Nigerian Christians in Britain: post – migration religious change among the first generation in Edinburgh

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic research examined post-migration changes in the religious affiliation and the frequency of church attendance and private praying of sixteen female and fourteen male (N = 30) Nigerian Christians who are long-term residents of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Participants reported changes in their Christian denominational affiliation, their church attendance frequency, and the regularity of their private praying following their residential migration from Nigeria to Britain. Various contextual and individual factors influenced these changes, such as conditions in British society and “work”, which was the most reported cause of a decline in participants’ religious activity. This research suggests that it is more common for first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants in Britain to experience a decline than an increase in their religious commitment as they live in the UK, which is much less religious than Nigeria. More testing with broad samples is required to evaluate the research findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Nigerians in Britain
• post-migration religious change
• black immigrants
• race in Britain
• church attendance frequency
• denominational switching

Introduction

Britain has been “the principal European destination of Nigerian migrants since the 1960s” (Ahrens 2022, 41), partly because Nigeria was a British colony from the late nineteenth century to 1 October 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. By 1971, about a year after Nigeria – Biafra War of 1967–1970, up to 27,000 Nigerians were residing in England and Wales, according to the 1971 UK Census (Van Hear et al. 2004, 10). This number has since increased (Ahrens 2022, 41; Clark 2023; Eurostat 2014; ONS 2018; Van Hear et al. 2004, 10). Figures from the 2021 census in Northern Ireland, Scotland’s Census 2011, and the 2021 census in England and Wales suggest that over 281,781 Nigerian-born residents have become part of Britain’s current population of more than 67.1 million (NISRA 2022; NRS 2014; ONS 2021; ONS 2023).¹

Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Centre between 2015 and 2017 in thirty-four Central, Eastern, and Western European countries indicate that Britain is the sixth least religious country in Europe, based on a general analysis of the size of the European countries’ adult populations who said that (1) “religion is very important in their lives”, (2) “they attend worship services at least monthly”, (3) “they pray daily”, and (4) “they believe in God with absolute certainty” (Evans and Baronavski 2018; Pew Research Centre 2018a).² On the other hand, Nigeria is among the most religious countries in Africa (Ossai 2021a, 29ff; Pew Research Centre 2018b, Section 3; Vaughan 2016). Most of Nigeria’s estimated population of more than 200 million identify as either Christians or Muslims (United States Department of State 2022, Section 1; Ossai 2021a, 29ff). Consequently, the Nigerian population in Britain primarily consists of Christians and Muslims. The Christian population in Nigeria, estimated to be “over 45 per cent of the [Nigerian] population, makes her a crucial component of world Christianity” (Ossai 2021b, 52). Independent churches originating in Nigeria, such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), founded in Lagos in 1952, have established parishes in Britain and other Western settings. Started in Britain around 1988, the RCCG currently has over 870 parishes in the country,³ becoming “the fastest-growing church in Britain” (Akomiah-Conteh 2021, 31).

What happens to the religious lives of Nigerian Christians who emigrate from Nigeria to reside in Britain? Systematic explorations of the factors that affect post-migration religious affiliation and religious activity among first-generation Nigerian immigrants in Britain are rare. This article considers post-migration religious change among first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants residing in the Scottish city of Edinburgh, which has become a noticeable home for Nigerian immigrants in Britain. The ethnographic study contributes to the existing literature about Nigerian, African, and Black Christians in Britain, the West, and the diaspora (e.g. Adedibu 2013; Adenekan-Koevoets 2021; Adogame 2013; Akomiah-Conteh 2021; Burgess 2011; 2020; Cartledge et al. 2019; Coleman and Katrin 2010; Harris 2006; Higgins 2012; Hunt and Lightly 2001; Knowles 2013; Oladipupo 2018; Pasura 2014).

This research suggests that denominational switching is somewhat widespread among Nigerian Christians who migrate to Britain. Sixteen of the thirty research participants have changed from the Christian denominations they attended in Nigeria to other denominations in Edinburgh. Reported reasons for denominational change include (1) adaptational needs, such as accessing housing and fellow Nigerians in Britain who may offer helpful advice and other kinds of support, (2) lack of racial diversity within the membership of the Edinburgh parishes of the immigrants’ denominations in Nigeria, (3) absence of, or difficulty in accessing, an Edinburgh parish of the immigrant’s church in Nigeria, and (4) the less attractive worship system in the Edinburgh church, compared to the more energetic scenes that are common in Nigerian churches, marked by singing and dancing, for example.

Furthermore, the study indicates that most Nigerian Christians who migrate to Britain experience a decline in their religious commitment rather than an increase. Twenty-five respondents have experienced a decline in the frequency of their church attendance since their migration, and twenty-three participants reported that their private prayers in Britain are less frequent than in Nigeria. Only six interviewees said that the frequency of their private praying has increased or remained the same since their migration, and just three believe they now have a more robust Christian faith. Factors which have contributed to these changes include (1) circumstances within British society, such as racial discrimination and inequalities, (2) the participants’ higher reliance on themselves in Britain and a heightened exercise of their deciding power over their religious lives and other aspects of their existence, (3) dissatisfaction with the teachings of a church or churches in Edinburgh, (4) limited pressure in Britain to participate in religious activity, (5) higher appreciation of Nigerian indigenous cultures and religions, and (6) economic demands. The following three sections of this article describe the Nigerian Christian community in Edinburgh, the study’s theoretical framework, and its research methods. Afterwards, the research results are presented and discussed before the article is concluded.

