The Social Engine of Belonging: Relational Integration in a Swedish Church : A qualitative study of social integration and belonging within a Pentecostal congregation in Stockholm

Sammanfattning

In a contemporary Swedish context characterized by restrictive migration policies and conditional inclusion, this study explores how social integration is internally produced through everyday life within a church context. Shifting the focus from religious organisations as mere external contributors, it examines how belonging, participation, and social connection emerge as a two-way process through ordinary relational practices. Using Ager and Strang’s (2008) framework, the study draws on interviews with church leaders and members, as well as participant observation, in a Pentecostal church with international profile in Stockholm. The findings show that integration is continuously shaped through everyday church life. Practices such as volunteering, worship, small groups, and informal interaction create environments where trust, relationships, and belonging gradually develop. Integration thus emerges less as something the church intentionally “does” and more as a socially produced process through repeated participation in a shared community. The church also functions as a bridge into wider Swedish society through informal support and access to social networks related to housing, work, and language. At the same time, bonding relations are often shaped more by shared religious identity than by ethnicity, suggesting that similarities are socially constructed within the church context and may blur the distinction between bonding and bridging relations. Engagement is sustained through recognition, representation, and emotionally supportive relationships, which are embedded in everyday practices. The study concludes that integration in church contexts is best understood as a relational and internally produced process embedded in institutional everyday life.