New Bilingual Service at CornerStone Methodist Church
Lora Parsons
The Ashland Beacon
The top line of the screen reads: “Levanto un aleluya, mÍ arma melodia es” while the bottom line contains the words: “I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody.” And, there are folks in the congregation fluent in both Spanish and English, worshipping simultaneously in their own native tongue. CornerStone Methodist Church on 29th Street in Ashland provides a space where this bilingual experience occurs every Sunday. On the surface, it looks like church in two languages. On a deeper level, there is an intentional design to not merely provide a place where native-Spanish speakers can understand the service, but rather, to provide a place where a unique community is established that seeks to worship, grow closer to God, share life together with other believers … and where all of that just happens to be done in two languages at once. The goal in its earliest stages was to meet a need in the community, but the heart behind it all is much more than linguistic.
It doesn’t take long in speaking with Lead Pastor Keith Katterheinrich to learn that there’s much more to this service than just two languages. His goal, when planning began more than a year ago, was not to merely translate words; he wanted a bilingual community to emerge. Visiting this service — whether in person or through Facebook Live — means hearing and seeing both English and Spanish speakers actively participating in all aspects of a worship service. While the church’s other two services (English-only traditional service at 9:30 a.m. and English-only contemporary 11:00 a.m.) may be preferable to congregants, many show up early to the bilingual service to completely embrace the community that this service is designed to accommodate. Katterheinrich stressed the idea that: “We are all part of the same family. This isn’t about us being landlords for another community meeting in our space. This is about us all being the church together.”
The idea for the service came about during a conversation that Katterheinrich had with a Servpro representative about a year and a half before the first service was launched. During this encounter, the native Spanish speaker told Katterheinrich that there was no Protestant bilingual service in the area, but there was definitely a population of believers who would benefit from one. The thinking, dreaming, praying, and planning began. Katterheinrich was most focused in those early stages on making sure that it was a ministry that their congregation was being called to fulfill. He had no doubts that someone should jump in, but he was most concerned about whether God was calling CornerStone to be the place for that community to be established. Of secondary concern was what he perceived as his own limitation: not being as fluent in Spanish as he would need to be. As a result of a message given by the church’s Associate Pastor, John Carwell, Katterheinrich was stirred to action.
In reality, though, the preparation for this endeavor had begun years before. Katterheinrich had studied Spanish in both high school and college. He had a foundation on which to build. Eight trips post-college to Costa Rica for mission-type work further strengthened his Spanish and proved that God had been paving the way for this service for years. Katterheinrich additionally enrolled in a Spanish immersion school in Antigua, Guatemala. The first two weeks of September were spent speaking and hearing only Spanish for the biggest part of his day, increasing not only his fluency but also his confidence in being prepared for the service that lay ahead. That occurred for the first time on Sept. 24 of this past year. “It was important to me to be able to PREACH in Spanish, not just have the message translated.” And, that took a little bit of work.
That work paid off, though, as preaching in Spanish is exactly what Katterheinrich has been able to do. A sentence of his message is delivered in Spanish first and then is translated into English by his son, Benjamin, taking turns back and forth to translate both languages for their bilingual audience. During the worship time, screens display song lyrics first in Spanish and then below in English to make the meaning accessible to speakers of both languages. And, the songs themselves are sung in a mixture of languages, sometimes with the worship leader, Stacia Carwell, singing a chorus once in Spanish and then a second time in English — a beautiful mixture of both languages, blended seamlessly into one unified message of praise. Prayer requests are taken from the congregation first in the native language of whoever is making the request, and then translated by Katterheinrich into the other. Every element of a traditional service is thoughtfully delivered so that the service feels fully bilingual — not simply a Spanish translation of an English service. The immersion experience feels authentic and organic in an intentional effort to ensure that everyone knows this is a place they belong, equally.
Only a few months old, it’s difficult to pinpoint just what kind of impact the service is having on the Spanish-speaking community in our area, but it hasn’t been difficult to see the impact on the church itself. A fellow bilingual pastor shared with Katterheinrich that “The gospel is a welcoming message; we have to learn to welcome people.” And, that’s exactly what the CornerStone congregation has done. When Katterheinrich brushed up on his Spanish, the church followed suit. Benjamin Katterheinrich began teaching a Spanish Phrases class where churchgoers learned common sayings, like “Bienvenidos (Welcome!)” and “Nos alegramos de que esté aquí (We’re glad you’re here!)” In addition to the growth in their own Spanish, the congregation has also benefited from a sense of unity. Some church members attend one of the English services as well as the bilingual service to show their support, but a lot of other area churches have participants in this service as well. The cross-cultural service has proven to be a cross-denominational service, also. Breaking down language barriers has led to an unexpected benefit of breaking down cultural, age, worship-style, and denominational barriers as well. A community of believers, arms open, now awaits anyone hoping to find a bilingual Protestant service in the Ashland area.