As they moved into neighborhoods that had been totally white, they found that the older congregations, which had once served immigrant populations, were failing financially. When they were unreceptive to the newcomers, African Americans continued to start their own small churches. When Mexicans and Puerto Ricans began immigrating to the United States, many of them naturally went to Roman Catholic churches. Large numbers of Hispanics, however, did not find the type of community feeling they sought. They therefore turned to the more emotionally appealing Pentecostal or holiness groups that opened neighborhood storefront operations.
Storefront churches have several elements in common.
They provide a religious home for people in similar economic circumstances, and in doing so they create a sense of community and mutual responsibility and sharing. They are a means of self-expression that offers a powerful emotional release through their enthusiastic forms of worship. They help preserve family life in neighborhoods that are often rife with crime and drugs. While these churches usually have a man or woman who is in charge, they also emphasize the role of the whole membership in congregational activities and worship. In this way they offer leadership roles to members of African American and Hispanic communities who might never have been able to achieve such positions otherwise.