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Paper short abstract:

Integrating into mainstream Australian society is challenging for many African Australian youth. However, their participation and leadership roles guided by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in multicultural Pentecostal churches enables them a sense of belonging that ultimately eases integration.

Paper long abstract:

Media and political discourses have expressed concerns for African Australian youth’s ability to integrate into Australian society. For their part, young Africans feel that they are rejected by mainstream society. This paper focuses on the experiences of African-Australian youth who attend Pentecostal churches and hold positions of leadership in their congregation in Perth, Western Australia. It draws on auto-ethnography and interviews with African youth leaders who attend various Pentecostal churches. I argue that while young people may feel a sense of rejection from mainstream Australian society through numerous experiences of discrimination, their church communities provide a sense of belonging that eases their integration. Their participation and leadership roles within their churches provide them with upward mobility. This is due to the ongoing normative reinforcement through moral directives and an increase in networking -- some members of the church become like family, others present a diverse pool of role models that help raise young people’s aspirations. Through the anointing (supernatural selection and blessing) of the Holy spirit, and encouragement from their congregation leaders, they experience a unique sense of belonging from their multicultural congregation.