African National Ministries lets immigrants grow their faith without barriers

CEDAR RAPIDS - The worshippers in the African National Ministries at St. Paul's United Methodist Church have faced untold horrors in their homelands, but you would never know that by the overflowing joy in their Sunday afternoon church services.

Young and old, they sing, they clap, they pray, they dance and they shout their praises to the Lord who delivered them from evil.

Pastor Daniel Niyonzima, 48, spent years in a Tanzanian refugee camp, after fleeing the genocide in his homeland of Burundi in 1993.

Located in south-central Africa, Burundi is bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since that's the region where most of the Cedar Rapids congregants came from, Saturday and Sunday church services are conducted in their native Swahili and Kirundi languages. When guests attend, however, a church member translates Scripture readings and sermon into English.

No translation is needed for the music. Rejoicing knows no barriers. On Dec. 20, one of the hymns was sung in English - 'When Jesus Says Yes, Nobody Can Say No” - as an enthusiastic call-and-response between the leader and about 70 congregants. Another piece sung in African tongues was set to a very familiar, traditional hymn tune.

WORSHIP

Music drives the Sunday service, which starts between 12:30 and 1 p.m. and lasts until 3 p.m. or later, when everyone moves to the parlor for fellowship and snacks. The worship start time is fluid, since members with cars may need to make several trips to pick up those who don't have transportation.

As they trickle in, they hear young men setting up the sound system, electronic keyboard and two guitars while children grab the microphones to sing and dance down front. The pastor's wife, Perpetua Nsabimana, leads the group in praise and prayers.

The congregation is a mix of young and old, in ages and traditions.

The men wear suits or dress pants and shirts while the teens gravitate more toward jeans and T-shirts. The women dress in the gorgeous, colorful batiks of their homeland, decorated with intricate embroidery and accessorized with elaborate headwraps.

Some teen girls opt to top their batik skirts with sweat shirts, while the little girls twirl in their Sunday best, glittering with sequins and tulle.

One young man blended cultures, wearing an American-style suit in a green, cream and black batik. A few others wore bright tropical prints. The mix is exotic and familiar.

Across the generations and cultural shifts, all are united by the jubilance of their praise.

The first hour was given over entirely to music, in a combination of hymns, contemporary songs and choir pieces. Congregants took turns leading the group songs and playing the instruments. Even the pastor played electric guitar. And when the song leader gestured, worshippers joined him down front to sing and dance as the spirit moved them.

As they settled into Scripture readings from the Old Testament, followed by the sermon, the pastor's son, Bertin Nduwayezu, translated his father's words into English. But as with the music, the pastor's delivery was energetic, passionate and punctuated with 'hallelujahs,” 'amens” and 'Abraham” that the intent was clearly exultant. Still, with the translation, visitors were able to understand that the message was celebrating God's covenant with Abraham and His promises of providing a better life for the faithful.

HISTORY

The promise of a better life is what brought Niyonzima and his family to Cedar Rapids and led to the creation of the African National Ministries.

Niyonzima was raised in the Methodist tradition from his youth and was educated by Methodist missionaries in his homeland and in the refugee camp. Through those connections, he was invited to bring his family to the United States in 2006, and then to Cedar Rapids in 2007.

A close friendship between the family and St. Paul's developed that year, when the pastors received a request to visit Niyonzima and his wife at St. Luke's Hospital following the birth of the couple's eighth and last child.

Within a year, an African National group was worshipping at another local church, but without a translator, the language barrier was too much, and group broke off to create their own non-denominational unit.

In early 2012, Niyonzima began forming a congregation to worship in the Methodist tradition at St. Paul's. Three years later, about 50 people now attend Saturday evening services and about 100 fill the sanctuary with exuberance on Sunday afternoons.

Sunday School, prayer groups and choirs expand their worship and growth, aided by having Bibles and songbooks printed in Swahili and Kirundi. Niyonzima, who speaks multiple languages, also carries a French Bible, since elements of that language are woven into dialects from his home region.

Even though some congregants are studying English through one-on-one tutoring at the church or through Kirkwood Community College programs, praising God in their own language is crucial to continuing their faith journey.

'In the African people we have here, some of them don't understand the English, so I help them to worship in their language - Kirundi and Swahili - to lead them to find Jesus, to know the Lord God, to continue their faith,” Niyonzima said. 'So if we worship in our language, it makes our Christianity to sustain the faith, to continue to follow Jesus as Christ.”

It also helps the young people to know the languages of their families and their heritage, he said.

Niyonzima has continued his studies in the U.S., taking courses in lay ministry at Cornell College in Mount Vernon and in ministry licensing at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. St. Paul's lead pastor, the Rev. Sherrie Ilg, said Niyonzima has completed the steps for local licensing, and is on the verge of receiving that, along with a full-time appointment to St. Paul's church.

MUTUAL BENEFITS

Welcoming the African National Ministries enriches St. Paul's members, programming and mission.

'It brings us a taste of the kingdom of God,” said Ilg, 57, of Shueyville, 'in terms of the blessings that we find in diversity and understanding our world from lots of perspectives - and understanding the gifts that we all bring. Understanding how we connect with God in all of our commonalities and our uniquenesses, as well.

'It helps us understand God's creation and our stories.”

Jan Frischkorn, 71, a retired teacher from Cedar Rapids, sees mutual benefits as she works with the volunteer tutoring program and the African ministry's board.

'The people that we work with - the happiness and joy that they bring in their efforts, even though they may be living in poverty - it lets us know what we should be doing as Christians. They teach us.”

Niyonzima is grateful for the way St. Paul's has stepped in to help the immigrants acclimate to their new country, but Ilg is quick to point out 'the mutuality of blessings” from hearing the stories of the new residents' lives.

Spreading the word about St. Paul's programming throughout the local African immigrant community is not hard, Frischkorn added.

'It's like a small town,” she said. 'They are a community within Cedar Rapids. They communicate with each other, they support each other, and they tell each other. ... There is a community of support.”

Sustaining their faith also helps them to grow into their new lives, Frischkorn said.

'Many of them living without jobs are looking for jobs,” she said. 'They have faith that God will help bring them through to live a successful life here in America. As they learn more English, then they become more successful in those attempts. It's that community of faith that has gotten them through.”

Even though the African Nationals and St. Paul's parishioners have separate worship services, Ilg is hoping the congregations can mix more in the future.

'The youth are speaking English, and their needs are changing,” Frischkorn said, 'so we are looking at moving some of our program times closer together, so some of our younger students could be more integrated into Sunday School. You learn things better when you're young, and as you're growing up together, that will be a real positive.”

Ilg is thrilled when the African choirs share their music with the English-language congregations.

'It's always a highlight of the worship service,” she said. 'We continue to see how we can share in being one congregation here, and have a ways to go yet, but we sure are blessed with those opportunities.”

IF YOU GO

What: African National Ministries

Where: St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 1340 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids

When: Swahili/Kirundi worship, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Saturdays, Room 117; 12:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays, Swahili/Kirundi worship in Sanctuary, reception in parlor; visitors welcome

Also: Youth choir, adult choir practice (with child care), Sunday school and adult prayer programs

Information: (319) 363-2058 or Stpaulsumc.org/ministries