are
allowed, if a “panta ta ethne” priority has not
been given by Christ’s followers to the various
ethnics in any given geographic setting—one’s
“Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria or uttermost”—
then the Christians in those geographic settings
should set about to aggressively identify the
ethnics who live there. They should establish a
priority evangelism focus among each ethnic
group to be true to Christ’s Great Commission.
Echoing a Pleading of God about His
“ta ethne” Focus
The issue of worldview rests upon the following:
• Every sane person has a Worldview—beliefs,
values, habits, and lifestyle practices common
to the person, the person’s family & his ethne.
• Worldview is laid down in the idiom of the heart
language of each person as that person
develops from a new born baby to an adult.
• Engaging a worldview is most effectively done
through the person’s ethnic heart language.
Questions God Pleads That We Ask
and Answer in Every Generation!
• Who are the specific “ta ethne” who are outside our
doors in our current “Jerusalem” and beyond?
• Have we taken the time to identify the “stranger” in
our midst and the “strangers” (ethne=ethnic people
groups) at our door in our Jerusalem?
• What is the stranger’s (ethne’s) purpose and spiritual
status in our “home” setting, in our town, our county
(possibly our Judea), our state and country (possibly
our uttermost)?
• Are our SBC churches in the USA, as Israel was in
the Old Testament era, so engrossed in our “own
kind of people”—mainly the Anglo ta ethne--such that
other “ta ethne” are seldom even seen by us?
Questions God Pleads That We Ask
and Answer in Every Generation!
• If certain “ta ethne” in our Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria or the uttermost are our “enemies,”
whether considered so by us or by them, or by
both, are we engaging them with a view to bringing
them to Christ?
• Or, are there “ethne” on our list like Nineveh was to
Jonah whom we consider as “deserving only to die
lost and condemned by God and man,” and not
deserving the chance to hear and live?
• Can we give a positive “count” (numerical) and
therefore an “account” (spiritual) of the ethnics
around us?
The Main Question To Ask!
Are we sleeping like Israel slept in times
when God asked Israel to move beyond an
almost single focus on “their own kind” of
God-chosen people, in order to engage and
evangelize the “ta ethne” among them?
Or, are we taking note of every ethnic
group who moves among us, and are we
taking steps to evangelize them?
The Main Consequence To Consider!
Israel in her life as a chosen people from the
time of Israel’s entry into “the Promised Land” to
the coming of Christ was often warned by
prophets sent by God concerning their mission
on earth as a people. Time and time again the
prophets warned Israel that if she did not repent
and come back from her backslidden life, then He
would judge them by sending them into captivity.
Most often they did not repent, and time and time
again God sent them into physical and national
captivity. He could do the same to people and
nations today if they ignore the “ta ethne”.
A Historical Look at the Status,
Engagement and Implications of
Immigrants (the Ta Ethne) in the
United States from 1775 to 2006
A Version Designed for the NAMB
Leadership Summit and Significantly
Updated for SBC State ConventionStaffs
& for Directors of Mission & Others
The Three Periods that Established American as
a Nation that Resulted in Future-Altering
Changes in the USA in our Time
The first of the three periods occurred between 1775 and
1924. We will extend the 1924 immigration date to the 1940s
in order to present a combined secular and religious picture
of that formative period.
The second period of change occurred between 1945 and
1965 which can be called the “Golden Age of Christianity in
the USA.”
The third period of change occurred between 1965 and
2006 A.D. This section summarizes trends observed to give
evidence of drastic changes and deviations from the past.
Many Christians are unaware of the changes and the
implications of all the changes since 1965.
Section 2: A Look At Immigration
in the USA from 1775 to 1940s
Documentation of This “Look At
Immigration from 1775 to 1940s”
Every concept and all the data included is well documented.
Almost every entry is backed by more than one source. Will
Herberg, a major historian of immigration prior to and during the
1950s & 1960s is a major source. Herberg worked through and
cited over 339 major sources in his classic work. This author has
followed up on every one of those sources.
Oscar Handlin was quoted often by Herberg. Handlin also
was a major, Pulitzer Prize winning, researcher of immigration and
the formation of the United States of America. Handlin cited
hundreds of other social, religious and statistical researchers of his
era. This author, like Handlin did with Herberg’s writing, followed
up on most of Handlin’s sources. Both author’s works are seen as
classics and are highly quoted and respected even today.
Handlin’s Pulitzer Price was for his The Uprooted. Multiple other
religious sources beyond these two authors were consulted in
developing the religious comments and interpretations in this
presentation.
Documentation of This “Look At
Immigration from 1775 to 1940s”
The compiler of this document on immigration to
the USA searched current sources for any who
disputed Herberg’s and Handlin’s findings. Herberg
and Handlin published in the 1950s & 1960s.
That body of research when joined with research
from the mid-1960s and after provides great clarity
and vital understanding of our religious & social
situation today.
Those responsible for engaging and
evangelizing the lost in this generation should pay
attention to the lessons from the past.
Exploring The Ta Ethne Migration
from 1775 to the 1940s
An old proverb says: “those who do not
consider and pay attention to history are
doomed to repeat it.”
Again, a look at Israel in the Old
Testament era tells us that when Israel
ignored God and God’s work in history, God
instigated their downfall. (See Ezekiel 1-4)
Will Herberg’s & Oscar Handlin’s
Research Findings
Oscar Handlin said in the 1950s: “Once I thought to write a
history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that
the immigrants were American history” The Uprooted,
The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the
American People. (p. 3. Little Brown, 1957) (Handlin’s
Pulitzer Prize work.)
This is the most significant and critical reality for America
and American Christians to understand, then and now. We
will explore the “then” first, followed by a look at the “now” in
parts 2 and 3 of this document.
America is a nation of immigrants.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
America was founded, grew and flourished in
terms of immigrant ethnic peoples, immigrant religious
adherents and the churches they planted in the
emerging nation. We will explore those categories.
Herberg described America following 1607 saying:
“The colonists who came to these shores from the
time of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the
outbreak of the Revolution were mostly of English and
Scottish stock, augmented by a considerable number
of settlers of Dutch, Swedish, German, and Irish
origin.” Handlin and Herberg said often: Almost all
came from Christian background roots.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• Herberg and Handlin said in separate research
documents in the 1950s: “At the time of the
Revolution, this British-Protestant element (usually,
though inaccurately, known as ‘Anglo-Saxon’)
constituted at least 75 per cent of the 3,000,000
whites who made up the new nation (in 1775)”.
• “In addition, there were about three quarters of a
million (750,000) ‘African Americans’” in U.S. in 1775.
• “The great influx of ethnics came in the next century.”
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
In the early 1960s Herberg, Handlin and Hansen said separately in their
publications: “In three huge waves, stretching over something more than a
hundred years, over 35,000,000 men and women left Europe to come to
continental United States.” This 35 million extended the 3 million base of 1775.
In 2003, a book about the new Americans said: “At the time colonial America
declared its independence from British rule in 1776:
• Nearly 80% of people in the colonies were white Europeans from England,
Ireland, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden.
• Just over 20% were slaves from Africa” (The Newest Americans. Editor
Susan Madoff of Creative Media Applications, Greenwood Press, 2003. p.8)
“Over the next 200 years, more than 70 million people from around the world
would immigrate to the United States.” (The Newest Americans, p. 8)
In this introduction, it should be clear that as American
history passed, immigration continued to be the most
defining trait of the United States.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• By the time the great migrations were past, the
British-Protestant element had been reduced to
less than half the population, and Americans
had become linguistically and ethnically the
most diverse people on earth.” (Herberg and
Handlin). However, even by 1950, there were
only a small percentage of the US population
who did not come from Christian background
settings. (Herberg, Handlin & Hansen).
