Introduction

Many newly arrived refugees suffer from mental health problems due to trauma. Research has shown that people who migrate to Western countries are much more likely to experience depression, anxiety and/or post-traumatic stress disorder than the age-matched general populations in these countries (Fazel et al., 2005; Tingshög et al., 2017). Several international studies of refugees’ health (Miller & Rasmussen, 2014) show that forced migration can affect people’s life situations in the new host country (De Lima, 2016; Fazel et al., 2012; Miller and Rasmussen, 2014; Silove et al., 2017; Tribe, 2002).

Very few studies have been conducted on the effects of refugees’ mental health and their socio-economic integration into a host country (Niemi et al., 2019), although it is well known that being unemployed or unable to speak the language of the host society increases the risk of mental illness and anxiety (Vikdahl et al., 2020). Long-term unemployment can have a detrimental effect on health, and especially mental health (Folkhälsomyndigheten, 2020). A lack of social participation has also been shown to contribute to psychosocial stress due to isolation and exclusion (Hyyppä et al., 2007).

At the same time, research has shown that social participation, such as involvement in social activities, networks and community work after migration, is important for well-being and mental health (Beiser & Hou, 2017; Khawaja et al., 2006; Niemi et al., 2019). The concept of social participation has also been linked to social capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Knack, 2001), i.e. the collective resources that individuals have access to through their relationships and contacts within social networks and which have beneficial effects on their health.

In Sweden, the Swedish Public Employment Service, the Swedish Migration Agency, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, municipalities and regions have joint responsibility for the establishment and integration of refugees. Many civil society organisations, such as religious communities like the Church of Sweden, also take responsibility. The aim of this article is to examine the Church of Sweden’s conditions for this kind of work, with a focus on the social participation and mental health of newly arrived refugees. The main focus is on what governs the work activities and how they are to be carried out, rather than what the Church of Sweden does for newly arrived refugees. This article is the fourth and final one in a series of texts on the consideration given to the establishment of newly arrived refugees, their social participation and mental health in national laws and policy documents. The three previous articles focus on the Swedish Public Employment Service’s establishment programme from different perspectives (Larsson et al., 2022; Gunnarsson et al. forthcoming; Vikdahl et al. forthcoming).

Background

In the early 2000s, approximately 30,000 people a year applied for asylum in Sweden. These numbers increased in 2012. In 2015, the number of asylum seekers was estimated to be the highest ever at over 160,000, many of whom had fled from the war in Syria. Since 2015, the opportunity to enter Sweden has decreased due to political decisions. In 2020, approximately 13,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån, 2021). In June 2022, a new wave of refugees arrived in Sweden due to the war in Ukraine. According to the UN Refugee Convention, EU regulations and Swedish law, a person is a refugee if they have crossed an international border to find safety in another country due to war, violence, conflict and/or persecution due to race, nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation or belonging to a particular social group (Migrationsverket, 2021a). The term newly arrived is used by state authorities for people who have recently been granted refugee status and residence permits in Sweden and who have been received by a Swedish municipality. The newly arrived are usually covered by establishment initiatives over a two-year period that give them the right to professional support for learning Swedish, gaining employment and managing their own livelihoods (Migrationsverket, 2021b).

The Church of Sweden as Part of the Civil Society

There is now a clear expectation from national decision-makers and EU politicians that civil society organisations will shoulder a greater responsibility as providers of community services. The civil society has been shown to play a major role in organising and complementing the efforts of public authorities in the field of migration and integration (Dubois, 2014; Hansen, 2018; Osanami Törngren et al., 2018). It also has the potential to offer new ways of dealing with societal challenges through social innovations. The benefits that are highlighted are more holistic thinking, more client-oriented services and greater flexibility, for example in terms of job descriptions, which means that many civil society organisations can channel resources, often in the form of volunteers, for emergency situations (Hellqvist & Sandberg n.d.; Ramboll, 2021). For example, civil society, including the Church of Sweden (Ramboll, 2021), played an important role in providing supportive social networks for refugees during the refugee crisis in 2015 (Skleparis & Armakolas, 2016).