Nigerian Christians in Edinburgh

For many years, London, the “super-diverse” British capital (Knowles 2013), has been the area with the highest proportion of Nigerians and non-British nationals in the country. Consequently, several studies about Nigerians in Britain focus on the Nigerian population in London (Botticello 2009; 2012; Harris 2006; Jerrome 1974; Knowles 2013; Oyetade 1993). Scottish cities, such as Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, have not received as much attention despite the increasing presence of Nigerians and other Africans in the areas. The UK Annual Population Survey for July 2020 – June 2021 shows that the total population of Scotland in June 2021 was 5,394,000 (NRS 2021, 9), and up to 397,000 of the residents were non-British nationals, including 231,000 (58 per cent) EU nationals and 165,000 (42 per cent) non-EU nationals (NRS 2021, 2). In descending order, the most common recorded non-British nationalities were Polish, Irish, Italian, Nigerian, and Indian (NRS 2021, 2). The cities with the highest numbers of non-British nationals recorded in the survey were Edinburgh (20 per cent), Aberdeen (18 per cent), Dundee (12 per cent), and Glasgow (12 per cent) (NRS 2021, 3).

Edinburgh is an increasingly diverse city where immigrants from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and other regions reside with the British population. Although the Nigerian immigrants who participated in this research migrated to Edinburgh in this twenty-first century, immigrants of Nigerian heritage have lived, worked, and studied in Edinburgh long before Nigeria got its independence on 1 October 1960. In August 1859, James Beale Africanus Horton, born on 1 June 1830 in Gloucester, Sierra Leone, by parents who were freed slaves from Igboland in present-day south-eastern Nigeria, was awarded a medical doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, thereby becoming the first African to graduate from the renowned oldest university in Edinburgh (Njoh 2000, 165–166). A recent study finds that there are “more than 500 Christian churches and organisations” in Edinburgh, and over twenty of them are “Nigerian-heritage Pentecostal churches” (Chow, Wild-Wood, and Hatzaw 2023, 2). With the other Christian immigrants residing in contemporary Edinburgh, Nigerian Christians have contributed to the “global diversity of Christianity” in the territory, where there has been a “downturn in many historic …  churches” (Chow, Wild-Wood, and Hatzaw 2023, 1).

Theoretical framework

Prior research suggests that the religious affiliation and the frequency of religious activity of first-generation immigrants may change after they migrate from a religious country to a more secular one, but such migration does not necessarily minimise or increase the immigrant’s religious commitment (Fleischmann 2022; Frederiks 2016, 13ff; Gallagher and Trzebiatowska 2017; Hirschman 2004; Khoudja 2022; Voas and Fleischmann 2012). The variations in the religious affiliation and religious activity of immigrants are shaped by “individual” and “contextual” factors (Connor 2009b; Van Tubergen 2006), such as the following:

1. The religious tradition or denomination, age, gender, familial circumstances, educational level, and employment status of the immigrant (Connor 2008, 245ff; Connor 2009b, 782ff; Massey and Higgins 2011, 1371–72, 1377ff; Van Tubergen 2006, 2ff).

2. Conditions in the immigrant’s country of origin, such as the country’s level of modernisation, and conditions in the destination society, such as the presence of co-religionists and the degree of religious pluralism (Connor 2009a; Connor 2009b, 781ff; Van Tubergen 2006, 2ff).

3. Lack of/access to the preferred place of worship in an immigrant’s new neighbourhood, immigrants’ prioritisation of work and income over religious participation, and residence in an area where there is limited or no pressure to carry out religious activity (Voas and Fleischmann 2012, 529).

4. The resettlement-related and adaptational benefits that a particular religious group or affiliation in the destination country provides for an immigrant (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Frederiks 2016, 14ff; Hirschman 2004; Massey and Higgins 2011, 1371).

5. The majority or minority status of an immigrant’s religion in the destination country (Connor 2008, 245f).

6. “Residence in high coethnic concentration, support from religious communities, and religious endogamy” (Voas and Fleischmann 2012, 525).

7. The time an immigrant spends in the destination country (Connor 2009a; Fleischmann 2022, 353; Khoudja 2022).

One individual-level factor whose role in post-migration religious continuity and discontinuity is highlighted in the current research is the immigrant’s exercise of “individual agency” within the context of their “new” geographical location. This article describes the agency of the immigrant as their ability to evaluate their circumstances and contextual realities practically and choose to act or not act in a specific way to protect given personal interests or achieve set goals and influence the conditions of their life (Emirbayer and Mische 1998; Kristiansen 2014; Shim 2021). The individual exercises agency. However, this exercise is not purely “individualistic” because the individual does not always motivate it. Human agency is enacted within specific structural contexts, and its exercise influences and is influenced by structure (Emirbayer and Mische 1998, 1003f; Gallagher and Trzebiatowska 2017, 434f; Kristiansen 2014, 3ff; Leming 2007, 74ff). This article demonstrates how an interaction between structure, agency, and actions has helped to shape post-migration change in the religious lives of Nigerian Christians in Edinburgh.

