Faith in Exile: Evangelical Communities and Filipino Migrant Workers

Abstract

While there have been many studies on the role played by government and non-government organizations in supporting migrant workers, what has been written about the role played by church communities in serving as social support networks for migrant workers and professionals is very little in comparison. As a result, contemporary migration tends to be ignored in theory building within the sociology of religion while the religion is overshadowed by issues of power and capital in migration studies. This work is about evangelical communities that have international ministries attended by Filipino migrant workers, with special attention given here to the Filipino congregations in Singapore, particularly the Filipino membership of the International Baptist Church. It aims to describe the perceptions on the meaning of work and migration that make up the lifeworld of Filipino evangelical migrants and how such perceptions may influence the practices of institutions of which they are a part.