Visitors are struck by the row of religious buildings on        No. 5 Road which includes Buddhist and Hindu temples, a large mosque and several churches. An enormous Buddhist temple is planned.

Richmond is experiencing growth in population and housing development, especially in the city’s downtown core; fueled in part by construction of the ‘Canada Line’  SkyTrain, which will serve both the airport and the No. 3 Road.

With a mostly middle-class to upper-middle-class demographic, Richmond has voted quite regularly along centrist lines. In contrast with the often factious politics of some Lower Mainland municipalities, the city is well known for how seldom political upsets or surprises occur.

The development of the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond was opposed by a range of faith groups. It has become the largest casino in the province of British Columbia, with an astonishing 10,000 visitors per day, on average. It has generated an annual revenue of $244 million (as of August 2006). Another record-breaking development in Richmond is the $178 million Olympic Speed Skating Oval, which is being built for the 2010 Winter Games.

Cultural factors

The steady influx of largely Cantonese-speaking Asian immigrants to Richmond, especially around the Hong Kong handover to China in 1997, has been replaced with mainly Mandarin-speaking immigration from Mainland China.

Richmond appears prosperous, with the many new condominiums being built in the downtown area largely pre-sold  – the majority to affluent Mainland Chinese newcomers.

Richmond’s population is 59 percent Asian; but this demographic comprises a number of quite different ethnic and cultural expressions. Cantonese speakers, who mainly originate from Hong Kong, can understand and speak some Mandarin. However, Mandarin speaking Chinese from Mainland China tend to not speak Cantonese. However, they are more acquainted with Canada’s ‘multi-cultural’ social fabric, as China is similarly made up of diverse provinces.

Other Asian groups in Richmond include East Indian Canadians, Filipino Canadians and Japanese Canadians – the latter having a long history in Steveston, dating back to the 1800s.

Church worlds

A snapshot of church life in Richmond shows that it tends to reflect different ‘worlds’ – which do not have very much contact with each other.

There are several Chinese evangelical churches (mainly Cantonese); four large Roman Catholic churches (mixed ethnicities, mostly English speaking); Caucasian evangelical churches (mainly English speaking, but with a growing outreach to Mandarin speaking newcomers and others); and  mainline Protestant churches.

Chinese churches

Many of the predominantly Cantonese-speaking congregations, founded by first generation immigrants,  tend to not connect with Caucasian congregations.

Most of the leaders do, however, have connections to the Chinese fellowship which meets monthly for the whole Lower Mainland.

Richmond Evangelical Free Church pastor Anthony Leung says the city “is very much Hong Kong in style, and Cantonese in culture. In Vancouver, it’s more of a mixture. Most of our people have been here 10 years, and we’ve doubled in size – not due to ministry, but immigration.”

Asked what he finds most challenging in ministering in the Chinese culture of Richmond, Leung responds: “It is very materialistic, people tend to be worldly, but on the other hand they do support ministries.”

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For the largely first generation immigrant churches the second generation is a real challenge, Leung said.

English-speaking churches

Pastors from a few churches meet weekly to pray and have lunch together. Stuart Appenheimer, pastor of Brighouse United Church, is in his 20th year leading the group.

“I have seen many changes in Richmond.” he said. “In the early 90s there was great demand on real estate, largely driven by Hong Kong immigration. Prices went up and people were induced to sell and move where they could upgrade. Especially in our area, so many Caucasian people left Richmond.

“Our congregation shrank. The area is now 80 percent Asian and we’re trying to find ways of becoming more multi-cultural.” Brighouse shares its facility with three other churches  – Korean, Chinese and Filipino.

Tom Mei, pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church, has grappled with some of the missiological challenges Richmond brings. Along with other ‘English based’ churches, Broadmoor is reaching out to the many new mainline Chinese immigrants. The church runs a substantial ESL program, and offers translation during services.

The three largest ‘English’ churches in Richmond are Bethany Baptist (in Hamilton, the far eastern corner of Richmond), Fraserview MB and Richmond Pentecostal.

Dan Unrau of Fraserview says, “the biggest challenge I find in ministering in Richmond is for the Christian community to authentically make a difference in the community. We’re always so religious!”

Fraserview has Eric Enns on staff, who is well known in the community for his longstanding work amongst teens, based in the very multicultural Cambie High School. He has had great influence on youth in Richmond, mainly through running sports programs.

Another leader seeking to address the issues of multi-ethnicity is Bert Liira of Richmond Pentecostal. Of the 600 or so that gather weekly there, he said, “we now have over 50 nations represented, with perhaps 100 Filipino and 75 or so Mainland Chinese.

“It’s only in the last two years that we have seen Chinese come and we are now reaching out to them as they are the dominant group in our neighbourhood.”

The church has distributed the WHY book in Mandarin to neighbours recently, and for the past five years has hosted a big Chinese new year’s celebration with over 300 guests.  

Roman Catholic churches

The four Roman Catholic churches in Richmond are full. Speaking with BCCN, Father David Poirier of St. Joseph the Worker estimated about 3,000 attend St. Joseph’s and a similar number go to St Paul’s, both with services only in English. St. Joseph’s runs a K – grade 7 school with more than 200 pupils. Canadian Martyrs is smaller, with mostly  Chinese members, and St. Monica’s has many Filipino members.  

“It is a great joy to be a minister in Richmond,” he said. “We have many eager volunteers who help with outreach to the almost invisible poor in Richmond. There is no concentrated area of poverty in Richmond, but there are poor here, children who don’t have enough to eat.” He described his congregation as about 70 percent Asian – Chinese (mainly Cantonese but also Mandarin), Filipino and Goans (from the west coast of India), as well as Caucasian.

Airport chaplaincy

With 26,000 workers and 17 million visitors, the Vancouver International Airport is like a town. Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the airport chaplaincy program.

Led  by Layne Daggett, a part-time pastor at Ward Memorial Church in Vancouver, the office offers a host of much needed services. “We minister to both travellers and workers, about 50 percent each,” Daggett told BCCN.

“We had contact with 7,000 people last year.” The office has five associate chaplains and more than 40 volunteers.

October 2007