February 4, 2026
During the 2023 North American Division (NAD) year-end meetings, Kyoshin Ahn, executive secretary of the NAD, presented a secretary’s report that included demographic data on North American congregations. In one section, Ahn compared Adventist congregations in the US to the broader Christian church.
When it comes to immigration, he showed that Adventists far surpass not only the national average of immigrants in the population, but also the Christian average. NAD churches are made up of roughly twice as many immigrants—26 percent—as US churches overall. They also include a higher proportion of immigrants than the general populations of both the US—13 percent—and Canada—22 percent. These numbers are significant; they reveal something important about church growth in North America. Put simply, membership gains are driven by immigration. As Ahn stated plainly, “This is where our growth is happening.”
When I look at these statistics, what I see is the story of a dying church, its decline obscured by immigrant vitality. Immigrant churches are growing, sustained by people who often work time- and labor-intensive jobs six days a week, only to come to church and spend the entire Sabbath in fellowship. Immigrant congregations tend to be active: they regularly hold evangelistic meetings, host Saturday night socials, gather for after-church potlucks, and plant new churches in their cities.
Our immigrant sisters and brothers are not peripheral to the church; as noted by the Lake Union, they are central to its life and future. When they are met with violent, authoritarian immigration enforcement, the church is faced with a moral choice: Will we uphold our Christian values, or will we continue to support an increasingly erratic enforcement system—one that has already resulted in the deaths of US citizens and immigrants alike, and whose violence continues to escalate?
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