Even if civil society’s good social efforts are witnessed, the role of civil society organisations in the welfare society is not always obvious. In 2017, a report was published showing that civil society organisations experienced a knowledge gap in public institutions regarding their conditions for contributing to society (MUC, 2017). Basically, civil society organisations felt that public employees at municipal, regional and national levels lacked knowledge about their location (for example in a municipality), what kind of work they were engaged in (such as the establishment of newly arrived refugees) and what they could contribute. This lack of knowledge made the diversity in civil society invisible and not represented in dialogue and collaboration. It was also argued that public employees needed to know more about what civil society organisations do, that they are idea-driven and are often non-profit. People who work voluntarily, for example elected representatives, spend most of their time with the organisations’ core activities and very little time on administration or familiarising themselves with the various regulations. Volunteers usually have knowledge that is relevant to the organisation’s purpose but are not always specialists in finance, administration, contract law, labour law, tax law etc.

The Church of Sweden stands out amongst civil society organisations. One reason for this is that the Church of Sweden is Sweden’s largest civil society organisation with 5.7 million members (Svenska kyrkan, 2022a). Although the number of members is declining, the Church of Sweden is still a majority church. Research shows that majority of churches tend to be institutions that link religious, national and cultural identities. As religious institutions, they provide rituals for all phases of life and, through their historical role, are bearers of cultural heritage. Majority of churches therefore have connections to many parts of society in the form of ‘an invisible infrastructure’. Representatives of majority churches are also often seen as natural partners to state institutions (Pettersson, 2011). Another reason is that it has a background as a state authority. From the 16th century until the year 2000, the Church of Sweden was part of the Swedish state, which, amongst other things, meant that it was responsible for certain tasks that are now incumbent on the state, such as care, nursing and education (Brohed et al., 2005). Today, the Church of Sweden is separate from the state but is still regulated by the Church of Sweden Act, which does not apply to other religious communities (SFS 1998: 1591 (n.d.)). This Act regulates that the Church of Sweden shall be a national church that, in collaboration between a democratic organisation and the church’s office, conducts nationwide activities (SFS 1998: 1591 (n.d.), § 1).

The Church of Sweden is not only a civil society organisation but also a faith community (SFS 1998: 1593 (n.d.)). Faith communities have proven to be of particular importance in rural areas with regard to migration and integration, where they have organised and supplemented the work of public authorities (Williams et al., 2012; Ideström & Linde, 2019; Larsson, 2021a, b). Many newly arrived refugees have been placed in sparsely populated areas, and local faith communities have responded by expanding their services and commitment to also include the newly arrived (Arora-Jonsson, 2017; Bjärstig & Sandström, 2017; Hansen, 2018). One reason for the involvement of religious communities in sparsely populated areas could be the negative trend of depopulation and socio-economic decline. This negative development could make rural faith communities more open and welcoming to migrants who are repopulating these areas and contributing to their economic prosperity (Ager & Strand, 2008).

While the Church of Sweden’s activities are aimed at an interested public, the Church also organises special activities that are adapted to the needs of the newly arrived, such as language training, language cafés and study groups (Ramboll, 2021). According to a report from 2021 (Ramboll), the Church of Sweden’s socio-economic contribution is estimated at around 1.5 billion SEK annually. Its greatest quantifiable societal value is in social activities, as well as psychological and existential support. The special integration support is estimated to be at least 118 million SEK per year, of which 89 million is for language support, 5 million for society orientation, 15 million for housing for unaccompanied minors and 9 million for legal advice in asylum matters.

Challenges for the Church of Sweden as a Welfare Actor

The Church of Sweden has had a dominant position for centuries in Swedish society, although its role is now changing (Nordin, 2020; Elander & Fridolfsson, 2012). In 2021, 53% of the population were members of the Church of Sweden, and 35% of children were baptised. This can be compared to 1970, when 95% of the population belonged to the Church of Sweden and 85% of children were baptised (Svenska kyrkan, 2022a). In the 20th century, Sweden was considered culturally and religiously homogeneous, but today, the situation is quite different. Like many other Western societies, Swedish society is strongly characterised by secularisation (Nordin, 2020; Elander & Fridolfsson, 2012), which means that religion has an inconspicuous place and that religious belief and religious practices are decreasing amongst the population. Cultural and religious homogeneity has also decreased due to globalisation and immigration. In recent decades, Sweden has become a pluralistic, multi-ethnic society, with many religious organisations in the country. Nowadays, religion is important to about 10% of the population and about 30% believe in God (Willander, 2019).