Materials and methods

Ethnographic research (Merriam and Tisdell 2016, 28ff) was conducted in Edinburgh from July to November 2022. Potential interviewees were identified through questionnaires issued to first-generation Nigerian immigrants in the city using purposive sampling. The questionnaire was used to understand the religious affiliations and activities of first-generation Nigerian immigrants in Edinburgh, including Christians, Muslims, and other religious or non-religious persons. It asked whether there had been post-migration changes in the respondents’ religious beliefs, religious activity, and perceptions about religion in Nigeria. Up to fifty questionnaires were issued, but sixteen respondents returned completed copies, including two Muslims and fourteen Christians. Twelve Christians, including three men and nine women, reported post-migration changes in religious affiliation or practice.

The author requested interviews from the Christians whose completed questionnaires reported post-migration changes in their religion, Christian denomination, or the frequency of their church attendance and private praying. Other potential interviewees did not complete a questionnaire before their invitation to an interview. Thirty first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants were interviewed, including sixteen women and fourteen men, mostly in their 30s and 40s. All the participants consented to be interviewed. Before the interviews, participants were informed of the purposes of the research and how their responses would be stored and used. Appendix A shows the information sheet and consent form the interviewees received before participating in the research. Participants were long-term residents of Edinburgh who had lived in the city for over three years. All the participants were employed. Except for one interviewee, who was not part of any religious group in Nigeria and was not participating in public religious activity before she migrated to Britain, the participants were practising Christians before they emigrated from Nigeria. They were members of the major Christian denominations in Nigeria, including the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and African Independent Churches. None of them migrated to Britain primarily to achieve a religious goal, such as propagating a Christian tradition. Initially, they gained visas to work, complete postgraduate programmes, or join their partners or sponsors as dependents. This article uses alphanumeric pseudonyms, namely MP1 – MP14 and FE1 – FE16, to refer to the male and the female interviewees, respectively. Table 1 presents a list of the interviews.

Table 1. List of interviews.

Pseudonym	Age group	Employment status	Pre-migration religion	Years lived in Britain by 2022	Date of interview in 2022
Women: N = 16
FE1	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Four	August 29
FE2	51–60	Employed	Practising Christian	Twenty-two	September 26
FE3	31–40	Employed	Not following a religion	Five	September 29
FE4	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Six	September 30
FE5	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Nineteen	October 9
FE6	31–40	Employed	Practicing Christian	Ten	October 9
FE7	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Eleven	October 12
FE8	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Fourteen	October 10
FE9	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Eleven	October 29
FE10	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Seventeen	October 30
FE11	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Three	October 29
FE12	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Five	October 14
FE13	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Eighteen	November 1
FE14	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Fifteen	November 7
FE15	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Twelve	November 13
FE16	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Seven	October 18
Men: N = 14
MP1	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Sixteen	August 30
MP2	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Seven	September 24
MP3	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Eight	October 5
MP4	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Four	October 7
MP5	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Six	October 16
MP6	21–30	Employed	Practising Christian	Four	October 20
MP7	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Nine	October 23
MP8	21–30	Employed	Practising Christian	Three	October 20
MP9	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Ten	October 31
MP10	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Thirteen	November 3
MP11	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Six	November 9
MP12	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Nine	November 11
MP13	31–40	Employed	Practising Christian	Five	November 15
MP14	41–50	Employed	Practising Christian	Twelve	November 16

In addition to the interviews, the author utilised data from informal conversations and field notes written at various stages during fieldwork. Interviews lasted about thirty minutes. The author asked the respondents whether and how their migration to Britain has led to a change in their religion or Christian denomination, the frequency of their attendance at public Christian worship, and the frequency of their private praying. The author analysed the data following the thematic method of qualitative analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006; Kiger and Varpio 2020, 847). After the manual transcription of interviews, the author read the transcripts to get a general understanding of the data. Codes were manually generated and assigned to the relevant sections of the data. Coding was deductive as well as inductive. Although the research questions guided coding, the codes were developed mainly from the research data. To identify “repeated patterns” and “common or shared meanings” (Kiger and Varpio 2020, 847), the author calculated the frequency of each code. Repeated codes formed the five major themes presented in the following section of the article. Table 2 shows the codes and their frequencies.

Table 2. Thematic analysis – Codes and their frequencies.

Code	Example of relevant data	Number of respondents
Theme one: Staying Christian or leaving Christianity?
Religion not changed	I am still a Christian, but there is a change in my denomination (FE7).	Twenty-eight
Changed/left religion	I don’t belong to anything …  I try to view the world from the prism of Igbo cosmology and through mysticism (MP1).	Two
Spiritual person/personal religion	I prefer to be called a spiritual person …  My relationship with God was important, but it wasn’t about going to church (FE11).	Five
African Traditional Religion	I am still a Catholic but now honour my …  culture more than before (MP11).	Three
Theme two: Denominational affiliation
Denomination not changed	I was a Catholic in Nigeria and remain a practising Catholic (FE13).	Thirteen
Changed denomination	Now, I am in a different Pentecostal church (FE10).	Sixteen
Theme three: Causes of denominational switching
Accommodation/settlement assistance	The reason I started attending …  was that they accommodated me (FE12).	Six
Access to denomination/convenience	When I came here, the church was not here (FE14).	Four
Uninteresting British church	The …  church here …  does not make you want to go to church. The style is not interesting (FE6).	Three
Non-diverse British church	My family were the only Blacks [in the church] (FE7).	Three
Other reasons	Church here is not the same as in Nigeria because of our busy life here. The pastors do not want to understand because of the offering of money and tithe …  Refusing to recognise that everybody’s situation here is not the same, some pastors became insulting and abusive (FE10).	Ten
Theme four: Church attendance and private praying
Decreased attendance	I seldom attend public worship …  because of …  my job (MP2).	Twenty-five
Increased/same attendance	I attend church very well here, even more than in Nigeria (FE2).	Five
Less praying	I still pray here …  but I think it has reduced much (FE7).	Twenty-three
More/same praying	I still maintain my communication with my God as before (FE4).	Six
No praying	I don’t pray (MP1).	One
Theme five: Causes of changes in the level of religious activity
Work/bills	I work some Sundays …  I try to go to church …  but I am too busy or tired sometimes (FE6).	Twenty-two
Familial circumstances	Coming here to Britain, I have been very prayerful …  you have children …  and they are leaving your house and going to university (FE2).	Three

