(Part of the Finding Faith series)
Religion can often be viewed as a safe and familiar harbour for those new to a community.
And in the case of the immigrant population prevalent in Richmond, it can also offer a way of escaping repression in their homeland and integrating into a new society.
Thats the view of Rev. David Tsai of the Fujian Evangelical Church, whose 400 or so parishioners are made up almost entirely of immigrants from South East Asia the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The small number from mainland China, where Buddhism is the dominant religion, have already been exposed to Christianity, or have studied it in western society.
Its a continuous process that for many started in China where there is still suspicion of Christianity by the government, Tsai said, adding many immigrants tend to turn to religion and the church when first arriving on foreign shores.
When they immigrate to a new place they have this desire, in a sense, for a space thats more familiar to them. And the church is one of them. But its not the only one, Tsai said. For others, its just a place they can call home.
Tsai added there is often a window of time during which new immigrants will gravitate to the church.
When people are uprooted from their familiar surroundings, I think theyre more open to new things, Tsai said. And for some of them, life in Richmond is somewhat slower paced than in Asia. So, they have more time to be with their family and think about the bigger issues of life than just surviving and their business.
Its a scenario familiar to Richmond city councillor Chak Au, who left Hong Kong for Canada in the late 1980s.
When people are new to a community, they will look for groups they know, or share their faith background, Au said.
However, once they are more settled and familiar with their new environment they are more on their own and choose other aspects in life to focus on.
Some Buddhist people may go back to the temple, some church-goers will approach the churches.
To address that tendency, many churches catering to the immigrant population offer services other than the traditional weekly services to maintain a link and provide assistance their parishioners.
The faith community, not just the evangelical church, do a lot for new immigrants, Au said. They tend to offer a lot of services in the area of settlement, adjustment into the new community and to provide them support with things like ESL classes, social groups and other information they may require to start a new life here.
Others do it with opportunities to socialize.
Tsais Fujian Evangelical Church opens up its gym on a regular basis to host basketball and badminton nights.
Some churches also see those activities as a way of administering their faith.
Its a mission for them, to help the new immigrants settle down and integrate, Au said. And partially, for some denominations, they are more community-minded. They see that assisting the immigrant community as a way of practising their religious beliefs.
In the late 1990s, Au, who was trained as a family therapist, and served as an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, did a survey of Chinese Christian churches in the Lower Mainland that showed more than 80 per cent had offered at least one program to help immigrants.
And that was maybe an ESL program, maybe a friendship club or counselling service, Au said.
Today, many are still offering the services, but the target population has changed.
With more new immigrants coming from mainland China, many of the Chinese churches here offer programs in Mandarin, not Cantonese, Au said.
Were talking about very different times now. When I came in the late 1980s, many of the immigrants who came from Hong Kong had some connections with the church, more proportionately than the community at large.
While he would not characterize todays situation as immigrants beating a path to his churchs front doors, Rev. Tsai said often his parishioners will attend simply because the service is provided in their native tongue.
And they have plenty of choice with more than 100 Chinese churches in the Metro Vancouver area, he said.
