C15/41 The New Pilgrims and a Renewal in Faith

Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Dr. Joseph Castleberry aired October 13th-19th

In The New Pilgrims, Dr. Castleberry provides an understanding of how immigrants are contributing to the renewal of American faith, as well as the positive contributions they are making to our churches, families, schools, politics, along with the economy.

Dr. Castleberry presents to the reader not only from a Christian perspective but from a practical point of view the significant impact immigrants are having on the church in America. Dr. Castleberry says, “The New Pilgrims is a bold, fresh look at how immigrants are renewing America’s faith.”

The New Pilgrims clearly shows us the impacts that immigrants have had from the very beginning of America, immigrants have had a powerful role in keeping America’s faith strong. They have continually renewed America’s economy, its churches, family values, education, and politics.

Leaders like Varun Laohaprasit and Jesús de Paz renew churches by establishing new congregations that reach out to their fellow immigrants and help them establish productive lives as assimilated Americans. Immigrants like Ilona Trofimovic and Isaac Canales renew family values by serving as a check and balance to rugged individualism, modeling family unity, community cohesion, and selfless sacrifice.

Motivators like Jesse Miranda bring hope, ambition, and innovation to America’s schools, and visionaries like Samuel Rodríguez help political parties move past polarizing debates and into new policies that serve the emerging national interest. Today’s immigrants have not yet determined their future political loyalties, and they will gravitate to the party that serves the national interest best by providing the most opportunity for them and their families

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The New Pilgrims helps readers to understand why people who like religion should love immigrants. Contrary to some recent, politically biased attempts to make the Bible speak against “illegal immigrants,” careful study reveals the Bible’s powerful pro-immigrant teaching that has traditionally shaped America’s reception of newcomers.

American Christians who want to see the renewal of their faith should strongly support immigrants, as a massive wave of immigrants has arrived with new confidence in America’s historic faith and mission. Primarily composed of Christians, such immigrants are “The New Pilgrims,” and they have already begun to restore our national faith.

The New Pilgrims show political as well as religious leaders that despite significant recent declines in church attendance by White Americans, immigrants have increased the overall numbers of Christians in America. Among Catholics, 70 percent of new adherents in the last 50 years have come from Latino immigrant families alone.

As for Evangelical Protestants, perhaps 100% of all net growth has come from immigration. Evangelical immigrant churches, in particular, have experienced a powerful religious revival in recent years, a phenomenon included in a movement Time Magazine has referred to as “The Latino Reformation.”

But Latinos are not alone. The revival includes immigrants from all over the world. The new Christian immigrants bear comparison to the Mayflower Pilgrims because of the way they see their journey to America as well as their interpretation of America’s national purpose.

Like the Puritan John Winthrop, they see America as a shining city on a hill, a beacon for godliness, freedom, democracy, and perhaps above all, opportunity. Among them, leaders like Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference predict a Third Great Awakening in America that will lead not only to religious renewal but also to the renewal of American society as a whole.