Mulder 4, 5

with the example of the Word of Life congregation, they contributed to the construction of latino identity by not constructing one at all, or avoiding it. This section of the chapter reminded me of the previous chapters, talking about the history of latinx congregations and how the leaders used to be white (which professor Shortell mentioned in class about the idea of missionaries doing their work here as opposed to in another country) because they were the dominant group. And that seems to be reflected in this congregation, they all see themselves as multi-cultural but the Latinxs comprise of 80-90 percent of everyone there. So obviously the leaders of the church are part of the 10 percent left over, and yet they make sure to have most, if not all, services in english. The main leader of the church, who is a white man, does not know Spanish, so with that he is implying (even if he himself does not realize it) that he considers American culture (i.e. participating in this society and speaking english) more important or better than any other culture that is part of his congregation.

As evidenced from the chapter, the congregations engage social networks of members by bringing people together. Especially the charismatic characteristics of the worship services draws people together. The congregants create a collective identity, which emphasizes their Latino culture. Churches play a main role in the social and spiritual lives of Latino Protestants. If congregants are regularly attending worship services, the congregation becomes a community. The members can turn to one another for support or advise. This communal characteristic reinforces Latino identity because it encourages the use of Spanish. Sermons by pastors reflect the difficulties Latinos face in society such as immigration.

Worship stands as the central act of congregational life. Some have described congregations as organizations whose primary product is the worship service. Regardless of scale, it has even been noted by sociologists that if a congregation failed to produce a regular worship service, it would not continue to be considered a congregation even if it remained religiously active in other ways. It is supposed to draw people closer as a community, and should for the Latinos in this particular circumstance.

In Chapter 3, the account of Camilla's first time at Word of Life church was emotional, and she describes the encounter as such: We walk in and my friend [gym owner] told me: "There are no crosses here. There's no saints. There's no statues. This is different, but just be open" (Mulder, 49). This portion of the quote from the book puts emphasis on inclusion and cohesion within the church. At the church, the congregation was predominantly Latino. Usually Latino churches spoke Spanish, but Word of Life church put effort into not just having Spanish services but also English ones. The fact that this church identified as multicultural says that they are not prioritizing the construction of a Latino identity.

I don't believe people are religious in this day and age because they think Religion is the only way to answer technical questions about how the world was created. People are religious because of the sense of connection they get to feel with the earth and with each other. Since the reason is social it stands to reason that churches would be places where people would want to seek even more social connections. That is why we usually see churches as centers of gatherings, activities and events even when those events don't seem religious at the core (for example, a potluck has people from the community gathering together to spend time together and deepen their sense of community, not because it is a way to become more religious.)
Every religious community will have unique ways to develop those social relationships with each other. These things will depend on culture, location, resources and also be influenced by tradition. Latino communities are no exception to this.

I think that majority of immigrants only speak one language. However, they can't communicate with other people. In order to maintain a strong connection to the shared, it is necessary to have someone who can translate for them. Additionally, language is the most important aspect of Latino identity. On the one hand, Spanish is an important part of Latino culture and identity. People believe that it is relevant for future generations to speak Spanish. On the other hand, Spanish is a characteristic for most of the groups.

The congregations engage social networks of members by bringing people together. Congregations try to bring people together in a way that helps people see to believe and work towards a common goal. More so, it is essential to work with people and building relationship with other people. The construction of congregations has contributed to Latino identities. Churches play a central role in the social and spiritual lives of Latino Protestants as described by others. Furthermore, as was also mentioned, the members can turn to one another for support or advice. This common characteristic reinforces Latino identity because it encourages the use of Spanish. Sermons by pastors reflect the difficulties Latinos face in society such as immigration.

In my opinion, I think the congregations engage social networks by giving people a choice to socialize between their communities and therefore creating a sense of belonging throughout themselves. For these congregations, it gives these Latino their identities. With this information, churches provide public service for their patrons and in return, patrons contribute with either money or labor.

The world of life congregation is a great example of a congregation(in chapters 4 and 5),that engages the social networks of its members.The consider themselves to be a "multi-cultural church",which does include latino culture as well as many others.The fact that english is used for church services and church events does serve many cultures,such as the American culture.The associate pastor represents the latino community,so we can see latinos being represented as well.All cultures are welcome to the church. The congregants create a collective identity, that does emphasize Latino culture. Their is inclusion and cohesion amongst the church members.The church feels more like a community,than an exclusive membership.

Congregations play an important role in uniting and assembling a group of people based on their religious affiliation. It gives the group a sense of unity therefore they are well able to maintain an ongoing and steady relationship within their place of worship. Congregations also play a role in helping these groups achieve a specific goal, it keeps people engaged within their communities as we can see within the examples of Latino protestants. Word of Life Congregations have helped Latino protestants know and better understand their identity as it has provided them with a sense of spirituality. It is not only responsible for constructing the identity of Latinos but however, there is more to it enhances there ability to build social relationship, cohesion and promotes solidarity within different groups.

Social networks in a congregation provide an opportunity for an organization or establishment to become more "Multi-cultural" Latinos believed that diversity was more important to their culture rather than their being predominantly one race or group of people. Diversity give equal opportunity and allows the flow of ideas and new concepts to be introduced into a society. it gives people the chance to develop in social relationships, and eliminates segregation and prejudices amongst groups.

The majority of the congregations presented in Chapter 4,5 engage in the social networkings of members by providing cohesion. One of the reasons to why the Latinos Catholics turned away from Catholicism, was due to language as a barrier. While the members of the Catholic Church may have felt connected to one another, they did not feel connected to the Catholic Church. Many of the congregations provided the Spanish language so that the Latinos could feel connected to the Protestant Church. What is interesting in Chapter 4 was that a few congregations adapted the term “Multicultural”. This was meant as a way to encompass all ethnicities, not just Latinos.

Congregations were able to engage social networks of members by providing a multicultural church noted in the text as Word of faith movement this multigenerational church. Their members not only included latinos but the second largest population was white, and etc. The significance that this engagement has in terms of latino identity construction is Latinos no longer identified with just latino but now multicultural.

Latinos and other minority groups have been segregated due to their differences and language is often the biggest wedge between communities. Latinos have gone rogue from being catholic practicing members because they feel that they cannot conduct themselves in their natural state. Congregations try to keep the members together but they are struggling because of identities clashing. The Protestants are more conservative and are able to network within their circle and not feel excluded. Their origin of the culture should not be minimized their faith should not be determined by the region, or community in which they identifiy.