Twin Cities Journal: Once again, Minneapolis church welcomes immigrants

So much would have been familiar to the Slovaks who long ago built and peopled this old Minneapolis church.

Not the incense, or the ornate umbrellas held over holy icons. Not the language, Amharic. Not the flowing white shama robes worn by most parishioners, or the traditional wooden staffs they carried for relief through three, four or more hours of standing prayer and ceremony.

Dancing and chanting to the beat of African drums, the choir of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church rejoiced in song Sunday.

But sun streamed through the stained-glass windows as clergy in their vestments led this Sunday's service. The great cross remained above and behind the altar. In pews crowded well past overflowing, small children squirmed, cried and yelled "Mama!" in the middle of prayers, drawing indulgent smiles from all around.

After prayers came song, then lunch and visiting.

Prince of Glory Lutheran Church officially became the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on Sunday, and everyone within several blocks must have known it.

At the end of a joyous celebration that had started the day before, with some people singing and praying through the night, a visiting Ethiopian Orthodox bishop and other clergy carried the Tabot -- replica of the Ark of the Covenant -- outside the church at noon Sunday.

Led by young men and women of the church, dancing and chanting to the beat of African drums, they carried the Tabot through the crowd, around the outside of the church and finally back inside.

"This is the beginning of a new era for us," said Seyoum Teferra, 54, president of the church board, who spoke Sunday first in English, then in Amharic.

Originally built by Slovakians, the church still serves the spiritual needs of immigrants.

"This church carries a rich tradition of thousands of immigrants who came earlier," he said. "Like those immigrants who built this church many decades ago, we will baptize our children here. . . . For those who cross the Atlantic Ocean, this will again be a home.

"You should be proud for being pioneers."

Just five years ago, Ethiopian immigrants to the Twin Cities worshipped at a Greek Orthodox church. A few families left in 1994 to hold their own traditional services in northeast Minneapolis, in a sanctuary rented from a small Russian-American Orthodox church.

The congregation grew to about 90 people, and in 1995 they moved to a larger church in Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota. In 1997, still growing, the congregation consecrated a former insurance company office as its new church.

Now 500 families call this their church, Teferra said. They come from throughout the Twin Cities. Some have lived in Minnesota for nearly 30 years; some arrived last week.

Choir member Haymanot Teklu listens to service wearing flowing white shama robes.

Their new church will be a community center, social agency and school, as well as a house of faith.

"We will teach our children the language and customs of their ancestors," Teferra said, "and our parents, the language and customs of the host country."

An understanding