Obviously, the late coming Catholics figured
into the mix, especially in the 1900s.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• The melding force was a combination of the
frontier, economics and the continuing waves of
ethnic immigrant arrivals from 1775 to 1924.
• Immigrants found plenty of opportunities to
work on the Westward moving frontier and
came in waves seeking frontier jobs & land.
• It is important to note that the flow of most of
the immigrants to the frontier meant minimal
settling by them in their own ethnic
enclaves. The frontier caused their coming
and their melding, their assimilation.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• This flow of a majority of the immigrants who came in
waves seeking frontier jobs, played the major role in
shaping America linguistically and culturally. Again,
the frontier was the assimilating factor and force.
• Their basic desire was to live in their own ethnic
enclaves and not assimilate. The frontier blocked
them.
• As successive waves of immigrants came to the US
over 100 years, the “push” of each wave contributed to
the rising of first generation immigrants from menial
frontier jobs to climb to middle class manager/
business status on and just behind the frontier’s
leading edge. Second generation ethnics replaced the
first generation as the manual laborers. The shaping
and melding of America was in gear. It worked.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• Foundationally, it is very important to understand that
it was:
–
–
–
–
the freedom in America,
the emerging democracy in America,
the vast Western frontier of the Continent,
the letters from friends and family telling them to come and
join them on the vast frontier,
– the Western push of the people to experience freedom, own
land, and prayerfully have a much brighter future,
– The poverty, the hopelessness, and the peasant status of
the immigrants in Europe
That lured them to America and its vast Frontier that
The Economics of Immigrants
“From 1830 to 1930, Irish, Bohemians, Slovaks,
Hungarians, and many other peoples followed
each other in the service of the pick and shovel,
each earlier group, displaced by
newcomers, moving upward in the
occupational and social scale…if successive
waves of immigration served as the ‘push’ in
this pattern of occupational advancement,
education and acculturation to American
ways provided the immigrants with the
opportunity of making the most of it,…”
(Herberg)
The Shaping of A New “Nation”
It is very important to notice in this history that:
– “The lure and fact of the frontier that brought the
immigrants by the millions caused the assimilation,
the melding, of the immigrants.” Non-assimilation
was not a choice and would not have been their
choice by many ethnic groups.
– Historically, the immigrants would liked to have
settled in among their “own kind of people” and
produced ethnic enclaves within the USA
– The mass of immigrants and the fact of the frontier
minimized the peoples’ choice and forced
assimilation over a 150-year period of time
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• In this shaping process, the second generation of
immigrants assumed the jobs of the vacated first
generation immigrants who moved up the job ladder.
• As the frontier moved farther westward and as new
waves of immigrants came to America, the movement
from menial to managerial jobs continued and the
appearance of educational opportunities on the
frontier increased its occurrence and the varied status
in US. Though the US frontier was not near 50%
literate, schools tended to follow the frontier westward.
• The push of the frontier and education in English
language in schools minimized wholesale settlement
of immigrants within ethnic enclaves, except where
enclaves developed in a few cities.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
Thus, the Americanization process did produce in
the somewhat melded population a fairly common
English language among the ethnics.
In order to “move up the ladder” socially and
economically, each wave of immigrant ethnics had to
push their ethnic language into the home and family,
while publically adopting English as the language of
the workplace and society. Many ethnic languages did
persist in the family for 100 years. Traces of them
exist today. For instance, it was the late 1970s before
Swedish Baptists in the US renamed themselves
Baptist General Conference.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
• In many of the families of the various ethnic groups in
each successive wave, the older first generation
families found it difficult to give up their homeland
language for English.
• However, pronounced (pun intended) regional, and
some sub-regional, dialectical accents, worldview
expressions and word choices remain even today
within US regions. This does not mean that
everybody learned English immediately or at all.
• Again, some immigrants did settle in cities and were
often able to duplicate their ethnic status there.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation
of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
Americanization of the various European ethnics:
• Even though they learned English for economic
reasons, this language melding did not erase all of
their ethnic identities. Illustrations abound and persist
even today concerning this fact.
• A major, a key, fact of the immigrants and the frontier
was that language melding did not erase their
religious identity from the old country. Of all their
ethnic qualities, their religious identity came over
from the old country, and came to the fore. As
public ethnic language use was stripped from them,
they tended to hold on to and underline their religious
heritage. For many, their original ethnic language
persisted. Many Catholic parishes were established
along ethnic language lines. This was not as common
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
Most of the regional dialectical and
worldview differences in the US can be traced
to ethnic heritages that persisted. Consider the
Cajuns in Louisiana. Also, consider the German
dairy communities that existed throughout the
nation. For other examples see the DVD
package entitled The Appalachians (A PBS
video), and the Gente de Razon, a San Antonio,
Texas Catholic Missions video on the five
missions. This second video was produced by
the US Parks and Historical Society.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A
Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants
American frontier history shaped and “melded” only to a
degree the European “ta ethne” peoples. Irish
Catholics and other ethnic groups persist to this day.
Enclaves of them exist in many urban settings.
• At the same time, due to the frontier and the economic
push over a 150-year period, these multiple ethnic
groups were melded mainly into an “Anglo Saxon” or
Anglo-Saxon-oriented culture, at least in terms of
language. It is out of this process that the WASP title
arose—White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Do remember
that the majority of the melded Americans by the end
of the first wave of migration (1924) were Protestants.
A Look At 1775 to 1950—American
Indians and Africans in America
American Indians, or more appropriately called
Native Americans, who were the only Americans in
the 1500s and 1600s, and who existed in many
ethnic groupings, are said by various historians to
have suffered the most between 1775 and 1924 as
the European ethnics came and settled the
American frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Included in this would be the Spanish migrations into
Latin America which migrated into the Southwest
and Western parts of America.
The American Indian from 1600 to
1900
• The first, and earliest, change was the overrunning
of the American Indians by the European
immigrants. This wave pushed them farther inland.
• Of an estimated 300 plus original languages spoken
by American Indians, 175 living languages remain
(National Museum of the American Indian, the
Smithsonian Institute)
• Optimum estimates of the pre-Columbian Native
American population was 15,000,000 to 18,000,000
(Linguistic Anthropologist R. David Edmonds of UT
Dallas)
The American Indian from 1600 to
1900
• By 1860 in the continental USA there were official
government counts or estimates of 339,421
American Indians (James Collins, Native Americans
in the Census, 1860-1890)
• By 1880 the American Indian count was 305,543.
(Collins)
• Like all early US Census data, this data was based
upon a projected sample. The issue here is the
decline from 15,000,000 to 306,543.
• Few American Indians were evangelized from 1600
to 1900. This does not minimize the great work of
Brainard and others.
African Americans from 1600 to 1900
• In 1619 the first known or recorded African
Americans arrived in English colonial America
• It is historically important to note that the
African slaves brought mainly from West
Africa, had in West Africa “lived in complex,
organized, structured market economies in
which they participated as producers, traders,
brokers, merchants, and entrepreneurs.” (p.
19; “African Americans” by Juliet E.K. Walber
in A Nation of Peoples by Greenwood Press.
African “Imports” from 1620-1870
1620-1700 = 20,500
1701-1760 = 188,600 (18,000 to French La.)
1761-1800 = 212,361 (None of these to La.)
1800-1870 = 175,290 (10,200 of these to La.)
(p. 20, Table 1 of A Nation of Peoples compiled from
Philip D. Curtin’s The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census,
Madison Univ. 1969)
Just prior to the Civil War, “out of the 8 million whites in
the fifteen slave states, only 385,000 owned slaves.”
(p. 24, Ibid.)
During this period, a majority were evangelized.
