Black Immigrants Are Reshaping American Evangelical Churches, Christianity Today Reports
A new report from Christianity Today finds that Black immigrants are increasingly joining and leading congregations within American evangelicalism and traditional Black church denominations. About one in ten Black people in the U.S. were born abroad, and African immigrants, the fastest-growing Black immigrant group, are highly religious and tend to form theologically conservative, Bible-centered communities.
Black immigrants are reshaping American churches in ways that are only beginning to be recognized, according to a report published by Christianity Today on April 17, 2026.
About one in ten Black people in the United States were born abroad, and roughly a quarter of Black Americans are immigrants or children of at least one immigrant. African immigrants are the fastest-growing Black immigrant group in the country. They are also among the most religiously active populations in America, and the Christian communities they form tend to be theologically conservative, Bible-centered, and focused on evangelism.
The report, written by Jessica Janvier, an academic whose work intersects African American religious history and church history, traces the long history of Black Christianity across national borders. She notes that the story of Black Christianity in America is not only about people who became Christians in the United States. It is also about those who brought their faith with them, whether through enslavement or immigration.
As immigrants and their children integrate into American life, they are increasingly joining and leading congregations within American evangelicalism, such as Atlanta's 2819 Church, a multiethnic congregation pastored by Philip Anthony Mitchell, a first-generation Trinidadian American. Many are also found within traditional Black church denominations like the Church of God in Christ and AME Zion.
By 2060, an estimated 9.5 million Black immigrants will live in America, meaning major Black denominations will experience greater ethnic diversity both in the United States and overseas.
Janvier writes that what unites many of these congregations is the shared experience of being Black in America. "The Black church that nurtures our faith also reaffirms God's love for the stranger, pursues justice, challenges America-centered views of the gospel, and reminds us that the image of God comes in Black," she writes.
The report is the fourth in a series by Christianity Today examining the diversity and future of Black Christianity in America.
