Omaha offers rich mix of worship options
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BY BOB REEVES / Lincoln Journal Star
Keith Ellison and Liz Hruska come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but they have something very important in common.
Nearly every Sunday morning you can find them on the highway, driving from Lincoln to Omaha to attend church.
Ellison, who works Saturday nights at a grocery store, leaves right after getting off work at 6 a.m. to make the trip to Trinity Church, a large non-denominational church in West Omaha. The informal, contemporary worship service with high-decibel music is the high point of his week.
“I just want to be there and be open to what God wants to do in the service,” he said.
Worshipping at Trinity, he said, gives him “a personal experience of God.”
Hruska, who works for the state Legislature, has a less hectic weekend schedule but still is on the road each Sunday, headed to an old stone building in north Omaha. Her destination is Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which is noted for its African American-style gospel music and family atmosphere.
“It’s a very special and unique parish,” said Hruska, who is originally from Omaha and has many friends there. It’s not just the music, but the closeness of the church members and their commitment to help each other and the community, she said. “It’s a very spirited service, but we keep that spirit after we come out the door.”
Those are just two examples of people from Lincoln and other communities in Southeast Nebraska who travel to the state’s largest city each weekend to worship. Many families from all around the state attend the Hindu Temple, also in west Omaha. Some Orthodox Christians from the Lincoln area travel to Omaha’s St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church or St. Mary’s Antiochian Orthodox Church, two kinds of Orthodoxy not found elsewhere in the state.
Lincoln has a wide variety of religions, which have proliferated with the influx of immigrants from around the world in recent decades. But Omaha seems to have an even wider range, including several Buddhist groups, five different Jewish congregations, a number of Spanish-speaking churches and a large and active Muslim community.
The largest single religious group (25-30 percent of the population) in Omaha is the Roman Catholic Church, which has 57 congregations in the Omaha metro area, including seven offering Masses in Spanish. There’s also a Vietnamese parish and a ministry to Omaha’s large Sudanese population.
Among Protestant Christians, Lutherans (both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) comprise close to 10 percent of the population, followed by United Methodists at about 3 percent. Many other denominations are represented, including a wide range of evangelical and charismatic churches. There’s a Chinese Christian Church and a Korean Assembly of God.
The Mormons figured prominently in Omaha’s early history and have been a significant part of the city’s religious mix ever since. The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple, completed in 2001, is the only Mormon temple in the state.
The variety of religious traditions in Omaha is like a living textbook to Paul Williams, associate professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He assigns students in his comparative religion classes to visit the temples, synagogues, mosques and churches of many faiths to broaden their understanding of cultures and beliefs.
Williams said he’s been impressed with the interest that not only the students but members of various faith communities in the city have in learning about other religions. He participates in many interfaith dialogues hosted by local churches, synagogues and civic groups. “I’m convinced that dialogue with people of various faiths is the best way to break down stereotypes” and avoid ethnic conflicts, he said.
Ahmad al-Zaree, imam of the Islamic Center of Omaha, spends much of his time speaking to non-Muslim groups to help them better understand the world’s fastest-growing faith. Omaha has some 4,000 Muslims, including immigrants from Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Arab countries, plus a number of American-born converts, he said.
Al-Zaree is the only fully trained and credentialed imam in the state, so he’s in high demand to lead prayers and other services. His mosque is Sunni, as is another smaller mosque downtown. Omaha also has a Shiite mosque serving primarily immigrants from Iraq.
Jewish congregations in Omaha represent all varieties of Judaism, including Beth El Synagogue (Conservative), Temple Israel (Reform), Chabad House (Lubavitch), Beyt Shalom (Reconstructionist) and Beth Israel (Orthodox), which has a new synagogue in West Omaha.
All the Jewish congregations support the Jewish Community Center, which has its own elementary school, fitness center and swimming pool, classes, library and exhibits, and is the location for the Jewish Federation of Omaha, which works together on projects and issues affecting the approximately 6,000 Jewish people in the metro area. Jewish groups also are involved in interfaith activities and projects, such as Together Inc., a multi-faith emergency relief service that provides food, clothing, shelter, medical and other assistance to people in need.
Buddhist worship in the city ranges from a Vietnamese temple to Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism.
But the largest and most rapidly growing congregations in the Omaha area are evangelical Christians, represented by several large churches in West Omaha.
Worship at Trinity, where attendance averages more than 3,000 each Sunday, features a praise band with guitars and drums, a state-of-the-art sound system and a video system that projects closeups of musicians and speakers. At a recent service, pastor Les Beauchamp asked the band and congregation to repeat a praise song and “worship Jesus with reckless abandon.” The room rocked as the youngish crowd, dressed mostly in jeans and sweatshirts, clapped and stomped to the music.
That impromptu atmosphere is part of the church’s philosophy of “embracing the gifts of the spirit,” said Deacon Godsey, executive director for communication at the church.