The “Great Migration” In The USA
“The period from 1910 to 1920 is known as the
Great Migration in African American history. The
era marked the beginning of the black urban ghetto,
but it was not until 1940 that more than 50 percent of
blacks lived in places of more than 2,500 people.” (p.
30, Ibid)
“In 1910 there were 10 million blacks, with 90 percent
living in the South and 80 percent living in rural
areas. Between 1917 and 1920, an estimated
700,000 to 1 million blacks left the South, followed by
another 800,000 to 1 million during the 1920s. In
addition there was also the immigrations of blacks
from the West Indies—most of whom settled in New
York or Florida.” (p. 30, Ibid)
The Migration of African Americans within the US
• “Nevertheless, more southern blacks migrated to southern
cities between 1900 and 1920 than to northern cities. In
some southern cities they soon comprised from 25 to 50
percent of the total population, whereas in northern cities
they never exceeded 10 percent.” (p. 31, Ibid)
• In the last half of the 20th Century some African Americans
melded into traditional Anglo society, while others
continued to live within African American groupings.
• Increasingly from 1700 to the present, a distinct African
American culture has developed in the USA, just as a
distinct Hispanic American culture has been developing
and escalating in the USA from the mid-1900s to the
present.
• African Americans to the present tend to be religious and
tend to maintain a Protestant identity with the majority
being affiliated with Methodist and Baptist churches. “
A Look At African Americans by 1980
“There were an estimated 25 million AfroAmericans in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, a
figure making them not only the largest ethnic
group in America, but second only to AfroBrazilians in the Western Hemisphere.” (p. 5
of Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic
Groups, Stephen Thernstrom, Editor)
Voluntary migration has brought a good many
others since the 1800s. (p. 5, Ibid)
“Not since 1880 have Afro-Americans comprised
more than 12 percent of the nation…” (Ibid)
Immigration from 1775 to 1924
“The ‘epic story of the great migrations that made the
American people” came to an end substantially with World
War I and with the restrictive legislation of the 1920s.”
• 35,000,000 Europeans had reached these shores:
• 4,500,000 from Ireland,
• 4,000,000 from Great Britain,
• 6,000,000 from central Europe,
• 2,000,000 from the Scandinavian lands,
• 5,000,000 from Italy,
• 8,000,000 from eastern Europe,
• and 3,000,000 from the Balkans.
(This was America.” Much of Will Herberg’s data came from
Handlin’s study cited earlier. See Herberg, p. 8.)
Note: Roman Catholic numbers and percentages came in the later years.
In Retrospect
• “Between 1492 and 1965, 82 percent of all the
peoples on this planet who came to American shores
came from Europe.” (Professor Stephen L. Klineberg.
Department of Sociology, Rice University, Houston,
Texas (2005)
• “Under the notorious 1924 ‘National Origins Quota
Act,’ immigration was dramatically reduced, and the
newcomers were restricted almost exclusively to
northern Europeans” (Klineberg of Rice University)
• In 1965, the ‘Hart-Celler Act’ removed the earlier
restrictions, and established preferences based
primarily on family reunification and professional
skills, and later on refugee status.” (Klineberg)
In Retrospect
• In the years following 1900, for the first time,
immigrants began coming from southern and
eastern Europe. Of all the immigrants coming
during that post-1900 era, those from southern
and eastern Europe were in the majority.
Many of these immigrants were Jewish and
Catholic, in contrast to the predominantly
Protestant groups that settled in the United
States prior to 1900.
Section 3: The Religious Situation In
The USA from 1775 to 1950
The Religious Change from 1775 to
1950: A Religious Perspective of
History
This section looks at the status of
Christianity in 1775 and the charted changes
within the population in light of what happened
within Christianity until 1950.
This Period of Change from 1775 to
1950: A Religious Perspective
• It is clear in early immigrant documents that the
main migratory people were Protestant and that
they migrated to the New World primarily for
religious reasons and in search of religious
freedom.
• The percent of Christians, counted from the
perspective of recognized church members
in the colonies in 1775 was about 12% and
a large majority of those were Protestants.
Most people in the colonies beyond the 12%
would say they were Christians.
The Period of Change from 1775 to
1950: A Religious Perspective
• American religious denominations, beginning
in 1775 and continuing until 1950, also
underwent classic changes which were
only minimally caused and marked by
theology.
• In the American religious landscape
Protestantism dominated from the 1700s to
the 1900s.
The Period of Change from 1775 to
1950: A Religious Perspective
– Even though the percent of recognized church
members in 1775 in the colonies was about
12%, a majority of the people in the colonies,
when asked, would indicate that they came from
a Christian, “protestant-oriented” heritage.
– The Bill of Rights, heavily influenced into existence
by Baptists, mainly in Virginia, & events related to
the Western frontier, resulted in a marked change in
religion in America.
A Look At The Six (6) Leading Church
Groups in the Colonies in 1780
Congregational (745 churches)
Anglican/Episcopal (405 churches)
Presbyterian (490 churches)
Lutheran (235 churches)
Methodist (Less than 200 churches)
Baptist (About 200 churches)
Note: Catholics are not included in this
comparison for they were a minority until the
1900s.
The Six (6) Leading Church
Groups in the USA in 1850
Methodist
Baptist
Presbyterian
Lutheran
Congregational
Episcopal
(See Neil Braun’s Laity Mobilized Master’s Thesis for
more discussion of this dynamic within US history.)
The Six (6) Leading Church
Groups in the USA in 1950
Baptist was first
Methodist
Lutheran
Presbyterian
Episcopal
Congregational was last
(See Jim Slack’s and Jim Maroney’s IMB study and book
of the principles and practices of church planting for
documentation sources.)
Discerning The Lay of the Land
In fact, the order of the six leading
denominations in 1775 were exactly reversed
by 1950.
By 1850 Methodists were the largest
Protestant denomination in the USA and
Baptists were second.
By 1950 Baptists were the largest of the
original groups and Methodists were second. A
count of Southern Baptists alone in 1950
would have shown them close to being largest
Protestant denomination.
Discerning “The Lay of the Land”
It is very informative from a historic
evangelization and missiological perspective to
follow and compare the growth dynamics among the 6
largest Protestant denominations in 1775 with the 6
largest Protestant denominations in 1950.
Baptists in 1775, who had not yet divided into two
major Baptist groups (Northern and Southern), were
the smallest of all seven Protestant denominations.
Methodists were next to last.
What happened that caused this reversal?
Why Did These Groups Grow & Why
Did the Order End Up Reversed?
Congregationalists whose congregational polity was
thought to be best fitted for the frontier went though an
“Old Lights” and “New Lights” theological controversy
followed by a geographic comity agreement with
Presbyterians concerning frontier locations. Most of the
time of both was consumed by the controversy and neither
of them recovered from those choices.
Yet, it had been the Congregationalists, named so in
the USA, who brought the initial and major political and
religious group to the New Land with a clearly stated
religious manifesto. And, even as late as 1900,
Congregationalists had 1,000 missionaries on foreign
fields, only to see them dwindle during the 1900s to a very
few.
Why Did These Groups Grow & Why
Did the Order End Up Reversed?
Anglican churches were identified with the English
colonizers and with the causes of the Revolution.
Anglicans never overcame that war and colonial
image. So, over time, their name changed to The
Episcopal Church to attempt to shed that “war” image.
Also, few realize that many of the Puritans and
those today known as Low Church Anglicans had
gone with Wesley, forming the foundations of the
Methodist church in both England and in the
Colonies/USA. That departure actually took some of
the most conservative and evangelistic Anglicans into
Methodism in the USA. This hurt the Anglicans.
Why Did These Groups Grow & Why
Did the Order End Up Reversed?
Presbyterians suffered from the comity agreement
between themselves and the Congregationalists. Like the
Episcopal churches, even after their name change, their
Presbyterian institutional polity, their preference for land and
building, and their requirements for a theologically trained,
denominationally chosen and installed pastor, kept them behind
the edges of the frontier.
