WORTHINGTON, Minn. — On Sunday at noon, the overlapping worship options reflect how Worthington has changed from a typical Midwestern farming community to a majority-minority hub with migrants from all over the world.

An overflow crowd still sways to the praise music of one of 10 Latino choirs during the second Spanish-language Catholic Mass of the weekend at St. Mary. Half a mile away, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians finish their six-hour church service in what was once the offices of the local newspaper.

And in the cornfields just beyond town, Southeast Asian refugees gather to pray and sing in Karen at a Baptist church founded by Swedish farmers in 1873, many of whose descendants attend the service morning in English.

These churches and others attempt to preserve widely diverse cultures in a way that is unique to them, while providing a chance for integration to communities that tend to self-segregate.

“My job, at least in both congregations, is to unite them,” said the Rev. Lucio Berumen, Mexican pastor of Indian Lake Baptist Church. “You’ve been here 150 years, you’ve been here 15 years, you know the problems you’re having. The only thing I want to know is that you can work together.

Berumen has learned Swedish traditions like julotta (Christmas morning prayers), but he also regularly attends the two-hour Karen service, not understanding a word but praying silently for everyone in his church.

For Eh Ler Plaw Saw, Karen’s volunteer pastor, who recently led the community in celebrating Indian Lake’s 15th anniversary, helping children practice Karen is as important a concern as the older generation’s struggles with the ‘English.

At St. Mary’s, the Rev. Tim Biren hopes to bridge the gap between Latino and predominantly white communities with different pastoral needs and worship styles, down to the volume of choral music.

Some parishioners would like to try bilingual masses. “So we can learn some Spanish and help them build relationships outside of their community,” said Pat Morphew, who has attended St. Mary’s since the 1980s.

For many members of Spanish choirs, however, it’s a relief to belong to something so familiar in a foreign country, said Dagoberto Mendez, who moved to Worthington in 2000 and directs the group Nueva Inspiración.

Three of his children and several fellow Guatemalans recently shook the rafters at Saturday evening and Sunday morning worship with trumpets, a saxophone, an electric piano and the typical güira, a percussion instrument that resembles a giant cheese grater .

Large drums and staffs feature in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo liturgy, raising eyebrows among Lutherans who welcomed worshipers into their church for years until they built their own sanctuary.

“They have no idea what we are doing, but they give us space for our worship,” recalls Abebe Abetew. “They are God’s people.”

Today, most of the community’s 500 members gather before dawn at the shrine adorned with Ethiopian-made icons and begin the afternoon with prayers over lunch in the basement.

“Church is fundamental to us, like eating food. If you don’t eat, you die,” Abetew said.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives AP support collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.