Research findings

This study finds that residential migration from Nigeria to Britain has influenced the religious lives of the research participants in various ways. Although some interviewees have ceased identifying as Christians or religious, most have remained Christians since migrating to Britain. Some have left the Christian denominations they were associated with in Nigeria and joined other denominations in Edinburgh. Still, others have remained in the Edinburgh parishes of the denominations they attended before migration. The number of times most respondents participate in public Christian worship and pray privately has decreased, but it has increased or stayed the same for a few others. Table 3 presents a summary of these findings. The following sections describe the findings in detail.

Table 3. Religious life following residential migration from Nigeria to Britain.

				Frequency of
Participant	Age group	Religion	Christian denomination	Church attendance	Private praying
Women: N = 16
FE1	31–40	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE2	51–60	Not changed	Not changed	Increased/the same as pre-migration	Increased/the same as pre-migration
FE3	31–40	Changed from “no religious affiliation” to Christianity	No denominational affiliation before migration	Increased/the same as pre-migration	Declined/the same as pre-migration
FE4	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Increased/the same as pre-migration
FE5	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE6	31–40	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE7	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Increased/the same as pre-migration	Declined
FE8	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE9	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE10	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE11	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
FE12	31–40	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Increased/the same as pre-migration
FE13	41–50	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
FE14	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Increased/the same as pre-migration
FE15	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
FE16	41–50	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Increased/the same as pre-migration
Men: N = 14
MP1	41–50	Changed from Christianity to a Nigerian indigenous religion	Changed before leaving Christianity	Declined before leaving Christianity	Declined before leaving Christianity
MP2	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP3	31–40	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
MP4	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP5	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
MP6	21–30	Not changed	Changed	Increased/the same as pre-migration	Increased/the same as pre-migration
MP7	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP8	21–30	Not changed	Not changed	Increased/the same as pre-migration	Declined
MP9	41–50	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP10	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP11	41–50	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP12	41–50	Not changed	Changed	Declined	Declined
MP13	31–40	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined
MP14	41–50	Not changed	Not changed	Declined	Declined

Staying Christian or leaving christianity?

Twenty-eight of the thirty participants, comprising fifteen women and thirteen men, have continued to follow the Christian religion since they moved to Britain. FE3 and MP1, on the other hand, have changed belief systems. Years before she left Nigeria, FE3 stopped practising Christianity and did not follow a religious tradition. However, she joined a church in Edinburgh many months after arriving in Britain, not primarily for “religious” reasons but partially because she believed her church membership would aid her children’s access to educational facilities managed by the Edinburgh Christian denomination. MP1 was a practising Catholic before he emigrated from Nigeria. However, he ceased to follow Christianity many months after living in Britain and developing a higher admiration for his indigenous Nigerian culture and religion. Although most participants identified as Christians when asked about their religion, two respondents, MP14 and FE11, stated that they prefer to be regarded as spiritual persons with a “personal” relationship with God rather than “religious” people. FE11 explained,

I would say that coming to the UK, you have to do everything on your own. I have a few friends. At first, it wasn’t easy. My relationship with God was important, but it wasn’t about going to church. Being in this environment where I was on my own and making my own decisions …  made me discover my own personal relationship with God and my own personal power.

Exposure to British secular society, foreign religions, and religious diversity has affected some participants’ views about Christianity, their views about religion more broadly, and their Christian practice and faith. Only two female respondents, FE2 and FE14, and a male interviewee, MP6, suggested that migration to Britain has strengthened their Christian practice and faith. Most interviewees have experienced a weakening of their Christian practice. FE8, who reported that her Christian practice in Edinburgh was weaker than in Nigeria, says, “I’m still a Christian but pray to God myself and do my best to do the right thing”. According to FE8, “the change [in her approach to Christianity] happened when I came here and saw how organised their system is, and they don’t even go to church but to some extent do the right thing and obey the law of the land”. Similarly, FE4, who attends public Christian worship “sometimes”, says migrating to Britain “has made me understand what religion is all about and how to worship my God privately”.

In general, these responses demonstrate the new forms that some of the immigrants’ Christian identity has taken since they moved to Britain. The view that attending public worship is not a necessary aspect of Christian life and that there are other critical elements of the Christian identity enables some participants to describe themselves as Christians even as their church attendance has declined. For FE10, who changed to a new Christian Pentecostal denomination after she moved to Britain, the relational aspect of Christian life is more important than attendance at public worship. She believes that if someone self-identifies as a Christian but fails to act morally towards others, they would not qualify as “holy” simply because they choose to self-identify as “Christian” or belong to a Christian community. She described her departure from Nigeria and exposure to British society as “an eye opener” because it enabled her to:

Know that there is no true religion. The true religion is you, your behaviour, and your deeds towards your fellow human beings. “Christian” is just a name given to a group of people, but that does not make them holy in Christ Jesus.

