European-Americans
The United States' most invisible ethnic/language people are those whose homeland is continental Europe. They range from the blond, blue-eyed Swedes to the dark-haired, brown-eyed Italians. Beginning in the late 1800s, our nation began experiencing an enormous wave of immigration -- through the infamous Ellis Island. These immigrants fled to the United States as a haven from poverty, persecution, heartbreak, and despair. With each new inundation, they christened this land with their own rich, colorful traditions and exciting customs. Because of skin color and Western-culture backgrounds, they became America's most readily assimilated people, able to change from "them" to "us," while retaining and passing elements of their culture into the American mainstream.
The most recent wave of immigrants have come from former communist countries. These new European immigrants are retaining their languages and customs. They have developed social organizations that bind their businesses, schools, and community-wide celebrations across North America. These migrants are maintaining a strong tie to their countries of origin. They are expected to serve as goodwill ambassadors, give financial support, serve as a funnel to educate the youth, and provide the means to bring more countrymen into the Americas. This presents a challenge to Southern Baptists, primarily because the physical characteristics of these immigrants could be easily mistaken for being non-ethnic.
God has raised up Christian leaders from among the European people. These leaders are starting congregations. These congregations are some of the fastest-growing churches among all ethnic groups. These leaders have developed national fellowships where pastors, leaders, and families join together for several days of celebrating the blessings of the Lord.
Europeans in America: In Brief
The United States owes much to the European language-groups, who constitute more than one fourth of the nation's total population. Thirty-four continental countries have sent their children to America. Among these are several groups united by basic cultural and linguistic characteristics: the Germanic peoples, which include immigrants from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; the Scandinavians, from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland; the Baltic and Slavic groups, basically Eastern European countries, including Poland and Czechoslovakia; the Latinos, among whom are Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, and Romanians; and other ethnics.
Many of the European-American groups are large. There are more than 9 million Poles, 12 million Italians, and 6.5 million Jews. Immigration, once in the millions annually, has shrunk in recent years. Unlike European immigrants of the early 1900s, most attempt to retain their own language and culture and pass them on to their children, even as they learn and absorb the living patterns of their new land. A new breed, the American European, is emerging. The religious heritage of European-Americans is largely Roman Catholic.
For many, Catholicism remains a vibrant and living faith. Others find it merely a seldom-practiced vestige of their almost-forgotten past. Among Northern Europeans, the Lutheran faith also can be found. Southern Baptist work among European-Americans traces to the middle 1950s. Today, more than 60 Southern Baptist churches reach out to European-Americans from 24 different ethnic groups, speaking 20 different languages. Additional missions and ministries are needed.
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