Researchers have highlighted that religious actors have increasingly been recognised as resources that need to be further included in public life. At the same time, they are also highlighted as being a problem that needs to be prevented, addressed and excluded from the public (Beckford, 2012; Dinham, 2009; Griera, 2012). This newly awakened interest in religious actors can be explained in several ways. For example, due to global neoliberalism and the liberalisation of welfare services, a renewed political interest has been kindled in the sphere of civil society, so that its actors, including faith communities, are now seen as tools for solving many of the problems that societies face (Beaumont & Cloke, 2012; Hackworth, 2012).

At the same time, the place of religious communities as civil society actors is disputed (Larsson, 2021a, b). From the 2000s onwards, there has been a paradoxical view of religious civil society in Swedish politics. On the one hand, religious actors are perceived as possible resources for democracy, diversity and integration. On the other hand, faith communities are perceived as threats to democracy, social cohesion and the security and safety of society (Lundgren & Trädgårdh, 2020). Due to the increasing religious diversity, there have also been fears that some religious communities may be potential catalysts for segregation (Ivanescu, 2010).

In the Swedish government’s most recent budgets, it is possible to see a clear trend of faith communities as responsible actors in civil society, especially with regard to helping with the establishment of newly arrived refugees. At the same time, there are clear signs that the state considers some of the roles that have been adopted by religious actors in civil society to be undesirable. Government investigations into independent religious schools and discussions about state support for faith communities are examples of this (Lundgren, 2021; Lundgren & Trädgårdh, 2020).

The changed role of the Church of Sweden and its reduced power in an increasingly secular society naturally has an impact on the conditions for working in the welfare sector. Not least, the Church of Sweden suffers from reduced financial opportunities. As a civil society organisation, it now competes for support for some of its activities with other civil society organisations. For example, in March 2022, the civil society received SEK 30 million from the Swedish state to strengthen society’s humanitarian efforts in connection with the reception of Ukrainian refugees. Of these, the Church of Sweden received SEK 9 million (MUC, 2022).

There are circumstances that point to the church having to adapt to the norms of secular society in order to have an impact (Stark & Iannaccone, 1994). Secular actors have a tendency to essentialise ‘religion’ and ‘religious actors’ (Wilson, 2014). This results in focus on institutionalised forms of religion, such as recognised scriptural canons and leadership hierarchies, which in turn contributes to the exclusion of the spiritual from political decisions on migration issues because they are primarily considered as personal and individual experiences, rather than aspects that are openly shared and discussed. Essentialisation also contributes to the prevailing dichotomy between good religion and bad religion, where religion is considered ‘good’ if it is compatible with and promotes secular democracy (and often also neoliberal market-based values) and state-supported programmes and bad when it does not conform to secular agenda and expectations (Wilson & Mavelli, 2016).

David Hume hypothesised that secular states can ‘bribe churches’ to adopt less strict religious doctrines (Hume, 1835). In this context, it could mean that the Church of Sweden downplays its uniqueness as a religious community in order to gain greater impact as a civil society organisation (Elander & Fridolfsson, 2012). It can, for example, be about toning down a religious tradition and discourse in the public conversation in favour of a secular organisation and discourse (Wilson & Mavelli, 2016), with the risk of impoverishing its religious identity (Elander & Fridolfsson, 2012).

Even though faith communities, such as the Church of Sweden, play an important yet controversial role in contemporary Swedish civil society, very few studies have been conducted on the function of religiosity in this context (Pettersson, 1992). This marginalisation of research on religiosity in Swedish civil society could be explained by society’s neoliberal attitudes, where secularism is taken for granted and religiosity is considered a private matter and no longer a social force in the public sphere (Rasmusson, 2007). However, a recent study has shown that religion and happiness tend to be positively associated at the individual level in countries with high aggregate levels of religiosity and suggests that what influences happiness is not religiosity per se, but conformity to the standards of that particular country. The results reported in the study show that in a country with a low level of aggregate religiosity, such as Sweden, religion is not particularly important for happiness (Edling et al., 2014)

Aim

As already indicated, the role of the Church of Sweden has changed considerably in recent decades. Its power has declined, and there is every indication that this will continue (Stark & Iannaccone, 1994). As the Church of Sweden fulfils an important function as a provider of welfare services, not least in work with newly arrived refugees, we might ask how the employees of the Church of Sweden feel about their conditions for this work and what guides it. These questions, and others, will be addressed in the article.