The institutional and non-lay led denominations lagged an
average of 200 miles behind the frontier where more settled
communities were like they were used to existed. And, only
communities some 200 miles behind the frontier were large
enough in population and affluent enough to afford the more
formal pastors and their churches. It took established towns to
support those more formal and institutional denominations.
Why Did These Groups Grow & Why
Did the Order End Up Reversed?
Lutherans seem to be the strange anomaly
among the six denominations. Lutherans did
make it to the frontier, even to the Mississippi
river and they did grow. However, it was
persecution and lack of a colony base in New
England that pushed Lutherans to the Missouri
territory and northward into Canada where they
settled & grew some distance from persecution.
They were the only formal and highly structured
and institutional denomination found on the
advanced edges of the frontier.
Why Did Groups Grow on the
Western Frontier?
Roman Catholics attention to and attitude
toward evangelization on the Western frontier
can be seen in following ad in 1800s:
“We offer you: No salary. No recompense, no
holidays, no pensions. But: hard work and a
poor dwelling, few consolations, many
disappointments, frequent sickness, a violent,
lonely death, an unknown grave.” (Source: Exhibit
at South Dakota Cultural Center, Pierre, SD provided
by John Guillatt of South Dakota Baptist Convention.)
How did Methodists become First in
1850 and Remain Second by 1950?
Methodists had a strategy, a carefully
defined and carefully managed geographic
circuit-rider plan that fitted them for the frontier.
Their plan was the “method” found in the word
“Methodist.” That plan, designed by Wesley for
England, which was only partially accepted
there, was a perfect fit for the US frontier, at
least until about 1900.
How did Methodists become First in
1850 and Remain Second in 1950?
A Quote: “When the rigors of circuit riding in the early
days, as the Church moved over the country, are
brought before the mind and imagination, the question
is frequently asked, ‘How did they stand it?’ The
answer is: ‘They didn’t.’ They died under it. No group
of men ever lived up more fully to the truth, ‘He that
looseth his life shall find it.’ (pp. 42-43, Halford E.
Luccock, Endless Line of Splendor. The Advance for
Christ and His Church of The Methodist Church
publisher, Chicago, Illinois, 1950)
How did Methodists become First in
1850 and Remain Second in 1950?
A Quote: “They died, most of them, before their
careers were much more than begun.” Of the
650 preachers who had joined the Methodist
itinerancy by the opening of the 19th century,
about 500 had to ‘locate,’ a term that was used
for those too worn-out to travel further. Many of
the rest had to take periods for recuperation.
Others located not because of health, but by
reason of lack of support and the desire to
marry and establish a home.” (Luccock)
How did Methodists become First in
1850 and Remain Second in 1950?
Of the first 737 circuit riders of the Conferences
to die—that is, all who died up to 1847
– 203 were between 25 and 35 years of age
– 121 between 35 and 45.
– Nearly half died before they were 30 years old.
Of 672 of those first preachers whose records fully
exist,
– two-thirds died before they had been able to render
12 years of service.
– Just one less than 200 died within the first five
years. (Luccock)
How did Methodists become First in
1850 and Remain Second by 1950?
A Quote: “Many circuits were from 300 to 600 miles in
length…For instance, in 1791, Freeborn Garrettson
was assigned to a circuit which included almost half of
what is now the state of New York…In 1814 James B.
Finley, on the Cross Creek Circuit, Ohio, had a circuit
covering more than two counties, and preached 32
times on every round. The salary schedule has an
eloquence of its own. Cash was almost unknown. In
1821 Benjamin T. Crouch records receiving only $38
toward his year’s allowance. The same year Peter
Cartwright received the highest salary in the Kentucky
Conference--$238. But when he moved, with his wife
and six children, to the Sangamon Circuit, Illinois, he
received $40, all told, for the year.” (pp. 44-45,
Luccock)
How did Baptists become Second in
1850 and Grow to First by 1950?
“Methodism grew fast until after 1850, but
Baptist growth from 1800 to 1960 is
unparalleled. From a little over 100,000 in
1800, Baptists were approaching 20 million by
1960.” (Gaustad: 1962 as quoted by Neil
Braun)
The basic reason is that Baptist theology
and polity fitted them better for the frontier
than any other denomination of churches.
Growth Characteristics of Baptists
• Each local church was autonomous
• Churches were congregational in polity
• Lay, often uneducated, Baptist church
members going west were encouraged to
plant a church at sites where they settled if
no Baptist church existed there
• Churches that did emerge met in homes,
saloons, hardware stores, barns, stables,
school rooms, under trees, etc.
Growth Characteristics of Baptists
• Local churches found their pastor within the
maturing believers in their emerging new
church body
• Local churches recognized and ordained their
own pastors
• Often the settler who started a new church
ended up being “called” by the emerging new
church to be their pastor. Many laymen
became pastors that way.
• Laymen who did become pastors tended to
itinerate, pastoring 2-4 churches
Growth Characteristics of Baptists
• As churches were planted, laymen within
those churches with a burden for the lost
tended to emerge who preached in the
outlying areas wherever a group of people
lived
• Consequently, lay evangelists were common
in Baptist churches and this trend persisted
well into the early to mid-1900s
• As frontier towns settled in and grew, a few
churches sought pastors from more settled
frontier towns to the east
Growth Characteristics of Baptists
• By the mid to late 1800s, requests for training arose among
frontier pastors who settled in for a longer tenure in the more
settled, “behind” the frontier’s leading edge, towns
• As pastors saw their churches increase in membership size
and stability, and as they faced more complex pastoral duties,
they called for training assistance
• This led to Baptist schools being started from the Atlantic to
the Mississippi River. This is why and how the many Baptist
colleges and SBC seminaries started. These were ondemand schools. Local churches started them and paid for
them. Subsidy was an unknown habit on the frontier for over
100 hundred years. Subsidy was less among Baptists than
among Methodists and Methodist subsidy, as seen earlier, was
very meager when it was provided.
The Most Common Growth Reasons
• Sweet, Herberg, Latourette, Braun and
multiple other social and religious historians
said that the three most common growth
factors were: 1) the starting of churches in
homes where land and building for a church
was not a condition for having and being a
church; 2) lay preachers and pastors, most of
whom were bi-vocational; and 3) a
congregational polity that allowed local
churches to start and function autonomously
without approval from a leadership hierarchy.
The Lay of the Land Discerned
Over time, for sure by the early 1900s, as new
church starts and membership growth continued to
occur, as religious status became the leading
characteristic of an American, the Bible Belt had
formed across the southern USA. The American
culture was developing a stronger Christian ethic, with
Christian values as its base. This base was “in
practice” for some, and only in the “awareness” or
“conscience, ought-to stage” for others. It is out of
this base that the terms “WASP” (“White Anglo-Saxon
Protestant”) and “Judeo-Christian” emerged in the
mid-1900s. (Comments cited from Herberg, Handlin
and others) Even then, the typical American by the
1900s favored and spoke of America as a moral
Christian society.
The Major Concern of the Immigrants
by the 1900s
“Their big concern was the preservation of
their way of life; above all, the transplanting of
their churches.” (pp. 10-11, Herberg.)
In his footnotes Herberg quotes Marcus L.
Hansen’s research in The Problem of the Third
Generation Immigrant (Augustana Historical Society,
Rock Island, Ill., 1938, p. 15 who said: “The church
was the first, the most important, and the most
significant institution that the immigrants
established.” Their churches went to the frontier with
them. Those churches that fit the frontier and that
were comfortable on the frontier won the frontier.
By 1950, Who Was an American?
