[RuTh 10.1 (2012) 9-26] ISSN (print) 1470–4994 http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/ruth.v10i1.9 ISSN (online) 2042–1273 © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2012. Te Church and Mobility: Dealing with the Exclusion of Eastern European Migrants in Rural Scotland Sergei Shubin 1 Abstract Te paper explores theoretical and practical issues related to mobility and integration of Eastern European migrants in rural Scotland. Regionalized structure of socio-political organizations and dominant ‘sedentary’ thinking (Cresswell, 2001) often lead to exclusion of Eastern European migrants in the British countryside. Te church and other key rural institutions often do not take into account complex mobility practices of migrants including afective relationships with existing immigrant communities, family support strategies, unpredictable travelling behaviour and cross-border social links. To address this gap, the paper, frst, considers opportunities within the church to attend to afective dimension of movement in order to facilitate migrants’ inclusion in the rural communities. Second, the paper argues for development of pro-mobility thinking within the church and other rural institutions which appreciates diferent forms of movement and empowers marginalized itinerant groups. It concludes with theoretically informed observations about the new ways of conceptualizing ‘mobility’ and ‘integration’ of Eastern European migrants in the British rural communities. Keywords: Mobility, integration, church, disadvantage Introduction Although the words ‘religion’ and ‘migration’ are often used alongside each other, there is still a limited understanding of the relationship between the two concepts. Diferent commentators (Levitt, 2003; Rudolph and Piscatori, 1997) stress the lack of literature examining the broader connections between transnational migration and religion. In particular, the meanings and practices 1. Sergei Shubin is Senior Lecturer, Swansea University. Address for correspondence: Sergei Shubin, Department of Geography, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, Wales, UK. Email: s.v.shubin@swansea.ac.uk