The Church of Sweden as an Organisation

The Church of Sweden is a Lutheran-Evangelical church with the Christian faith as the unifying factor. What is meant by Christianity is a matter of interpretation. The Church of Sweden’s declaration of aim is ‘for people to believe in Christ and live in faith, where a Christian community is created and deepened and where the kingdom of God is expanded and the creation restored. Everything else that the parish does is support for and a consequence of this basic task’ [authors’ translation] (Svenska kyrkan, 2021). The Church Ordinance (Svenska kyrkan, 2021) lays out the structures and decision-making methods for the organisation. Members of the Church of Sweden can democratically influence decisions, both at local and national levels, by voting in church elections and engaging as elected representatives. In addition to elected representatives, bishops, vicars and deacons make decisions on certain issues. They are the church leaders and ensure that the activities in the parishes follow the teachings of the Church of Sweden.

The Church of Sweden’s organisation is based on parishes. There are just over 1300 local parishes in the country as a whole. The parishes are self-governing but are also part of a diocese and the Church of Sweden as a faith community. Their main tasks are to celebrate worship, teach and practise diakonia and mission. The highest decision-making body in the parish is the church council, with its members being elected every four years. Each parish has a church council and a parish board. Also, every congregation has a vicar with responsibility for leadership, coordination and supervision. In addition, each parish has a parish instruction (FIN), which is a steering document for the parish that describes what kind of community it strives to be and the area in which it operates.

The Church of Sweden’s highest decision-making body is the national church council, which meets every autumn. The national church council consists of members from all over the country who decide on the church’s common and overarching issues (Svenska kyrkan, 2022b).

Method and Material

As the parish is the Church of Sweden’s primary unit, we have chosen to focus on the parishes’ conditions for their work with newly arrived refugees, their social participation and mental health. We conducted qualitative interviews with the employees and volunteers involved in this work in four different parishes: an inner-city parish in Stockholm, a suburban parish in Stockholm and a rural parish. We also conducted interviews in a parish in a medium-sized city. All these parishes organised activities that were specifically aimed at the newly arrived, such as language cafés and gatherings where the newly arrived could practise the Swedish language. Some parishes offered parent groups, others legal aid, knitting groups, discussion groups etc.

A total of 19 people were interviewed. The saturation in the material was the decisive factor for the number of interviews. The interviewees chose whether they wanted to be interviewed individually or in groups. Fifteen people chose individual interviews, and four wanted to be interviewed together in a group. Most of the interviews took place on the parishes’ premises, and some were held on Zoom (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The interviews lasted between thirty and sixty minutes and were conducted by Linda Vikdahl, sometimes together with David Gunnarsson.

We used semi-structured interviews. The approach was explorative, which meant that the interviews were open and sometimes took the form of a conversation. This approach was chosen because the aim was to identify new and partly unexpected knowledge. The explorative approach resulted in the interviewees talking about experiences related to activities for the newly arrived in their parish and the interviewer then asking new questions related to these experiences. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analysed by Linda Vikdahl using sentence categorisation (Kvale, 1997), which meant that the interviews were coded into the different categories that emerged after repeated readings of the empirical material. The concept of ‘conditions for conducting activities for newly arrived refugees with a focus on social participation and mental health’ served as a sensitising concept when reading through the transcriptions (Blumer, 1969).

Four categories crystallised the Church of Sweden’s work with the newly arrived: motivation, finances, cooperation and the geographical location of the parishes.

Results

Motivation

In many organisations, such as state and municipal institutions, steering documents play a major role when it comes to how activities should be designed and conducted. However, this was not really the case in the studied parishes in the Church of Sweden. Some of the interviewees mentioned the Bible as a steering document for the activities amongst the newly arrived. Others mentioned ‘FIN’, i.e. the parish instruction in each parish. However, the collected empirical material suggests that the parish instruction had very little impact on the practical work that was carried out in the parish.

Overall, the analysis shows that the parishes’ work with the newly arrived was initiated and carried out by the parishes’ own employees and on their own initiative. As there was a lack of steering documents and governance from the diocese or at the national level to govern the parish employees’ work with the newly arrived, the interviewees were asked what motivated them to carry out the activities. As parish activity is a church activity, it could be assumed that they would be motivated by religion and religious terminology, but in actual fact, this was not the case. Several of the interviewees expressed that the activities aimed at the newly arrived refugees were a matter of ‘compassion’ and ‘equal value for all’.

