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LIFESTYLE The Champion, Thursday, March 10-16, 2016
by R. Scott Belzer
sbelzer@dekalbchamp.com
In DeKalb County, it’s not un
usual to drive or walk by someone
of Ethiopian origin. It’s even more
common to pass a neighbor hailing
from a Hispanic community. En
countering a Hausa, Igbo or Yoru-
ba-speaking Nigerian may not hap
pen as often, but in DeKalb County,
one cannot rule out the possibility.
At places such as Indian Creek
Baptist Church, it is not uncommon
to sing, break bread and worship
with all of the above.
Indian Creek Baptist Church,
located along Rockbridge Road
in Decatur, is one of many places
of worship n DeKalb County with
separate churches under one roof.
While the church stands alone as
an establishment, the facility hous
es four separate congregations:
Ethiopian, Hispanic and Creole
speaking French West African in
addition to the church’s “normal,”
English-speaking members.
“We’re in a unique situation,”
said Bill Gordon, pastor at Indian
Creek. “We have many ethnic
groups around the church and
many of them do not speak English
well. This is a way for us to reach
our entire community through the
word and embodiment of Jesus
Christ. This is something that most
churches don’t do, but something
we do because of where we are.”
Indian Creek is one of many
churches throughout the county to
house at least one separate con
gregation. The church joins places
such as Grace Church of All Na
tions in Stone Mountain as a reflec
tion of local diversity. Both churches
allow other congregations to use
their sanctuary to celebrate faith,
albeit at different times of the day.
The pastor of Grace Church of
All Nations said the diversity pro
vides a spiritual representation of
the church’s overall philosophy.
“We have a very diverse com
munity - it’s one of the reasons
I wanted to be a pastor here. I
wanted it to look more like heaven,”
said David Balzer, pastor at Grace
Church of All Nations. “We’re half
Black, half White; several of our
Black members are from the islands
and places like Congo. We have
people from South Korea. We even
have a married couple from Mexico
and Cambodia.”
The Stone Mountain church
shares its facility with a Burmese
congregation known as Atlanta Ma-
tupi Community Church. Headed by
Pastor Aung Matu, the five-year-
old congregation offers the local
Burmese community—mostly hail
ing from Malaysia—a place to com
fortably worship.
Matu was introduced to Balzer
five years ago. Within three months
of worshiping at the Stone Mountain
church, Matu’s congregation grew
to approximately 80 people. Today,
the congregation numbers about
150.
“We have to split the services
due to the number of people,” Matu
said.
To help congregants adjust to
American life, Matu and a team of
interpreters work with new mem
bers of the church to provide as
sistance in understanding local
laws, education, medical amenities
and mail. Seemingly small matters
such as yellow traffic lines, speed
ing tickets, phone scams, junk mail,
construction zones and getting chil
dren into school are pivotal to new
Americans.
“We like to call many of them
‘chicken without hens,’ meaning
they have no leader,” Matu said
of how Atlanta Maupi Community
Church aids its members. “Many
of them are scared. You can hear
in their voice that they need help.
They have to learn what that stuff
is, but no one provides them in
struction. I thought to myself, ‘I’m
responsible. I have been here for
20 years.’”
The Stone Mountain pastor said
he travels the eastern seaboard
offering cultural orientation to
churches and communities in need.
According to Matu, there are more
than 30 churches with multiple con
gregations in metro Atlanta.
Matu arrived in America in 1995
and stayed for three years. In his
home country of Burma, he was the
principal of Reformed Theological
Seminary and needed to further his
education to join the Asian Theo
logical Association. This process
brought him to Jackson, Miss.,
where a dissertation on the univer
sal themes of Christianity earned
him notoriety in his native country.
Matu was forced to seek asylum in
2006 and arrived in Stone Mountain