It wasn’t necessarily that Han Ryu didn’t understand the words she was hearing from the pulpit of the Sylvania First United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Han had studied English as a student in Korea, she recalled recently. And, before arriving in Toledo in 1970, she had spent several years immersed in the language while her husband was pursuing a degree from the then-named East Texas State University.

The issue, she said, was more subtle: “It didn’t come into my heart.”

Mrs. Han and her husband, Won, were among the first Toledoans to establish a Korean Presbyterian presence in the area in the ’70s. Today, they spend their Sunday mornings at the Hanmi Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Toledo, where the Rev. Jin Seung Kim leads services almost entirely in Korean. The hymns, Scripture readings, sermons, and prayers are translated versions of what the Rev. Kim said a congregant could find at any other Presbyterian service in the area.

Mrs. Han and the Rev. Kim, who described an experience similar to Mrs. Han’s at an English-speaking church in the ‘90s, said the use of Korean enables native-speakers to more prayerfully connect with the worship service.

“In my own language,” Mrs. Han explained, “I can feel more.”

Hanmi is one of two Korean Presbyterian churches in the area. It’s also one of several area congregations that incorporates a language other than English as a means of connecting with worshipers on a spiritual, cultural or linguistic level.

Some of these congregations, like Hanmi, serve largely immigrant communities: The Rev. Kim said university students and first-generation immigrants — often those who, like the Han, have long been living in the United States — tend to fill Hanmi’s pews.

The Toledo Chinese Christian and Missionary Alliance Church and Iglesia Pentecostal Unida de Toledo, where services are conducted in either Chinese or Spanish, stand as additional examples.

Other area congregations weave languages like Polish, Arabic, or Greek into the prayers or hymns of otherwise English-language services, often as a reflection of spiritual tradition or the cultural heritage of a congregation. These congregations tend to count relatively few members who, outside of these religious contexts, speak the languages fluently.

“The idea with the language is that it has to reflect the parishioners that we have,” said the Rev. Larry Legakis, who leads services at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral. “We still have Greek-speakers … but we have a lot of non-Greeks who come to our parish.”

The Rev. Legakis primarily uses English at a Divine Liturgy on Sunday, but repeats some major liturgical prayers, like Lord’s Prayer or creed, in Greek. The Holy Trinity choir sings in a mix of Greek and English.

The Rev. Legakis, who grew up in the Greek Orthodox faith, said he’s seen the denomination incorporate less Greek as congregations recognize a shift in their pews: The first-generation immigrants who brought the faith to the United States are giving way to a much more diverse set of worshipers.

“The church in America is no longer an immigrant church,” he said. “We have immigrants in it … but then we also have first, second, third generations who have now married non-Greeks, who are part of the fabric of Toledo.”

The Rev. Ayman Kfouf described a similar use of Arabic at St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church in Sylvania, where many parishioners cite a Syrian and Lebanese heritage. So did the Rev. Monte Hoyles, in describing Sunday Masses at Sts. Hedwig and Adalbert Catholic Parish in Toledo, where many parishioners are Polish.

A dwindling number of Sts. Hedwig and Adalbert parishioners who speak the language fluently led the Society of Christ Fathers, an order of priests based in Poland, to pull out of the parish around 2008. The move was intended to allow the order to meet a greater need for Polish-speaking priests elsewhere.

Although the Rev. Hoyles, a chancellor with the Diocese of Toledo who is assigned to the parish, does not speak Polish, parishioners continue the long-standing tradition by incorporating Polish into hymn verses and, on Sundays, a Scripture passage.

“It’s a connection to their parents, their grandparents,” said the Rev. Hoyles, who sees the language meeting more a cultural than a linguistic need in the parish today. “It stands for where they come from, what they remember as a child.”

The Diocese of Toledo also offers Mass in Spanish, at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, and in Latin, at St. Joseph Catholic Church.

The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo incorporates English and Arabic into its Friday prayers, or Jum’ah. Imam Talal Eid said this reflects both the religious tradition of the faith and the wide variety of heritages represented in the congregation.

Imam Eid sermonizes in English, he explained, to account for the estimated 50 percent of Muslims who pray at the Islamic Center who do not speak Arabic. But that prayers that follow on Fridays are always in Arabic, in line with Muslim tradition.

“Whether people live in China or the Middle East or in Australia or America or Canada, all of them need to learn how to do the prayer in its original form,” he said. “In this way, they are united in prayers.”

In incorporating languages other than English, congregations can become cultural hubs. 

Pastor Terry Chen says he sees this at the Toledo Chinese Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, where he said the bilingual congregation comes together for nonreligious activities too. This might include celebrating Lunar New York or participating in the Dragon Boat Summer Learning Festival.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral hosts the annual Greek-American Festival and has year-round ties to local chapters of Greek cultural organizations. 

That congregation, as well as St. Elias, Sts. Hedwig and Adalbert and Iglesia Pentecostal Hispana Unida, each find opportunities to incorporate traditional food into gatherings throughout the year as well.

After a recent Sunday service at Hanmi, Da Hae Jeong was enjoying her own plate of rice and vegetables. Ms. Jeong, who sings in the church choir, said she appreciates Hanmi as way to connect with a community that shares her culture and her language.

She started attending the church as an undergraduate student at the University of Toledo, following a lonely first semester. Fellow Korean students pointed her toward Hanmi, where, from her first service, she described feeling at home.

“I felt a lot of comfort and relief,” she said.

Contact Nicki Gorny at: ngorny@theblade.com or 419-724-6133.

First Published May 27, 2017, 4:00 a.m.