MP1, MP10, and MP11 explained that migrating to Britain has made them value Nigerian indigenous cultures and religions more than when they were in Nigeria. MP1, who stopped practising Catholicism and Christianity several months after moving to Britain, says he realised that “a lot of our cultural practices and some that are pushed aside as superstitious are also practised here”. This realisation made him believe that “my culture is something that defines me and must be celebrated” like “any other culture”, such as “Christianity …  Islam, and any other religion” might be respected by their followers. Similarly, MP11 adds, “ Christianity was brought to us, and we now abandoned our culture. It’s the same God our fathers were praying to before that Christians are praying to, but we now started seeing our ways as bad”.

Denominational affiliation

Nine of the fourteen men have not changed to another Christian denomination since they migrated to Britain, but five have. One of the five men, MP1, changed from Catholicism, which he practised in Nigeria, to a Pentecostal church before he decided to leave Christianity and follow the indigenous religion of his ethnic group in Nigeria. Denominational change was more common among the female respondents. Only four of the sixteen women have stayed with the Christian denominations they attended in Nigeria. Eleven of the women were not associating with Edinburgh parishes of their denominations in Nigeria at the time of this study. The remaining female participant, FE3, was not part of any Christian denomination when she was about to migrate to Britain. However, she had joined a church in Edinburgh when this study was being conducted. Some respondents attended other Christian denominations while identifying as members of the denominations they attended in Nigeria. For example, MP3 says, “I am still a Roman Catholic like I was in Nigeria, but I started attending a Church of Scotland parish when I moved to Edinburgh because the people that gave me accommodation are members of the church”. He added that he “did not want to attend a different church while living in their home free of charge”. MP10, a Presbyterian in Nigeria, still identified as a Presbyterian during the study but has attended public worship at a Nigerian Pentecostal church and parishes of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Causes of denominational switching

The participants reported varied reasons for their decision to change from the Christian denominations they attended in Nigeria. The most recurring motivating factors were related to their adaptational needs following their arrival in Britain and unsatisfactory features of the Edinburgh parishes of their denominations in Nigeria, such as the views that the Edinburgh churches were “uninteresting” (three women) and “non-diverse” (three women). For example, although she was a practising Catholic in Nigeria, FE1 joined “an African and Caribbean fellowship” where she and other members “read the Bible together” because she felt that “the style [in the Edinburgh Catholic parish she attended] is not interesting”. FE2 continues to attend the Catholic church as she did in Nigeria, but she described the difference between the “interesting” Catholic worship in Nigeria and the less exciting version in Edinburgh:

The Catholic church in Nigeria is very sweet. There is a choir, the sermons are directed to the congregation. Different people do the readings …  Sometimes, different priests do the gospel reading and the sermon. Everything is lively and keeps you awake. When you’re late to church, you won’t have space to sit inside because the church is already full. Many people attend. Here, everything is done fast; mass is dismissed before one hour. Everything is [a] shortcut. Sometimes, the priest speaks with a strong Scottish accent that is hard to follow. I need to pay close attention to the reading and sermon to understand anything and not sleep …  In our …  church, it is only during Christmas and other times of celebration that the church is full and young people come (FE2).

FE6 is one of the three interviewees whose denominational change was partly driven by a perceived lack of diversity in the Edinburgh parish of their Nigerian church. Although she was a Catholic in Nigeria, FE6 joined “a Nigerian Bible-based church in Edinburgh” after attending Catholic masses in the city “about three times”. According to her,

The Catholic church was not diverse …  The Nigerian church has been very communal, and it was one outlet I used to cope with the UK’s isolation …  In the Catholic church, there were times when I and my friends were the only Black people in the church …  Many people cannot cope without the sense of belonging and importance that Black churches provide (FE6).

The need to access accommodation, helpful information, and fellow Nigerian immigrants after their arrival in Britain motivated six participants to switch to a new Christian denomination. Four others changed to a different denomination because they could not locate a parish of the denomination they attended in Nigeria when they arrived in Edinburgh or because it was challenging to attend the Edinburgh church physically from their residence. Up to ten other participants mentioned other reasons for denominational change, but these did not recur across interviews.

Church attendance and private praying

Most participants said they “sometimes” attended weekly public Christian worship in Edinburgh. In contrast, they participated in public worship events at least every Sunday in Nigeria. Specifically, migration to Britain has contributed to a decline in the frequency of church attendance of twenty-five respondents, including thirteen women and twelve men. One of the remaining two men, MP6, said his migration to Britain had strengthened his Christian faith rather than adversely affecting his attendance at Sunday worship. The other male participant, MP8, ensures he joins his Christian denomination in Nigeria via the Internet since the church does not have a parish in Edinburgh. The three other female respondents, FE2, FE3, and FE7, reported that their church attendance either increased or remained unchanged since they left Nigeria.

