It is midafternoon. A loudspeaker begins the Muslim chant calling adherents to prayer. Five times a day, the message sounds from the mosque, but the location is not a Middle Eastern village. It is the city of Hamtramck, Mich., population around 23,000.
Much of the population of Hamtramck’s working-class neighborhoods traces its roots to Eastern Europe. Only 8 percent of the population claims Arab origins. Three percent are Bangladeshi.
But every day in this small area of less than 3 square miles, loudspeakers sound at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset and nightfall.
Hamtramck is not the only Michigan city where loudspeakers call Muslims to prayer. Dearborn, the city with the largest percentage of Arabs of any city in the United States, also allows loudspeakers to beckon the Muslim population among the 50,000 Arabs who live there.
Michigan’s Arab population is estimated at nearly 500,000. And while Arabs live in 82 out of the 83 counties, more than 80 percent live in the three Detroit-metro counties of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne. About one-third of Dearborn’s approximately 100,000 residents claim Arab heritage.
According to Carlos Liese, language ministries leader for the Baptist State Convention of Michigan, eight evangelical Christian ministries focus on Muslims in the state.
Arabic speakers are not the only language group in Michigan. The U.S. English Foundation estimates 125 languages are spoken in the state every day. Michigan Southern Baptists have work in 13 of those languages: Arabic, French, Hmong, Hungarian, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Japanese, Mandarin, Romanian, Cantonese, Burmese and sign language.
Currently 46 of the states’ 292 churches and chapels are language-related.
In addition, six new language Bible studies are under way, all of which Liese hopes will result in church starts.
Liese said ministering to a language group in the United States is harder than ministering to it in its native land. Pastors deal with immigration issues, cultural issues and communication issues.
“It is like doing triage at a hospital,” he observed. “Pastors are running from emergency to emergency. One moment, they might have to translate for the family at a doctor’s office. The next, they might have to help grandparents and grandchildren communicate because the grandchildren have not learned the old language and the grandparents have been too busy working to learn English.”
Liese said he is praying God will raise up church planters and pastors for language churches. He is also praying that Alabama Baptist churches will join the efforts to reach targeted language groups.
“You do not have to know a language to do Vacation Bible School or block parties or a number of outreach efforts,” Liese said.
Second-generation immigrants usually know both their “heart language” and English, he explained. Translators are provided when needed.
Liese said he would encourage Alabama Baptists to come to Michigan even if they lack language skills.
“We will hammer out the details after we have made contact. A lot of exciting things can be done if people will just make themselves available.”
Another prayer being offered by Liese is that God will lead an Alabama Baptist church or association to join Michigan Baptists in a language church start by helping to select and fund a church planter.
With unemployment already topping 15 percent in some Michigan cities, Liese said the financial needs of all Baptist work in Michigan are great and among language work, the needs are “very great.”
For more information about work in Michigan, contact Reggie Quimby at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239.
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