Pastors Nene Peter and Jean Claude Ntimpa, who became part of the Christian Fellowship congregation last spring, created the service because they felt a language barrier shouldn't prevent people from practicing their faith.
Peter, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who lived in Kenya, settled in St. Louis the day Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. He moved to Columbia two years later after being asked to help start an African congregation here.
He began the African multilingual service in Columbia so people would be able to worship not only in their native language but also in the way they've always known, he said.
Ntimpa met Peter about six years ago at First Baptist Church, where they began leading an African congregation together. They moved to Christian Fellowship about a year ago.
Some people in the African community, Peter said, worship differently.
"If we praise God, we jump, we dance, we put our knee down and say, 'Thank you, Jesus.' It's different," Peter said. "But if we go to some churches here in America, they don't do that."
Swahili is a lingua franca, or common language, of the African Great Lakes region and is native to countries such as Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Estimates of the number of people who speak Swahili range from 50 million to more than 100 million.
While Peter and Ntimpa lead the afternoon service at the fellowship in Swahili, an interpreter on stage simultaneously translates the sermon to Kinyarwanda. Along with English and French, Kinyarwanda is an official language of Rwanda and is spoken by 12 million people living there. It is also spoken in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring areas of southern Uganda. People who speak Kirundi and Kinyamulenge understand Kinyarwanda as well.
Even if people who come to the service understand none of those languages, they can be provided with an interpreter who will translate the sermon through headphones from an adjacent room.
Caritas Habimana, who has been a member of Christian Fellowship for seven years, volunteers as an interpreter on Sundays for whoever might need one. She can speak English, Swahili, French, Lingala, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi.
Habimana left Rwanda after the genocide 23 years ago. She is a part of the ministry at the church that works to help African refugees.
Having a service in their native languages isn't what is important to the parishioners, she said, but it does help those who have just settled in the United States and don't understand English very well to continue practicing their faith.
“When we came here, all of us, we didn’t know each other," Habimana said. "But because we are Christian, we are together, and having a service together, it’s big to us.”
Attending the service has allowed her to connect with people who have experienced similar situations in their lives.
“Twenty-three years here, and then you see people coming, and then you walk together and you pray together, made me feel like I’m not alone," Habimana said. "We give strength to each other because we went through a lot, so each one of us has a story behind himself. We share the stories, we pray together, we cry together. It’s therapeutic."
That's what Peter and Ntimpa wanted; a service that would allow people who settled here from Africa to forget about past differences and remember their shared faith.
Liturgy is attached to the heart and the spirit, Ntimpa said. Members of the African community need to be together and share their emotions and culture to help them integrate into this country, he said.
When immigrants and refugees arrive in the United States, they need help assimilating into American society by learning basic things such as how to drive a car or buy groceries, Peter said. One of the main focuses, however, is to help them continue to serve God and remain spiritual, he said.
Ntimpa finds the Swahili service special because it brings people from all cultures and ethnic backgrounds in Africa together, no matter the emotional, economical or political issues that might have previously divided them.
Preaching, dancing, singing and laughing intertwine throughout the service. No one really knows what will happen, who will speak or how long the service will go. It all depends on where their emotions take them.
It was four hours last week before the gathering began filtering out of the church.
“For God, we can be here all night," Habimana said. "The spirit can just lead us until tomorrow morning ... who cares? For God we can do everything. We don’t count the hours, we don’t count anything, because this is the only day we have together to serve, to sing."