• By the early 1900s being an “American” came
out of a degree of melding of three generations
of ethnic groups into being “Americans”--Anglos
• Herberg’s research discovered that by the
1930s, A ‘Triple Melting Pot’ situation in the US
had developed as the norm. Ethnic migration
saw their language and some of their culture
receed somewhat to the background. English
had become a practical acquisition of most
ethnics, but their religion persisted to
become the ethnics major identity.
By 1950, Who Was an American?
The singular most identifying characteristic
among most ethnics who migrated to the USA
from 1775 to 1924 was their religious status.
As their language became mostly English and
as they gave up some of their cultural identity,
the sum of their status as “Americans” settled
into one of three acceptable identifying religious
markers—Protestant, Catholic or Jew. (Herberg)
So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification
of an American was according to one of these
three categories—Protestant, Catholic or Jew. To
not be one of these three categories was not to be
an American.
Section 4:
A Look At Culture and Religion in the
USA:1945 to 1960
The “Golden Age of Christianity” in USA
Again, the three primary researchers and
authors of this era concerning American
immigration were Herberg, Handlin & Hansen.
Their works are seen as classic writings today.
They cited this period as the span of years
when Christianity was at its highest peak from
1775 to 1950.
By 1950, Who Was an American?
In review of what went before, the singular most
identifying characteristic among most ethnics who
migrated to the USA from 1775 to 1924 was their
religious status. As their language became mostly
English and as they gave up some of their cultural
identity, the sum of their status as “Americans” settled
into three acceptable identifying religious markers—
Protestant, Catholic or Jew.
So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification of an
American was according to one of these three categories—
Protestant, Catholic or Jew.
The USA Religious Scene in 1950
• In 1775 church members were from 10 to 12% of
the US population
• By 1910 church members had grown to 43%
• By 1960 church members had grown to 60%
(pp.33-34, Herberg)
• Beyond the category of “church members” at least
75-80% of all Americans said they were adherents
of Christianity
• By the 1950s denominationalism had developed,
was clearly established, active and very strong in
term of loyalties and influence in America
• Evidences of denominational solidarity follow:
The USA Religious Scene in 1950:
A Consideration of Conversions
“Conversions from one community
(denomination or category) to the other take place,
but they seem to be very small and do not appreciably
affect the over-all picture.” (Herberg, p. 160) (Herberg
quotes the Yearbook of American Churches, edition
for 1960, pp. 261-262 for his data. In the research
Herberg quotes 140,414 as the Catholics’ record of
conversions to Catholicism from Protestantism. He
used The 1959 National Catholic Almanac, p. 407 for
this information. This data is for the year 1957. For a
more in-depth study, see Thomas J.M. Burke’s “Did
Four Million Catholics Become Protestants?, America,
April 10, 1954.
Religion in USA in the 1950s: A
Consideration of Conversions
Burke’s article, a survey by the American Institute
of Public Opinion (a Gallup poll) in 1955 indicated that
of an adult population of 96,000,000, only about 4
per cent no longer belonged to the religious
community of their birth; of these: 1,400,000 were
Protestants who had originally been Catholics, and
1,400,000 were Catholics who had originally been
Protestants, and about 1,000,000 had made changes
of some other kind. See also John A. O’Brien, You
Too Can Win Souls (Macmillan, 1955).” (Cited in
Herberg’s footnotes on pages 170-171.)
Religion in America from 19451960
• Even beneath the surface of the American
“melting pot” one could still see the
persistence of ethnic identities when
studying marriage and church affiliations.
• On the surface citizens in the USA were
Americans, known as Anglo-Saxons, but
beneath the surface their ethne had not
been totally erased. Notice the following
data.
A Study of Marriage Patterns from
1870 to 1940
“In the early 1940s, Ruby Jo Kennedy undertook an
investigation of intermarriage trends in New Haven from
1870 to 1940. She published her findings in the American
Journal of Sociology for January 1944 under the significant
title, ‘Single or Triple Melting Pot?’…The years 1870, 1900,
1930, and 1940 were isolated for detailed examination…’The
large nationality groups in New Haven,’ Mrs. Kennedy
found, ‘represent a triple division on religious grounds:
Jewish, Protestant (British-American, German, and
Scandinavian), and Catholic (Irish, Italian, and Polish)…’
In its early immigrant days, each of these ethnic groups
tended to be endogamous; with the years, however, people
began to marry outside the group. (Herberg’s quote of
Kennedy data on page 33)
A Study of Marriage Patterns from
1870 to 1940
Kennedy found: Irish in-marriage was 93.05 per
cent in 1870; 74.75 per cent in 1900, 74.25 per cent
in 1930, and 45.06 per cent in 1940; German inmarriage was 86.67 per cent in 1870, 55.26 per
cent in 1900, 39.84 per cent in 1930, and 27.19 per
cent in 1940; for the Italians and the Poles, the
comparable figures were 97.71 per cent and 100
per cent respectively in 1900, 86.71 and 68.04 per
cent in 1930, and 81.89 per cent and 52.78 per cent
in 1940. But, ‘while strict ethnic endogamy is
loosening, religious endogamy is persisting…”
(Herberg’s quote of Kennedy data on page 33)
The USA Religious Scene in 1950: A
Consideration of Inter-Marriage
By the 1950s, religion not only divided into
the three ‘pools’; but those in each religious
category tended to marry only within their
pool. Hollingshead found in a study that:
– 97.1% of Jewish pool married only Jewish spouses
– 93.8% of Catholics married only Catholic spouses
– 74.4% of Protestants married only Protestant
spouses (pp.33-34, Herberg. He is quoting the
study of Hollingshead.)
A Study of Marriage Patterns from
1870 to 1940
“Members of Catholic stocks married Catholics in 95.35 per
cent of the cases in 1870, 85.78 per cent in 1900, 82.05 per
cent in 1930, and 83.71 in 1940; members of Protestant stocks
married Protestants in 99.11 per cent of the cases in 1870,
90.66 per cent in 1900, 78.19 per cent in 1930, and 79.72 per
cent in 1940; Jews married Jews in 100 per cent of the cases
in 1870, 98.82 per cent in 1900, 97.01 per cent in 1930, and
94.32 per cent in 1940. ‘Future cleavages,’ in Mrs. Kennedy’s
opinion, ‘will therefore be along religious lines rather than along
nationality lines as in the past….Cultural [i.e. ethnic] lines may
fade, but religious barriers are holding fast….When marriage
crosses religious barriers, as it often does, religion still plays a
prominent role, especially among Catholics,’ in that such
marriages are often conditioned upon, and result in, one of the
partners being brought into the religious community of the
other.’” (pp. 32-33, Herberg)
A Study of Marriage Patterns from
1870 to 1940
“The traditional ‘single melting pot’ idea must now be
abandoned, and a new conception, which we term the
‘triple melting pot’ theory of American assimilation, will
take its place, as the true expression of what is
happening to the various nationality groups in the
United States….The ‘triple melting pot’ type of
assimilation is occurring through intermarriage, with
Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism serving as
the three fundamental bulwarks…The different
nationalities are merging, but within three religious
compartments rather than indiscriminately…A triple
religious cleavage, rather than a multilinear nationality
cleavage, therefore seems likely to characterize
American society in the future.’” (pp. 32-33, Herberg)
The Breadth and Depth (Evidences) of
these Religious Characteristics
By 1950, one’s personal identity, political
qualification, social status, marriage, and a
few other functional American characteristics
were primarily determined by their identify
with one of the three religions that was most
appropriate for ethnic background and
geographic location in the USA.
(See Will Herberg’s Protestant-Catholic-Jew.)
At the beginning of this era Franklin
Roosevelt regularly and publically expressed
his religious beliefs and prayers.
