Missionaries: Migrants or Expatriates?

This book inquiries into the religious praxis of Pentecostal missionaries, who come from the South and evangelize in the North, following the case of Guatemalan independent Pentecostal leaders working in Los Angeles. The research focused on the study of their Pentecostal beliefs and practices and the relationship between their religious praxis and the social context in Los Angeles. When one speaks of missionaries coming from countries like the United States, they are designated as "expatriates." But what about Pentecostal believers who come from countries like Guatemala, with any institutional support? Are they expatriates or simple immigrants? To answer this question, biographical narratives of Guatemalan independent Pentecostal leaders were analyzed using the Habitus Analysis approach.


Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................. 1
1.1. Pentecostalism in Guatemala ....................................................... 2
1.2. Inter-American Mobility and New Pentecostal Missionary
Flows: Evangelizing from the South to the North ....................... 4
1.2.1. Missionaries from the South to the North:
Expatriates or Migrants? .................................................. 7
1.3. Guatemalan Independent Pentecostal Leaders in the
Interamerican Social Space Established Between Guatemala
and Los Angeles: A Praxeological Approach .............................. 10
1.4. Structure of the Dissertation ........................................................ 12

2. Literature Review: Delimiting Pentecostalism and Outlining
Studies Dealing with Latino Pentecostalism and Migration
in the United States.. ................................................................... 15
2.1. Delimiting Pentecostalism ........................................................... 15
2.2. Studies on the Relation Between Latino Pentecostalism and
Migration in the United States ..................................................... 23
2.2.1. The "Incorporation Approach" ......................................... 25
2.2.2. The "Religion on the Move" Approach ............................ 31

3. Description of the Research ......................................................... 39
3.1. Theoretical Framework ............................................................... 39
3.1.1. Praxeological Approach to the Study of Religion ............ 40
3.1.2. Bourdieu and the Study of Religion :
Towards a Religious Praxis .............................................. 42
3.1.3. Between Embodied and
Objectified Conditions of Praxis ...................................... 46
3.2. Methodological Framework ........................................................ 51
3.2.1. The Fieldwork .................................................................. 52
3.2.2. Biographical Narratives ................................................... 57
3.3. Process of Analysis and Writing ................................................. 61

4. Guatemalan Pentecostal Leaders in Los Angeles:
Contexts of Departure and Arrival since the 1970s ..................... 64
4.1. Los Angeles in the 2010s ............................................................ 64
4.2. Historical Trends in Los Angeles ................................................ 67
4.3. Guatemalans in Los Angeles:
Changing Migratory Flows since 1970 ........................................ 70
4.3.1. The 1970s: The Beginning of Guatemalan Migration
to Los Angeles ................................................................. 70
4.3.2. The 1980s: Economic or Political Immigrants?
Social Turmoil in Guatemala ........................................... 74
4.3.3. The 1990s: Changing Context, Shifting Expectations ...... 85
4.3.4. From 2000 to the Present: Inclusion and Exclusion
Conditions for Guatemalans in a Megalopolis ................. 89
4.4. Conclusions ................................................................................. 95

5. The Religious Field in Los Angeles in 2014:
The Scene of Latino Pentecostalism ............................................ 96
5.1. Latino Pentecostalism in Numbers .............................................. 97
5.1.1. Pentecostal Churches' Ties to Latin America .................. 100
5.2. Pentecostal Latinos and Their Churches:
The Dimension of "Achievement of Eminence" ......................... 105
5.3. Who is in Charge? The Dimension
of "Religious Authenticity" ......................................................... 106
5.4. Where Can the Guatemalan Pentecostal Independent Leaders
of this Study Be Placed in Los Angeles's Religious Field? ......... 110
5.5. Conclusion .................................................................................. 112

6. Immigrant or Expatriate? The Self-Perception of Guatemalan
Independent Pentecostal Missionaries in Los Angeles ................ 113
6.1. Methodological Considerations Regarding Habitus Analysis ..... 114
6.2. Results of the Habitus Analysis ................................................... 118
6.2.1. Leaders by Divine Consecration ...................................... 118
6.2.2. Leaders by Professional Consecration .............................. 133
6.3. Interpreting the Results ............................................................... 140
6.4. Conclusions ................................................................................. 144

7. The Centrality of God .................................................................. 146
7.1. The Call: Articulation of a Career as a Religious Leader ............ 147
7.1.1. Reviewing the Literature about the "Call" ....................... 148
7.1.2. The Call in the Cases of Guatemalan Independent
Pentecostal Leaders Studied ............................................. 152
7.2. Diversity in Pentecostal Praxis .................................................... 166
7.2.1. God-as-Restorer Paradigm ............................................... 167
7.2.2. God's Love Paradigm ...................................................... 173
7.2.3. Spiritual Warfare Paradigm .............................................. 178
7.3. Pentecostal Praxis and the Habitus Oriented Towards
Professionalization as a Religious Agent:
Some Final Observations ............................................................. 185
7.4. Conclusion .................................................................................. 189

8. Conclusions ................................................................................. 192
8.1. Being a Pentecostal Missionary ................................................... 193
8.2. Diversity in Pentecostal Praxis . ................................................... 199
8.3. Bringing Together Guatemalan Pentecostal Independent Leaders'
Identities and the Structural Conditions in Los Angeles .............. 200
8.4. Contribution to the Sociological Study of the Relationship
Between Religious Life and Migration ........................................ 204

9. Works Cited ................................................................................ 208