Constructing an Ekklēsia Trabajadora del Pueblo: Lessons and Insights from the Faithful Labor Organizing of Latine-Immigrant Workers

Abstract

Through the methods of theological studies, ethnography, and interdisciplinary research, this study investigates how centering the lived faith and organizing experiences of working-class Latine-immigrant workers yields an expansive notion of the church as “the people of God” and a bottom-up, relational, community-rooted, and liberationist ecclesiology. Despite some significant moves in contemporary ecclesiologies towards more communal and people-centered understandings of the church in relation to God, much ecclesiological work, in theory and practice, has remained focused on the formal, institutional, and often hierarchical aspects of the church. As such, the church as the people of God is mostly seen as a worshipping and organizational entity within a specific church sanctuary and/or denomination—led by its clerical power structure—with both theology and power flowing from the top-down or from within official church settings to the outside world. The locus theologicus—both the sources of theology and the locations where theology happens and is contextualized—is then largely confined to institutional church structures, official doctrines, teachers, and traditions. Theology and power at the extra-ecclesial level—the alternative theological expressions and ethical practices involving the agency of Christians outside of formal church settings in the collective struggle for survival, dignity, and meaning-making in lo cotidiano (daily living)—are largely ignored. Shifting the focus to material-spiritual practices in working-class organizing contexts uncovers grassroots theological reflection and ethical praxis at work. I define this as the Ekklēsia Trabajadora del Pueblo—the working-class majority church as a broader assembly of people of faith that challenges institutional forms of the church to reclaim its liberationist roots and mission.