International Migration and Its Impact on the Mar Thoma Denomination
There is currently little literature on how religious institutions are influenced by the international migration of its members, in other words, how the transnationalization of a religious organization is felt and practiced on the ground. Chapter 6 examines how and why the international migration of Mar Thomites, particularly to the United States, has brought about multifaceted changes in the home church and the home communities in Kerala. Some of these impacts were due to the leadership having to accommodate the needs of its international membership, whereas others were the unintended consequence of the church developing the infrastructure to manage and use the inflow of remittances. Yet other consequences were due to larger transformations in Kerala society caused by migration and rapid social change. The chapter also examines the theoretical and practical implications of these changes.