Eleven of the sixteen female interviewees stated that the frequency of their private praying has reduced. Five other women, including FE2 and FE14, who explained that migration to Britain strengthened their Christian faith, reported that the frequency of their private praying has increased or remained the same since migration. Twelve male respondents said they have been praying less than in Nigeria. MP6, one of the remaining two men, believes that moving to Britain strengthened his Christian faith. The fourteenth male participant, MP1, who identified as a former Christian and a follower of a Nigerian indigenous religion during the study, reported that his Christian activity declined progressively until he left the Christian religion. Some participants regarded prayer as an essential aspect of their relationship with God. Consequently, even though they could not attend public worship every week, they said prayers privately. For example, MP5 says,

I don’t go to church always, but I have a personal relationship with God. I pray sometimes and know that God has performed miracles in my life. Even the way I came here and how I managed when I came. I was doing many jobs to pay my remaining school fees. Before I got the job I am doing now, I did another course. My prayer life in Nigeria was stronger, but I still pray here.

Causes of changes in the level of religious activity

Work was the most reported cause of a decline in participants’ religious activity after migration. Religious attendance and private praying frequency were reduced for up to twelve female and ten male participants due to many working hours and the need to use non-working time to rest and perform personal and other non-work-related tasks. A common idea expressed by interviewees was that working on weekdays and weekends is necessary because there are more “bills” to pay in Edinburgh than an ordinary resident would do in parts of Nigeria. For instance, FE8 says, “In Britain, you have to work twice as hard, and there are many bills to pay”, hence, “one cannot afford to be in church that frequently like in Nigeria”. In addition to the “bills”, respondents worked “twice as hard as in Nigeria” due to other concerns. For example, FE9 says, “I now need to work weekends to meet up with paying bills and attending to both nuclear and extended family needs”. Family, for FE9, includes individuals in Britain and Nigeria. Working extra hours was necessary for FE14 to enable her and her husband to save enough money to renew her family’s immigration papers. She explained that she and her husband “were working many hours to be ready to renew our papers, and the number of children you have is the number you pay when it is time. We were going to church, but sometimes it affected it”. FE12 has been motivated to work during weekends because of the high wages for weekend shifts. She explained, “When you hear that when you work on Sunday, they pay you more, it is tempting because I always wanted to work during weekends because of more money”. Some participants who did not have a job they do during weekends reported that they previously worked at weekends and consequently missed public religious worship some weeks.

On the other hand, the familial circumstances of FE2, FE3, and FE14 have driven their religious activity in Edinburgh. For example, FE3 was not part of any religious group and did not participate in public Christian worship in Nigeria before her emigration. However, she joined a church in Edinburgh to facilitate her children’s access to educational facilities managed by the church in Edinburgh and Britain more broadly. Similarly, concerned about the safety and progress of their Black minority children in Britain, FE2 and FE14 have prayed more since they migrated to Britain. FE2 says,

Coming here to Britain, I have been very prayerful …  you have children you’re training in school, and they are leaving your house and going to university; the more you will be praying for their safety, submitting them and covering them with the blood of Christ. I have to pray every day for them. I was here in Edinburgh, but my son is studying in … , the other one in … , the other one in …  Every day, I have to pray, sometimes in the car, while leaving or when waking up or sleeping, and I encourage my children to pray and send messages or call them (FE2).

Similarly, FE14 explains,

Here, many things happen. When I wake up in the morning, I pray for God’s protection and strength. If you are here, you should pray more. Some people come here, and they relax and say there is nothing to worry about; no thieves, no nothing. But as children of God, you should pray without season, don’t be tired, don’t be weak, because you have children, they are growing, they mix with friends, so you keep talking to them …  Prayer is very important because the UK makes life so easy, and if you are not careful, the child will miss the road …  We need prayer for our good home and your family so God can give you wisdom (FE14).

In addition, lack of motivation from others was mentioned as a factor causing a decline in the respondents’ religious activity. For instance, FE11 says, “If I were back home in Nigeria, there would be people making me go to church. But in the UK, that mutual encouragement wasn’t there anymore”. Furthermore, MP5 explained that dissatisfaction with his Edinburgh church’s teachings affected his religious decline:

I don’t even work on Sundays, but the truth is, I think pastors here do the same thing we do in Nigeria …  You feel that people think that evil people in Nigeria can hold them here. I am not against them, but I don’t agree with this view so much now.

In parts of Nigeria, it is common for religious leaders to describe “evil spirits” or people’s malevolent use of evil forces as causes of unpleasant conditions, such as poverty, illness, unemployment, infertility, and marital breakdown. For MP5, who believes this practice is unrealistic in British secular society, a Nigerian church in Edinburgh is not appealing if its leaders require the members to “pray” against evil spirits and people to succeed in Britain. Finally, FE1 suggested that she did not understand the source of her religious decline after migration and added that the decline might have resulted from the fact that “this place [Britain] is safer [than Nigeria] and life in “Nigeria is just too stressful”.