Integration in Society or in the Parish?

As already indicated, research has shown that supportive social communities contribute to the well-being of the newly arrived (Beiser & Hou, 2017; Khawaja et al., 2006; Niemi et al., 2019). After conducting several interviews with people involved in activities amongst the newly arrived in the Church of Sweden, the question was raised as to what kind of social participation the activities aimed at. As faith communities are sometimes perceived as a threat to democracy and social cohesion (Lundgren & Trädgårdh, 2020), it was relevant to investigate whether the parish community was in focus for social participation, or if the activities primarily aimed at integration in Swedish society in general. One of the vicars explained:

We have no goals in such a way that it must lead to something. It is enough if the individual, or the family, feels they are getting stronger. That they get more autonomy. Spontaneously, I think of society. We have seen young people, who have been with us, who have struggled with the language, who have tried to get jobs, who have struggled with the economy, and then were accepted by something or started something and grew several metres as a result. This has nothing, directly, to do with the parish, but it nevertheless makes us super happy. (2021-09-20)

The analysis shows that the activities amongst the newly arrived consistently aimed at participation in society, but that the parishes’ activities, such as language cafés and language teaching, also functioned as contexts for the community.

‘A Christian Community Must Be Created and Deepened’

According to the Church of Sweden’s declaration of aim, church activities should lead people to ‘come to faith in Christ and to live in faith’ (Svenska kyrkan, 2021). However, many of the newly arrived participating in the Church of Sweden’s activities either have other religious affiliations than Christianity or no religious affiliation at all. In other words, the parish community aims to offer social participation in a Christian faith community, even though several of the newly arrived do not share this belief and thus have no interest in participating in such a community.

How did the employees deal with the fact that many newly arrived did not share the Christian faith? None of the interviewees expressed that they were propagating their faith to get the newly arrived refugees to embrace Christianity. One of the vicars explained:

I think that when people come to Sweden from other countries we need to help them to integrate into society. The church can help people to get to know established Swedes. You can get help with different things. You can ask questions and we can try to help and explain. To help people become established, quite simply. For me, that is the first purpose. It is not that we should convert people. Some are already Christians, and some are Muslims. It is primarily about humanity, and we learn something from them as well. (2021-09-22)

Several of the interviewees said that their work amongst newly arrived refugees had support in Svenska kyrkan, 2021, because it was about restoration of creation (‘the creation restored’).

The activities, such as language cafés, also functioned as contexts for the community, which often had a positive impact on the mental well-being of the newly arrived. Although the staff did not try to convert the newly arrived to Christianity, several of the interviewees saw it as positive when the newly arrived chose to participate in worship services and other activities where the Christian faith was the unifying factor. There was a caution regarding conversion. One of the volunteers said that even if they did not set out to missionise, some of the newly arrived became curious about the Christian faith and even wanted to be baptised or to convert. In general, the parish vicars allowed such processes to take time.

Economy

The finances of the parishes proved to be an important influencing factor for the work with the newly arrived. Above all, it was about the possibility of having paid staff, such as deacons, to take responsibility for the activities. The finances of the Church of Sweden’s parishes are dependent on several circumstances, but are mainly based on membership fees. In general, the finances of the Church of Sweden’s parishes have declined in recent decades due to reduced membership.

The budget for the parishes is prepared and decided by the elected representatives in the church council. The budget is thus dependent on democratic elections and on who is elected to the various councils. This means that depending on the outcome of the elections, the activities for newly arrived refugees will be prioritised differently. Some of the interviewees expressed concern about the future priorities of the elected representatives as some parishioners and elected representatives wanted ‘real Swedes’ to be financially prioritised, and not the newly arrived.

The elected representatives are elected in elections that are preceded by election campaigns. In these campaigns, church groups inform about the kind of church activities they want to prioritise in the coming three years. One of the vicars was concerned that the activities aimed at newly arrived would be deselected in these campaigns and that activities aimed at Swedes would be instead prioritised, given that most of the members of the Church of Sweden were ethnic Swedes and ‘must get some reward because they are members’ (2021-10-09).