The Consequences of this
Religious Environment
It was beginning to be true in the late 1930s,
increased as being true in the 1940s, throughout
the 1950s and into the early1960s that, to be
elected to a significant state and national office
in the USA, the candidate had to represent, or
make the public think they represented, JudeoChristian values or he or she would seldom ever
be elected to a significant political office.
This was especially true in the Bible Belt of the
USA. And, except in pervasively Catholic areas,
it was difficult for a Roman Catholic to be elected to
a national office.
Religious credentials were important for
business leaders, salesmen and community
leaders.
The Consequences of this Religious
Environment
Pastors, Rabbis and Priests were at the top of the list of the
most respected persons in American life.
Those Judeo-Christian values that can be seen in the
background of the US Constitution, had emerged as the broad
American ideal by the mid-1800s and were commonly taught
and nourished in the US public schools from the 1800s to the
early 1970s.
Prayers were said in the schools, prior to the beginning of
any sports events, Ten Commandments posted in public
places, and prayers to God for blessings habitually offered by
politicians.
It was the 1960s before the USA elected a Catholic as
president for fear that a Catholic president would allow the
Pope in Rome to influence American political decisions in ways
unfavorable to Protestants and Protestant values. Also, until
Reagan, no divorcee had ever been elected as President of the
USA.
The Consequences of this
Religious Environment
Southern Baptists, by 1950, not only emerged as
the largest and most influential Protestant denomination
in the USA, they existed predominantly in the “Bible
Belt.”
Methodists and Southern Baptists were the major
denominations that produced the “Bible Belt” with
Presbyterians following some distance behind them.
The people who produced the Methodist and Baptist
denominations and the Bible Belt were migrant peoples,
mostly from Europe, mostly northern Europe.
Most of these had fled Europe looking for religious
freedom, while the others came to the colonies looking
for decent work, land, a say in political matters, a vote
and a better lifestyle which spelled “freedom.”
Evidence in 1950s of “Golden Age”
“No one who attempts to see the contemporary religious
situation in the United States in perspective can fail to be
struck by the extraordinary pervasiveness of religious
identification among present-day Americans. Almost
everybody in the United States today (1953) locates himself
in one or another of the three great religious communities.
Asked to identify themselves in terms of religious
‘preference,’ 95 per cent of the American people, according
to a recent public opinion survey, declared themselves to be
either Protestants, Catholics, or Jews (68 percent
Protestants, 23 per cent Catholics, 4 per cent Jews); only 5
per cent admitted to no ‘preference.’” (p. 46, Herberg.
Herberg gained this data from the Catholic Digest, January
1953. The survey was conducted by Ben Gaffin and
Associates. Only adults over 18 are considered.)
Evidence in 1950s of “Golden Age”
“Much the same may be said about the high and growing repute of
religion in the American public mind. ‘Religion is given continued public and
political approval…’Godless’ is a powerful epithet…At least nominal public
acceptance of religion tends to be a prerequisite to political success
(Herberg quotes Williams’ American Society, pp. 326, 336.)….It was not
always so; there was a time when an atheist or agnostic like Robert C.
Ingersoll, who went around the country defying God and making antireligious speeches, could nevertheless occupy a respected and influential
position in American politics. Today that would be quite inconceivable, a
professed ‘unbeliever’ would be anathema to either of the big parties
and would have no chance whatever in political life.” (p. 51, Herberg)
Congressional Religious Affiliations-1957
“The contrast between the days of Ingersoll and our day, when every
candidate for public office is virtually required to testify to his high esteem for
religion, measures the position that religion as a ‘value’ or institution, has
acquired in the American public mind. Of the 528 members of the two
houses of the 85th Congress, only 4 gave no religious affiliation; 416
registered as Protestants, 95 as Roman Catholics, 12 as Jews, and one as a
Sikh.” (p. 52, Herberg. Herberg quotes the Report of the Legislative
Reference Service of the Library of Congress, released April 6, 1957.)
Evidence in1950s of “Golden Age”
“The figures for church membership tell the same story but in greater
detail. Religious statistics in this country are notoriously inaccurate, but the
trend is so well marked that it overrides all margins of error. In the quarter of
a century between 1926 and 1950 the population of continental United
States increased 28.6 per cent, membership of religious bodies increased
59.8 per cent; in other words, church membership grew more than twice as
fast as population. Protestants increased 63.7 per cent, Catholics 53.9 per
cent, Jews 22.5 per cent. Among Protestants, however, the increase varied
considerably as between denominations; Baptist increase was well over 100
per cent, some ‘holiness’ sects grew even more rapidly, while the figure for
the Episcopal Church was only 36.7 per cent, for the Methodist Church 32.2
per cent, for the Northern Presbyterians 22.4 per cent, and for the
Congregationalists 21.1 per cent. (p. 47, Herberg. Herberg found in
Information Service, March 8, 1952 that “The trend continues. In the thirtytwo years between 1926 and 1957, the population of continental United
States increased about 45 per cent while the membership of religious bodies
increased nearly 92 per cent, more than twice as fast. (Yearbook of
American Churches, edition for 1959, p. 294.)
“In 1950 total church membership was reckoned at 85,319,000, or
about 57 per cent of the total population. In 1958 it was 109,557,741, or
about 63 per cent, marking an all-time high in the nation’s history. (p. 47,
Herberg. Data taken from Yearbook of American Churches, edition for 1960,
pp. 258, 279.)
The Consequences of this Religious
Environment
Southern Baptist evangelism and church planting
methods, or approaches, tended to develop in the
midst of this highly religious identification and
historical period. It was upon this base of JudeoChristian values that the post-World War II years,
especially the1950s, rested. Those Judeo-Christian
values were assumed to exist by an overwhelming
majority of the citizens in the USA.
These Judeo-Christian values permeated the
justice and legal system of the USA and were
assumed to be the best rules to live and do business
by in the USA. (See Herberg’s book Protestant,
Catholic, and Jew for multiple quotes documenting
this.)
The Lay of the Land Discerned
Consequently, Southern Baptists, and
other evangelical denominations, and Parachurch agencies such as Post-WWII
Navigators, Campus Crusades, Inter-Varsity,
and others, understood and established
themselves and their Christian groups upon
these assumptions and aspirations of typical
Americans in the USA during this era. This
was the situation just prior to the next stage
of immigration and history in the USA.
The Lay of the Land Discerned
A study of Christian materials, and
especially witnessing presentations, in the
period between 1945 and 1965 reveals the
assumption that an American had enough
background knowledge and beliefs about
God and Christianity such that those basics
would not have to be covered during
witnessing sessions. It was also assumed
that an American accepted the Bible as
authoritative and that it was to be respected.
Looking Back on this Period from
1945 to 1960
We now look back on the period from 1945
to 1960 as the most formative and significant
religious ingathering period in American history.
This does not minimize the affects and the
magnitude of the Great Awakenings in the
1700s, or the Great Prayer Revival in 1850.
However, the growth of religious
denominations, agencies and institutions within
this period speaks for itself. Southern Baptists
grew by 100% in this period. (Herberg)
Looking Back on SBC Growth from
1950 to 1960
• Southern Baptist Convention Stats in 1950
(The Largest Protestant Denomination)
–
27,788 churches
– 7,079,889 members (255 Avg. Mbs. Church)
– 376,085 baptisms for year (13.5 A. Bap. Ch.)
– 5,024,553 Sunday School (70.9% of mbs.)
– $197,242,154 Total of Receipts in the
Churches
Looking Back on SBC Growth from
1950 to 1960
• Southern Baptist Convention Stats in 1960
(The Largest Protestant Denomination)
–
32,281 churches
– 9,731,591 members (302 Avg. Mbs. Church)
– 386,409 baptisms for year (11.9 A. Bap. Ch.)
– 7,382,550 Sunday School (75.8% of mbs.)
