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Abstract:

Crossing an international border can challenge the perceived borders of religious practice. Adolescents who migrate are already in a process of negotiating their spiritual development. Now, they must do so with new relationships, new surroundings, new cultural markers. This presentation is based on research using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) which prioritizes the voice of adolescents (aged 16 to 19) and, further, analyzes the social structures which support or suppress those voices. There are lessons for youth ministry as these teens identify both strengths and weaknesses of practicing religion in secularizing cultures. Interviews with teens in Greece, in Spain, and in Belgium provide a range of migration experiences as well as a range of religious beliefs. This provides insight into the experience of regular and irregular migrants of a variety of home and host cultures. In this way, it is possible to identify specific theological themes. As international and internal migration continue to grow, the experience of moving becomes more visible in church ministries for teens.