Discussion

Factors influencing immigrants’ religious commitment

This research indicates that Christian denominational switching and changes in levels of religious commitment following residential migration from a religious country to a much more secular one are influenced by “contextual” and “individual” variables (Connor 2009b; Van Tubergen 2006). These include (1) conditions in the destination society, (2) immigrants’ adaptational needs, (3) work, (4) familial circumstances, (5) immigrants’ increased appreciation of their indigenous religion and culture, (6) immigrants’ higher reliance on themselves in the destination society and a heightened exercise of their deciding power over their religious lives and other aspects of their existence, (7) presence in a more secular society where there is limited pressure to participate in religious activity, and (8) the exercise of individual agency shaped by structural factors (cf. Connor 2009a; Connor 2009b, 781ff; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Frederiks 2016, 14ff; Hirschman 2004; Massey and Higgins 2011, 1371; Van Tubergen 2006, 2ff; Voas and Fleischmann 2012, 529). Conditions in British society which have driven denominational switching among the participants include (1) lack of access to Edinburgh parishes of the Christian denominations that the immigrants were associated with before migration, (2) lack of racial diversity within the membership of the Edinburgh parishes of the immigrants’ denominations in Nigeria, and (3) dissatisfaction with the worship systems of given churches in Edinburgh.

One issue in the UK that has increased the religious commitment of FE2 is racial discrimination. Unsurprisingly, she is regularly concerned about the safety of her children, who are students in British universities. A recent study about the experiences of Black students in the accommodations of UK higher educational institutions finds that “Black students reported …  a lower sense of belonging, comfort, safety and security” than White students, and “more than half of Black students surveyed reported having been the victim of racism in their accommodation” (Unite Students and Halpin Partnership 2022, 7; cf. Osbourne, Barnett, and Blackwood 2022). The experiences reported by the students “ranged from insensitivity around things like hair or food, to the use of racial slurs, to spitting, shouting and physical violence” (Unite Students and Halpin Partnership 2022, 39; cf. Osbourne, Barnett, and Blackwood 2022). Racially motivated incidents also occur outside the universities and are vastly underreported (Myers and Lantz 2020, 1037; cf. Solomos 2022).

A related factor in British society that generates fears for Black African immigrants is the presence of negative attitudes towards immigration. The 2016 referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Union (EU) revealed existing hostility towards immigration in the country. It caused “higher levels of fear of ethnic and racial harassment” among immigrant minorities (Nandi and Luthra 2021, 1). Although the majority of those who participated in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted against Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, the total national vote was fifty-two per cent (17,410,742) for withdrawal and forty-eight against (16,141,241) (The Electoral Commission 2019). This outcome might not reflect the desires of the majority of the British population,⁴ but the votes and the events surrounding the referendum showed existing prejudices against immigrants. In addition to other factors (e.g. Corbett 2016, 12ff), “negative attitudes towards immigration” strongly motivated support for terminating the UK’s EU membership (Arnorsson and Zoega 2018, 301ff). Given that immigration has largely driven UK population growth in recent years, campaigners for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU argued that “immigration was straining infrastructure and public services” and that decreasing it, or “taking back control” of the borders, was necessary (Gietel-Basten 2016, 673ff). The EU population was the main immigrant population that Britain’s EU membership allowed easy access to the country. However, curbing non-EU immigration was part of the interests of those who sought the country’s exit from the Union. A Labour parliamentarian, Jo Cox, who openly supported Britain’s acceptance of refugees, was murdered some days before the referendum by “a far-right British nationalist” (Corbett 2016, 20). Anti-immigrant narratives and “race and religious hate crimes” increased after the referendum, sometimes with “a higher rate” in areas with “recent immigrants” (Williams et al. 2023, 1005f, 1015f).

Concerned about Black students’ low degree attainment in Britain (Bhopal 2017; Osbourne, Barnett, and Blackwood 2022, 43; Smith 2017), FE14 has maintained a prayerful life as part of her efforts to ensure that her children complete their secondary and higher education and obtain skilled employment afterwards. Although Black students are among the “fastest-growing [higher education] entrants” in the country (Osbourne, Barnett, and Blackwood 2022, 43; cf. Bhopal 2017; UCAS 2022)⁵ they “are the least likely to achieve an upper-second or first-class degree …  and the most likely to leave their degree programme prior to completion” (Osbourne, Barnett, and Blackwood 2022, 43; cf. Bhopal 2017; Smith 2017). This makes the affected students less competitive in the labour market.

Other issues within the British context that have affected the religious activity of the participants include (1) the immigrants’ higher reliance on themselves in Britain and a heightened exercise of their deciding power over their religious lives and other aspects of their existence, (2) dissatisfaction with the teachings of a church or churches in Edinburgh, (3) the limited pressure in the UK to participate in religious activity, and (4) economic demands. The need to acquire essential resources, which may be used for the benefit of the immigrants and their immediate and extended families, has wittingly or unwittingly led to the prioritisation of work and income and the allocation of less time to religious activity (cf. Voas and Fleischmann 2012, 529). Exposed to these realities in the UK, Nigerian Christians in Edinburgh exercise their agency to continue or discontinue some religious beliefs, practices, or affiliations which they held when they lived in Nigeria as strategies for survival in their “new” environment (cf. Gallagher and Trzebiatowska 2017; Hagan and Ebaugh 2003; Koser Akcapar 2006; 2007). This demonstrates the interplay of the “context” and the “individual” and structure and agency in the dynamics of post-migration religion. Human agency is enacted within specific structural contexts, structure influences and is influenced by agency, and both structure and human agency enable and constrain human actions (Emirbayer and Mische 1998, 1003f; Gallagher and Trzebiatowska 2017, 434f; Kristiansen 2014, 3ff; Leming 2007, 74ff).