– $480,608,972 Total of Receipts in Churches
A Troubling Reality of the Most
Homogeneous and Religious Era
Herberg’s Quote: “This is at least part of the picture presented
by religion in contemporary America. Christians flocking to
church, yet forgetting all about Christ when it comes to naming
the most significant events in history; men and women valuing
the Bible as revelation, purchasing and distributing it by the
millions, yet apparently seldom reading it themselves. Every
aspect of contemporary religious life reflects this paradox—
pervasive secularism amid mounting religiosity, ‘the
strengthening of the religious structure in spite of increasing
secularism…America seems to be at once the most
religious and the most secular of nations… can there be
much doubt that, by and large, the religion which actually
prevails among Americans today has lost much of its authentic
Christian (or Jewish) content.” (p. 2-3, Herberg)
A Troubling Reality of the Most
Homogeneous and Religious Era
Dr. Leonard Sanderson, Evangelism Secretary
of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, a prolific
writer and respected speaker within the SBC
sounded the same note of concern as Herberg,
Hamlin and others. He often said that, based
upon lifestyles, he doubted that half of the
members in Southern Baptist churches were
really converted Christians. He spoke of finding
a lot of cultural Christianity in SBC churches.
Major Missiological Issues to Notice
As the American population became year by
year more homogeneously Anglo and as most
of the American population had come to see
itself as either Protestant, Catholic or Jew, a
number of things occurred:
• Americans were more religiously oriented and
thus more open to entertain religious discussion
• Programs and methods tended to work across
minor cultural boundaries and barriers
Major Missiological Issues to Notice
• Many kinds of denominational and para-church
agencies were developed
• All kinds of witnessing programs developed
during this period. This was the era of the
development of the “Four Spiritual Laws.”
• Most Protestants were evangelistic
• “The Bible says” was a very respected and
authoritative statement in public and private
settings.
Major Missiological Issues to Notice
• Programs, methods, approaches, whatever one wants
to call them, became more and more generic. They
were copied and used successfully in many different
regions and locations in the US. This was especially
the case with Southern Baptists who were mainly in
the Bible Belt;
• Consequently Southern Baptists came to believe that
“one size, meaning one model, fits all.” And to a
great degree then, especially in the Bible Belt, one
size did work quite well in many places among
many people, because of homogeneous values
that existed in America at that time;
Major Missiological Issues to Notice
• In those cases in the 1950s when Baptists “hit the
road” and took their evangelism teams to the
Northeast, to the Midwest and to the Northwest, they
tended to attract primarily transplanted Southerners
who had a firm Christian base with strong JudeoChristian values.
• In the 1950s, when Baptists went out of the Protestant
Bible Belt and into Catholic territories they met the “we
don’t swap religions” ethnic identity that was
characteristic of America and Americans of that era.
• Protestants and Baptists grew better among
unchurched & relatives than among Catholics & Jews.
Major Missiological Issues to Notice
• Those transplanted churches beyond the Bible Belt
with mostly southern members were soon sealed off
from the locals. For, when the few locals who did
come to see what church was all about, they saw
“foreign folks,” heard sermons that assumed
evangelical, Christian values & assumptions with
southern Bible Belt terms.
• Most locals did not stay and join those non-local,
southern churches, for a significant number did not
hold the southern worldview values. Fifty years
later, most of those churches are as they were then,
or smaller.
Section 5:
A Look At Immigrants (ta ethne) in the
USA from 1960-2006
A note concerning this section: An in-depth
coverage of this section will not be included
in this PowerPoint. A more detailed coverage
of this period is in an available document—
Frontiers of Lostness. Contact this author or
the Church Planting Group of NAMB for a
copy.
The Period of American History: 1960Present
By this time in American history Immigrant
Chains were becoming a major trait of the ethnic
status in the USA. “Immigrant Chains form when
members of one immigrant family settle in America,
and then convince family members and friends to join
them. The established immigrants help the new
immigrants find homes and work in the same area.
Immigrant chains have influenced settlement patterns
all over the country, helping to create large
communities of Cubans in Miami, Dominicans in New
York, and Chinese in San Francisco, among others.”
(The Newest Americans, Edited. Greenwood Press;
2003. Page 9.)
The Period of American History: 1960Present
The most homogeneous era and the most religious
period in US history from 1945-1965 soon:
• eroded into the most secular period of history in the
US that rivals the period of the 1700s;
• began experiencing an ethnic immigration of
different ethnic peoples in numbers that soon
eclipsed those from 1775 to 1924;
• changed into an increasingly anti-Christian era that
attempted to severely limit, if not remove, Christian
witness and evidences from public places;
The Period of American History: 1960Present
• Contradicted, or reversed the flow of, the legal and
ethical characteristics of the period from 1945 to 1965;
(A major evidence of the anti-Christian and legal
change is a “separation of church and state”
interpretation that never existed in US history and that
is totally out of character with the views and intentions
of the founding fathers);
• saw the “God is Dead” movement in England in the
1960s come to the USA and escalate into PostModernism like England’s, especially in academia;
• witnessed major incursions in American culture by
Transcendental Meditation religion/philosophy
The Period of American History: 1960Present
• saw Post-Modernism come from Europe to
Canada and into the USA
• began experiencing a type of ethnic immigration
that, with the possible exception of the ethnics
coming from Latin America, is coming from very
different linguistic, worldview and world religion
sources; such that:
• Generic is no longer a characteristic in USA,
even among Anglos.
• Pluralism exists within “ethnes” and even in
denominations and churches in this era.
The Period of American History: 1960Present
The most homogeneous era in US history and
the most religious period in US history:
• was faced with a large percentage of ethnics
from many different ethnic groups who want to
keep not only their religion as did those of the
1800s, but who in addition want to keep their
own language and their own culture as well;
• was without a geographic frontier that caused
them to meld in with the Anglo population which
is now dwindling to become a minority group;
The Period of American History: 1960Present
The most homogeneous era in US history and
the most religious period in US history soon:
• experienced immigrant ethnics who want
the American dream but who do not want to
assimilate into American culture to the point
of giving up language, culture and religion;
yet, who want all of the rights of any
traditional American citizen; and who soon
• met Christians who do not see them as, or
relate to them as, Jesus’ “panta ta ethne.”
A Summary of Immigration into US
from 1820 to 2000 A.D.
•
•
•
•
•
From 1820 through 1924 = 35,999,402
From 1925 through 1960 = 5,841,559
From 1961 through 2000 = 24,248,470
From 1820 through 2003 = 69,869,450
In 2000 A.D. the projection prior to the
Census was 26,800,000 foreign-born
persons in the US in July of 2000
• Actual foreign-born enumerated in 2000
Census was 31,100,000 persons
The Status of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• Immigrants tend to come according to home
country encouragement or conflicts
• Immigrants tend to come as a result of family
members in the USA asking for their entry
• Immigrants tend to go to, settle among and work
within the geographic settings and family contacts
of family who petitioned for or facilitated their entry
• A sizable segment of immigrants are recruited by
representatives of employers in USA
• There is a huge illegal immigrant flow into the USA
that is facilitated by multiple sources
The Status of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• Immigrants coming into the USA today tend
not to meld, to assimilate, into the traditional
American culture, more specifically, into the
Anglo-oriented culture of the USA
• This is especially so of various cultures, with
Muslims being a major example
• An overwhelming majority of immigrants
today tend to maintain their religion which
has been true of immigrants since 1775
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• A significant implication of Immigrants’ tendency to
settle among their relatives, means that their
ethnolinguistic people group language, culture and
religion is being perpetuated within their own local
ethnic enclaves throughout the USA
• This means that as these ethnic people groups gain
size in terms of local population and spread
geographically, they soon develop to own the
social, educational, economic and political sectors
of their local setting in the US
• At this point in time (2006 A.D.) large amounts of
land in many US states is owned by foreigners
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• The US landscape will become more and more
pluralistic as immigration increases
• Birthrates among immigrants averages from 2:1 to
3:1 of that of the US Anglo population. This is the
major factor in the Islamatization of Europe.
