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Leveraging Language Through Worship Article by Nikki Lerner

Excerpt (source):

I walked out on stage to begin the worship set and I looked over the beautiful, diverse congregation that gathers each Sunday at Bridgeway Community Church, in Columbia, MD. As I do each Sunday, I welcomed the crowd, beginning with the balcony, then our internet-watchers, then to the people sitting right in front of me. They usually wave high in the air to greet me in the morning. While scanning the crowd this particular morning, I noticed some friends of mine that I have known since my college days. To protect their identity, let’s call them Brad and Wanda. Brad and Wanda were visiting Bridgeway for the first time. I was elated to see them! It had been awhile since we had spent time in the “same space”.

On this particular Fall morning, the Bridgeway Choir was singing. Our worship set consisted of a free-flowing, instrumental introduction to a familiar song, and then into a Scripture reading in English, Mandarin Chinese, and French. Next up was, an upbeat song, a traditional hymn (I Surrender All)- which included a contemporary vamp, and then a final song that was sung in English and Spanish, and featured our ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters. It was quite a multicultural feast for both one’s ears and eyes. I even caught my Pastor attempting to learn the ASL to the last song. This was a very new thing for him (smile).

After the service, I was able to see my friends Brad and Wanda in the lobby at church. We shared a familiar hug and began to catch up on some of the events of our lives. Brad, who himself is a Pastor of a church mentioned that of all the churches they had visited in the area, Bridgeway had been their favorite experience. Curious, I asked why that was so. Wanda, his wife, then said something very interesting. She had mentioned that she loved the different languages that we used during worship. She mentioned to me that when she heard native languages spoken, it made her feel safe right away. You see, Wanda comes from an immigrant Thai family.

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