Nigerians, “reverse mission”, and christianity in secularised Britain

Nigerian heritage churches have a visible presence in Britain. For instance, the RCCG currently has more than 870 parishes. Chow, Wild-Wood, and Hatzaw (2023, 2) observe that there are “more than 500 Christian churches and organisations” in Edinburgh, and over twenty of them are “Nigerian-heritage Pentecostal churches”. About seven megachurches in London “were planted by Nigerians”, including “Kingsway International Christian Centre, Jesus House, Winners’ Chapel, New Wine Church, Glory House, Victorious Pentecostal Assembly, and Christ Faith Tabernacle” (Burgess 2020, 244). Churches of Nigerian and African origin in Britain are at times described as vehicles or evidence of “reverse mission”, an attempt to re-Christianise a secularised Britain and Europe, the way European missionaries evangelised Africa between the 15th and 20th centuries (Adedibu 2013; Burgess 2011; 2020; Freeman 2020).

Given the presence of Nigerian heritage churches in Britain, the high level of religious commitment in Nigeria (Ossai 2021a, 29ff; Pew Research Centre 2018b, Section 3; United States Department of State 2022, Section 1; Vaughan 2016), and the advantages of religious participation for immigrants (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000, 8; Hagan and Ebaugh 2003, 1155ff; Hirschman 2004, 1210ff; Khoudja 2022, 510ff; Massey and Higgins 2011, 1371), one might expect that Nigerians who were practising Christians before their migration from Nigeria to Britain would usually maintain their pre-migration levels of religious commitment, or even become more religious, after migrating to Britain. However, this study suggests that a higher number of first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants in Britain experience a decline in their religious commitment as they live in a less religious British society. The research indicates that there are Nigerian Christians whose Christian practice and faith increase or are unchanged after they migrate to Britain, but such cases are less common. More testing with broad samples and different research designs is required to assess these findings and explore other possible post-migration outcomes.

Conclusion

Nigeria is among the most religious countries in Africa, but Britain is one of the European countries with the lowest levels of religious commitment. Nigerians comprise a good portion of Britain’s current population of over 67.1 million. Although studies have been written about Nigerian, African and Black Christians in Britain, little is known about the factors that affect religious continuity and discontinuity among Nigerian Christians who have migrated from Nigeria to Britain. This study has explored post-migration religious change among first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants who are long-term residents of Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. The participants reported post-migration changes in their Christian denominational affiliation and the frequency of their religious activity. This article has demonstrated the interactive role of contextual and individual factors in post-migration religious change. In addition to other contributions, the study finds that conditions within British society have made the participants continue or discontinue some religious beliefs, practices, or affiliations they held when they lived in Nigeria. The study suggests that most first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants in Britain experience a decline in their religious commitment as they live in a more secular British society. The findings of this research may be evaluated using broad samples and different research approaches.

Statement of ethics

The author was an independent researcher and Edinburgh resident when this study was designed and data was gathered. Research proposal assessment using the Level One Ethics Form of the Research Ethics Committee of the Edinburgh University Divinity School indicated that a “full ethics assessment” was not required for the research.⁶ Further consideration of the Scottish Government’s Social Research Ethics Guidance and Sensitivity Checklist showed that the proposed research involved minimal risk of harm and could be started in compliance with recognised ethical principles.⁷ The research was designed and conducted under strict adherence to the Ethical Guidelines (2019) of the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR)⁸ and the Statement of Ethical Practice (2017) of the British Sociological Association (BSA),⁹ both of which require researchers to obtain informed consent from participants and follow other ethical procedures during data collection, data analysis, and the dissemination of research findings. Appendix A shows the information sheet and consent form interviewees received before participating in the research. All interviews are anonymised.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for the help of the research participants, the anonymous reviewers, and the editorial team of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author did not receive funding to conduct this research. Open Access publication was funded by Manchester Metropolitan University.

Notes

1 Results of Scotland’s Census 2022 were not completely released at the time of writing (https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/2022-results/). It is assumed that the number of Nigerian-born residents in Scotland has risen since the 2011 census. Added to the figures from Northern Ireland, England, and Wales, the current Nigerian-born population in the UK would be more than 281,781.

2 Romania and Estonia were described as the most and least religious, respectively (Evans and Baronavski 2018; Pew Research Centre 2018a).

3 RCCG UK Central Office: https://rccguk.church

4 As of 30 June 2016, there were about 65,648,000 people in the UK (ONS 2017), with the total electorate being 46,500,001 (The Electoral Commission 2019), but only 33,551,983 valid votes decided the referendum’s outcome (The Electoral Commission 2019).

5 Between 2006 and 2021, the entry rate of Black pupils from state schools in England into UK higher education institutions rose from 21.6% to 48.6%, “the biggest entry rate increase out of all ethnic groups” examined, including Asian, Chinese, mixed, and White (UCAS 2022).

6 School of Divinity, the University of Edinburgh. “Research Ethics and Integrity.” https://www.ed.ac.uk/divinity/research/ethics

7 Scottish Government. 2015. “Ethics Guidance for Scottish Government Social Researchers,” 11 March 2015. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-social-research-publication-protocol/

8 British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR). “BASR Ethics Guidelines,” 17 September 2019. https://basr.ac.uk/2019/09/18/basr-ethics-guidelines/

9 British Sociological Association (BSA). 2017. BSA Statement of Ethical Practice. Durham: BSA Publications. https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24310/bsa_statement_of_ethical_practice.pdf