• The increase in ethnic pluralism, ethnic population
and thus ethnic domination will become a normal
reality in more and more geo-political settings in the
USA
• Since the majority of immigrants no longer come
from Christian backgrounds, Christianity will also
tend to diminish as a percent of the population
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• English will functionally face other competitors,
especially in local ethnic communities where other
languages dominate
• The issue of worldview will loom larger and larger
in more and more settings in the USA
• Local ethnic Radio and TV stations and programs
will likely proliferate within the USA
• Marketing will become more pluralistic in catering to
multiple ethnic groups in order to engage and sell
to the increasing pluralistic market setting in USA
• “Niche marketing” already exists in USA
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• Foreign marketers will increase to join and
compete with already present and powerful
foreign businesses such as Toyota,
Samsung, British Petroleum, Shell, and
many others.
• Language use in the USA will become more
varied and will increase within specific
languages yearly, if not more often.
• Evangelicals focus evangelistically mainly on
Anglos with only a minor focus on ethnics.
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
• However, at present, evangelical methods of
engagement and evangelization are mostly
replicas and renditions of methods used in
the 1950s when religion was commonly in
vogue, based upon Biblical values, and given
attention and a hearing by most citizens.
• Today, none of those assumptions exist in a
pluralistic America.
• The definition of an American becomes more
difficult and pluralistic every day.
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
“Although immigrants can live anywhere in
the United States, nearly two-thirds of them
settle in just six states. California, New York,
Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois count
more immigrants among their population
than all other stated combined. California
alone is the destination of one-fourth of the
nations immigrants.” (The Newest
Americans, p. 17.)
Consequences of Immigrants in US
from 1960 to the Present
“Because finding work and living near others
who share their experience is so important,
nearly all new immigrants (93 percent) live in
urban areas. The most popular U.S.
destinations in 2000 were New York City, Los
Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Washington,
D.C.” (The Newest Americans, p. 17)
Immigrant Admissions in 2000
Types and Reasons of Immigration
• Immediate Relative of U.S. Citizen = 41%
• Family Preference = 28%
• Employment Preference = 13%
• Refugee/asylee adjustment = 8%
• Diversity Program = 6%
• Other = 4%
Source: The Newest Americans, p. 11 &
Immigration and Naturalization Service
Illegal Immigrants into the USA
“In addition to the nearly 1 million legal
immigrants who arrive in the United States
each year, hundreds of thousands of
people enter the country without
permission…The Immigrant and
Naturalization Service (INS) estimates the
number at close to 300,000 a year.” (The
Newest Americans, p. 13.)
The Most Sobering Reality
The setting in America today better fits
the Great Commission’s “panta ta ethne”
mandate of Christ than any other era in
American history. It seems that God has
brought the “uttermost” to our individual
“Jerusalems.”
Never in the history of America has
ethnic, heart language, worldview
sensitive been so appropriate and required
than today.
Concluding Slide of “A Look At The
Historical Periods of Immigration into the
USA from 1775-2006”
Projections of Legal Immigration
into USA
•
•
•
•
2000 = 964,000 (Medium Assumption)
2005 = 872,000 (Medium Assumption)
2010 = 713,000 (Medium Assumption)
2030 = 1,100,000 (Medium Assumption)
Notes:
a. There are legal quotas by country that set restrictions on immigration into
the USA
b. There are no limits upon family members petitioning for others in their
family to immigrate into the USA
c. There are no limits upon the number of persons who can come into the
USA through their seeking and being granted political asylum
Projections of Net Migration to the United States. (June 2006 Publication) A CBO Paper as one in a continuation of A Series on Immigration. The Congress
of the United States: Congressional Budget Office. David A. Brauer was final compiler. Projections are computed according to low, medium & high
assumptions. In such research, the Medium Assumption is the norm within the research.
Prepared by: Dr. James Slack
Ethnographer, Missiologist, Growth Analyst and Field
Assessments Consultant of SBC’s IMB
Global Research Department of OOO
January 16, 2006 Edition: Previous Edition
This Edition 22 October 2007
Section 6: Part Two
Implications for Engaging and
Evangelizing the Lost and Ethnics in
the USA in this Millennium
Section 6 Is an Extension of the
Previous Part One Document
This section was prepared at the
request of NAMB’s Church Planting
Division for presentation in 2007
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians Today
• Immigration has been the most consistent,
persistent and influential shaping force and
agent of change in American (Canadian, US
and Latin American) history
• Immigrants into the USA from 1700s to the
1920s melded and adapted to frontier and
economic situations on the frontier that
caused most immigrants to assimilate enough
to develop a new American culture-Anglo
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians Today
• Given that an overwhelming majority of the
immigrants from 1775 to 1900s were from
Europe, their assimilation into American
society created a strong and influential Anglo
culture, incorrectly labeled as WASP—White
Anglo-Saxon Protestant. In the process, a
new ethnolinguistic people group was born.
• However, seeing that the new immigrants of
the 1890s and early 1900s were not northern
Europeans & Protestants, immigration rules
were passed. The main one was in 1924.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians Today
• The minority population of European
Protestant Christian immigrants in the 1700s
who brought the desire and the seeds for
religious freedom and Judeo-Christian
constitutional values to the USA was
nourished by successive and successful
church planting by Methodists and Baptists
and aided by a number of Great Awakenings
and evangelical revivals up to and through
the 1950s.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians Today
• Methodists and Baptists successfully and
increasingly “carried the day spiritually,” first
on the American frontier, and afterwards in
industrializing America. A Protestant Anglo
culture emerged in the 20th Century in the
USA as the main influence and “conscience”
of the USA.
• However, by the mid-1960s a new era of
heightened immigration from non-Protestant
and non-Christian ethnic settings arose.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians in America Now
• Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s
more and more non-Christian background
ethnic groups migrated to the USA whose
assimilation was minimal and thus far less
thorough than the dominant Anglo American
ethnic culture desired. The new ethnic
groups coming to America want a “piece and
place within the American dream and
experience” with affirmation to perpetuate
their own culture, language and religion in the
USA.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians Today
• As a result, secularism (in the form of New
Age and Post-Modernism) and other world
religions (with Islam looming as a major one)
have emerged to change the face of America.
• To this date, Christianity has continued to
hope for a return of the Golden Years of the
1950s when Anglos, Protestants, and thus
Christianity will again undergird the
foundational ethical values and lifestyle that
will be the glue to hold the nation together.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians in America Now
• In reality, by 2000 A.D. in the USA,
Protestantism and Christianity are on the
decline with Evangelicals showing some
signs of continued numerical growth. At the
same time, all forms of Christianity are falling
behind the population, secularization and
ethnic presence curves that are washing over
the nation.
Thirteen (13) Realities that Face
America & Christians in America Now
• Anglo Christians, their churches and their
structures (such as denominations) are
reaching back into the Golden Era to
recapture, clean-up and reformat methods
that were applicable and successful then.
• However, that Golden Era is gone and those
methods used in that era are inappropriate
and irrelevant within the current nonChristian, secular (mostly Post-Modern) and
increasingly varied ethnic migrant population.
Prepared by: Dr. James Slack
Ethnographer, Missiologist, Growth Analyst and Field
Assessments Consultant of SBC’s IMB
Global Research Department of OOO
November 30, 2006 Edition (11:30 A.M.)
Updated and Revised December 2007
Updated Edition for Kentucky DOM Session May 2008