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.