Cooperation

Several of the activities with the newly arrived were dependent on volunteers due to the lack of church finances. At the same time, involving volunteers in the activities could lead to conflict situations. Collaborations with other civilian actors proved to be important for the parishes’ work with the newly arrived. This included joint activities and initiatives in which the partners helped each other with staff resources, premises and finances. Joint activities helped the parishes to reach out to people who might not otherwise go to or approach the Church of Sweden. Being able to use church premises also helped other actors to support the newly arrived with their services. One of the vicars explained:

In the spring we received a request from one of our health centres about whether they could come to us and carry out covid vaccinations because these groups were not coming to them. They said, ‘But we know they will come to you if we are there, can we…?’ And no social security numbers were necessary, they didn’t ask for them… they only wanted to vaccinate. It was really good. We offered times for the first and second doses. It was a nice collaboration. They had the vaccine and the knowledge, we had the contacts. It felt great. (06-12-2021)

There was also a perception that cooperation strengthened the Church of Sweden as a serious and visible actor (06-12-2021). The collaborations with other civilian actors functioned well overall, even if there were difficulties. One parish had difficulty agreeing with its cooperative partner about the target group for the activities. One deacon regarded the parish partner’s demand for documentation of the participants’ personal information as problematic, in that it risked violating the deacon’s oath of secrecy.

The cooperation with public institutions, such as municipalities, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Public Employment Service, was generally not as developed as that with civil society organisations. It was partly a matter of a parish being a relatively small organisation and therefore not having the administrative resources required for collaboration with public institutions, and partly about the public actors’ lack of knowledge about the type of support that a parish could provide for a newly arrived refugee. One of the vicars said:

There was a period when there were case workers in the municipality, people who handled different types of grants, who did not know how to deal with refugees without official papers. Those who do not have a residence permit, no social security number, no work permit - nothing. They referred these people to us in a way that made them think we were an agency that could find them a flat, or a monthly income. The way the case workers acted created an expectation among the refugees, which led to people coming to us who were angry and disappointed. ‘What kind of shit is this?’ They had expected something completely different. Then I phoned the municipality and said that ‘you cannot refer people to us in this way, because it’s a huge mistake’. They have improved since then. (06-12-2021)

However, the main reasons for the lack of cooperation were organisational problems and frequent staff changes in public institutions. One of the parishes stood out amongst the others in that it had consistently good experiences of cooperation with both the municipality and the Public Employment Service. This was the parish in the rural area, where many knew each other personally and the contact paths were short.

Geographical Location of the Parish

The analysis further showed that the parishes’ geographical locations were of great importance for the possibility of conducting activities for the newly arrived. Cooperation with public institutions was perceived as being much easier in the rural areas, where ‘everyone’ knew ‘everyone’, than in the cities. However, the location of the parishes was also perceived as important for the activities amongst the newly arrived for other reasons. For example, even though there was accommodation for the newly arrived in the inner-city parish in Stockholm, the activities were temporary in that the newly arrived rarely stayed for very long within the parish boundaries. There was also a perception that suburban parishes had better conditions for conducting activities amongst the newly arrived in that many suburbs were inhabited by people with a refugee background and a cultural background other than the traditional Swedish ones and were often a natural part of the parish’s community. These people also had a special competence to welcome newly arrived people into a parish community.

Conclusion

The analysed parishes’ work with the newly arrived was, to a limited extent, governed by steering documents and had very little governance from the diocese or at the national level. Instead, it was initiated and implemented by the parishes’ own employees on their own initiatives. The lack of bureaucracy made it possible to change operations quickly and channel resources to adapt to emergency situations, such as unexpected refugee flows, which is in line with previous research (Hellqvist & Sandberg n.d.; Ramboll 2021). However, the work was also totally dependent on the will and competence of the employees, which could be something of a liability.

The aim of the parishes’ activities amongst newly arrived refugees was not primarily to integrate them into the life of the Church of Sweden, but rather into Swedish society in general. This is worth noting because faith communities as social actors are sometimes perceived as a threat to Sweden’s social cohesion (Lundgren 2021; Lundgren & Trädgårdh, 2020).

As parish work is a church activity, one might think that it would primarily be motivated by religious motives, but this was not obvious here. Several of the interviewees expressed that the activities aimed at the newly arrived refugees were a matter of ‘compassion’ and ‘equal value for all’.

