Nov. 16, 2009 issue
Immigrant families span language gap
By Jewel Showalter Eastern Mennonite MissionsPage:
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BALTIMORE — It wasn’t just that the church needed Sunday school teachers.
Tsadik Abraham, lead elder at Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Baltimore, watches as children give a program of songs and Scripture verses in English and Amharic. — Photo by Jewel Showalter/Eastern Mennonite Missions
Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Baltimore had plenty of capable Ethiopian men and women. But as an immigrant church, the adults knew that their children were growing up in a world vastly different from the one that had shaped them, said Tsadik Abraham, lead elder for the congregation, a member of Lancaster Mennonite Conference.
There’s always a generation gap, but for new immigrants the gap is unusually wide. Ethiopian adults often prefer the traditional pentatonic Amharic worship songs. They love to hear the familiar words of Scripture in their mother tongue.
But many of their children, born in the United States, don’t speak Amharic. They go to English-language schools. So when children come to church, they want to read from English Bibles and sing English songs.
“For two years we were praying and asking everyone we could think of for help with our children and youth ministries,” Abraham said.
A year ago the Ethiopian church approached Terri and Roy Graham, empty nesters who had years of experience in children’s ministries at a nearby Assemblies of God congregation. Would they consider assisting the church?
They thought of Philip meeting an Ethiopian man in Acts 8.
“How could you say ‘no’ to an Ethiopian?” Roy Graham said. “Philip couldn’t, and neither could we!”
The Grahams joined the Ethiopian Mennonite church and have been volunteering to minister to the Ethiopian-American children. While the adults worship upstairs, the Grahams teach songs and Scripture memorization, tell stories and organize craft projects for around 20 children in the congregation.
But each Sunday before they head to the basement for their separate classes in English, the children share the songs and Scriptures they are learning with the adults.
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