Prayers in Pr. George’s Take On a New Dialect

Immigrants’ Churches Thrive as Others Languish

Hamil R. Harris and Phuong Ly, Wash. Post, May 8

Worship services on a recent Sunday at Hyattsville Presbyterian Church began with Hymn No. 205, “Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain.” In her ringing soprano, Rita Clowes sang to a sea of empty pews:

“God has brought his people forth into joy from sadness.

Now rejoice Jerusalem and with true affection.”

It was a challenge, she said later, to get through the song without becoming disheartened. She is one of just seven remaining choir members. At 74, Clowes not only sings, but also sets out the Communion ware and serves as church elder, cook, play director and Girl Scout troop leader.

These are the last, bittersweet days of Hyattsville Presbyterian. After 300 years — through the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Depression and white flight — Clowes and the other elders will formally dissolve the congregation. On June 6, they will hand over the building to Umoja International Community Church, a large, thriving African Presbyterian congregation that conducts its main weekly service in Swahili.

The old church is yielding to the new demographics of Prince George’s County and the Washington region, now a major U.S. destination for African immigrants. About 100,000 — from Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo and other countries — live in the area, representing about 10 percent of the total population of Africans in the United States. Scholars estimate that half are Christians and the rest are Muslims or practice indigenous African religions.

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