This could be an expression of David Hume’s hypothesis that secular states can ‘bribe churches’ to adopt less strict religious doctrines (Hume 1835). That is, downplay the religious tradition and discourse in the public conversation (Wilson & Mavelli, 2016). But there is a tendency amongst secular actors to essentialise ‘religion’ (Wilson, 2014), which means that there is an assumption about what religion ‘is’ and ‘is not’. It can thus be understood that ‘compassion’ and ‘equal value for all’ are expressions of a secular life view, when in fact, they are expressions of a religious tradition.

None of the interviewees expressed that they were propagating their faith in order to get the newly arrived refugees to embrace Christianity. This could also be interpreted as adapting to the norms of secular society in order to gain impact (Stark & Iannaccone, 1994). But Christianity does not only aim to convert people to the Christian religion. In the Old Testament, people are told to show hospitality to foreigners and strangers and that it must be offered without reservations and demands because it is God’s will (Wilson & Mavelli, 2016). The work amongst the newly arrived was not motivated by the fact that the church’s activities should lead to people ‘coming to faith in Christ and to live in faith’ (Svenska kyrkan, 2021). To the extent that the activity was justified based on the KO, it was motivated with ‘the creation restored’ (Svenska kyrkan, 2021).

The activities also functioned as contexts for community, which was underlined by several of the interviewees as something important. As we know, social participation, such as involvement in society and participation in various social activities, networks and communities after migration, has proven to be important for increasing well-being and reducing mental health problems (Beiser & Hou, 2017; Khawaja et al., 2006; Niemi et al., 2019).

As in many other works, the economy played a crucial role. The budgets of the Church of Sweden’s parishes are dependent on democratic elections and on those who are elected to sit on the various councils. This means that depending on the outcome of the elections, the activities amongst newly arrived refugees can be prioritised differently. Some of the interviewees expressed concern about the priorities of the elected representatives in the future. One of the vicars saw a risk that the activities aimed at the newly arrived would be deselected in these campaigns, and that activities aimed at Swedes would be prioritised, given that most members of the Church of Sweden were ethnic Swedes and ‘must get some reward because they are members’ (2021-10-09). This can be interpreted as a concern that the church must adapt to the norms of secular society, such as people’s political values, in order to have an impact (Stark & Iannaccone, 1994).

Several of the activities were dependent on volunteers due to the church’s limited finances. At the same time, having volunteers involved in the activities sometimes led to conflict situations, which made the work difficult. Collaborations with other civilian actors and public institutions, such as municipalities, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Public Employment Service, proved to be important for the parishes’ work with the newly arrived. The collaboration with civilian actors functioned well overall, even if there were difficulties. The cooperation with public institutions was generally not as developed as that with civil society organisations. The results here are in accordance with previous research (MUC, 2017; Vikdahl et al., 2020). It was partly a matter of a parish being a relatively small organisation and therefore not having the administrative resources required for the collaboration with public institutions, and partly about the public actors’ lack of knowledge about the type of support that a parish could provide (see Elander & Fridolfsson, 2012). It would seem that some public institutions needed more knowledge about the parishes’ circumstances and the kind of work they did amongst the newly arrived refugees for collaborations to develop.

The parishes’ geographical locations were also of great importance for the possibility of conducting activities for the newly arrived. Cooperation with public institutions was perceived as being much easier in the rural areas, where ‘everyone’ knew ‘everyone’, than in the cities. This is interesting since earlier research shows that faith communities have proven to be of particular importance in rural areas with regard to migration and integration, where they have organised and supplemented the work of public authorities (Williams et al., 2012; Ideström & Linde, 2019; Larsson 2021a, b). One reason for the involvement of religious communities in sparsely populated areas could be the negative trend of depopulation and socio-economic decline, which could make rural faith communities more open and welcoming to the migrants repopulating them (Ager & Strand, 2008). This study implies that also personal relationships and easy connections may have a crucial impact on the faith communities’ well-developed work with the newly arrived in rural areas.

What was decisive was the number of newly arrived residents in the parish. There was also a perception that suburban congregations had better conditions for conducting activities amongst the newly arrived. Many suburbs are inhabited by people with a refugee background, some of whom are active in parish life. As newly arrived themselves, they are better equipped to welcome refugees to a parish community. In this sense, suburban parishes have more favourable conditions than inner-city parishes to work with newly arrived refugees.