The Polyglot Congregation
by Peter K. Johnson (PE NEWS – July 2, 2015)
Calvary Temple International (CTI), a model multicultural church in Wayne, New Jersey, reflects the growing nonwhite ethnic minority community that accounts for more than 40 percent of the 3.1 million adherents in the U.S. Assemblies of God.
Senior Pastor Thomas Keinath describes northern New Jersey, where CTI sits only 22 miles from Manhattan, as a beautiful melting pot of diverse ethnic cultures.
"We celebrate our intercultural diversity as in Joel 2:28 where God is pouring pour out his Holy Spirit on all people in these last days," he says. "There is something very special about different nationalities worshipping together."
Nearly 40 percent of people living in the metropolitan New Jersey/New York region speak another language. In New Jersey alone, 30.4 percent of the population, or 2.5 million residents, speak a language other than English at home. New Jersey claims the third highest percentage of foreign-born residents among the 50 states, behind California and New York. Without a doubt, these numbers make the Garden State a fertile mission field.
CTI conducts weekly services in English, Spanish, Tagalog (Filipino), and Korean, as well as Farsi (Persian) in home groups, representing more than 1,900 worshippers.
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