Abstract:

The author’s Master’s research with newcomers (aged 26 to 70 years) to New Zealand Presbyterian and Uniting Churches, who have returned to church since 2001 or started attending with little background, identified pertinent social contexts of experiences of loss, initiating personal change, supporting family and local community. This study discusses findings on the ambivalent influence of early religious socialisation for adults returning to church; reflections on gender; immigrant returnees in cultural transition; and differential emphases placed by newcomers on belief and belonging. Returnees’ religious backgrounds showed complex patterns of cross-denominational travel, which, it is suggested challenge institutional definitions of membership and beliefs. This study indicates the need for more subtly toned theorising on the relationship between religious belief and belonging, and observed patterns of detachment and re-attachment to Christian churches.

Author: Joan Ross