“We have everything from ex-Catholics and ex-Mormons to people who were totally unchurched before they came here,” said Eric Bents, assistant pastor. “They’re attracted to the life-filled worship and preaching that’s hope-filled and practical in its application.”
The church offers a wide range of classes and small groups, a coffeehouse, support groups and one-on-one ministries to help people with personal problems and an extensive outreach ministry that stretches from Omaha to Pakistan.
Beauchamp said he encourages people to “live the testimony of a life in friendship with Christ,” not only on Sunday, but every day of their lives. “I want people to say, ‘I don’t just go to that church; I am that church,’” he said.
Other West Omaha churches, such as Westside Community Church (Southern Baptist), Brookside Church (Evangelical Free), King of Kings Lutheran (Missouri Synod), Faith-Westwood United Methodist Church and Christ Community Church (Christian and Missionary Alliance) also draw worshippers from throughout the metro area and beyond. None has reached the critical mass of the 10,000-plus member mega-churches in major cities, but they all have seen rapid growth and expansion of buildings, ministries and outreach programs in recent years.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, by contrast, is located in a predominantly black neighborhood of north Omaha but has a mostly white congregation that comes from throughout the city and beyond. One big attraction is the gospel-style music, led by the popular Freedom Choir under the direction of Jim Boggess, who also is music director for the Omaha Community Playhouse.
The music features piano, drums and a wailing saxophone. Worshippers clap and sway to the music, link hands while singing a jazzy version of the Lord’s Prayer, and hug when Father Tom Fangman tells them to give each other a sign of peace.
The vibrancy of Sacred Heart, with about 800 member families, isn’t just the worship but its ministries to the surrounding neighborhood, Fangman said. “We’ve been a presence here for 115 years.”
The church’s elementary school, which serves mainly black children, celebrated its 100th birthday last year. The Heart Center, adjacent to the church, offers food, counseling, health care, classes and other assistance to low-income families.
Many families drive from Lincoln or elsewhere in Southeast Nebraska to attend Sacred Heart, Fangman said. “They usually make a day of it, have lunch with friends and spend the afternoon in Omaha.”
The Christian Evangelical Leaders Network (CELNET) brings evangelical congregations together for joint mission and outreach projects. One of the biggest is Embrace Teachers, a city-wide project in which churches adopt public schools and do special things for teachers throughout the year, such as bringing them breakfast or buying extra items for their classrooms. At the end of the year the program hosts a huge thank-you party (last spring it was at the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Gretna) with gifts and prizes for teachers.
While the biggest Omaha churches are located in the western suburbs, congregations still care about the inner city and reach out to older neighborhoods, said the Rev. John Schnell, pastor of Faith Bible Church in North Omaha.
Omaha isn’t a huge city, but it has many of the same problems as the nation’s biggest metropolises, he said, with higher-income people moving to the periphery and abandoning the central city. “The urban churches absolutely have to respond to the changes in our community,” he said. It is through organizations like CELNET, he said, that the Omaha churches are responding to the challenge.
One inner-city church that is part of CELNET is Salem Baptist, a predominantly black congregation that has an 84-year history in North Omaha. The church, which has about 2,000 worshippers each weekend, has a large food pantry, emergency assistance and health ministries and works with other churches on relief and outreach, said Roger Sayers, director of staff operations.
Omaha’s evangelical churches don’t see themselves in competition, but instead work together for the good of the entire city, said Trinity’s Bents, a leader of CELNET and an active promoter of urban ministries. “We celebrate the diversity of what God does.”
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or at breeves@journalstar.com.
If you want to sample Omaha’s religious diversity, here are some places to visit:
St. Cecilia’s Cathedral, 701 N. 40th St. This Spanish Renaissance Revival church, started in 1905, is an Omaha landmark. The Cathedral Cultural Center has a museum about the history of Catholics in eastern Nebraska. The interdenominational Cathedral Arts Project sponsors art exhibits, concerts and an annual flower show. Cathedral rectory (402) 551-2313; Arts Project, (402) 558-3100
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2218 Binney St. This historic church in North Omaha is noted for its Freedom Choir and lively gospel-style worship service. (402) 451-5755
Salem Baptist Church, 3131 Lake St. The predominantly black church is famed for its music program and preaching. Voices of Victory, a 100-plus member choir, performs throughout the city. A speech choir performs biblical texts as dramatic readings. The Watch Night Service at 10:30 p.m. tonight (New Year’s Eve) always attracts a capacity crowd. (402) 455-1000
St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, 5050 Harrison St. This Eastern European-style building has four cross-topped domes and a blue-domed interior with lovely paintings. The city also has Eastern, Greek, Coptic and Antiochian Orthodox churches. St. Nicholas Community Center, (402) 733-9532
Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8283 N. 34th St. This gleaming white granite building, completed in 2001, is the only Mormon temple in Nebraska. The adjacent Mormon Trails Center and Mormon Pioneer Cemetery recall the Saints’ role in the history of Nebraska and the West. Trails Center, (402) 453-9372
The Salvation Army Lied Renaissance Center, 3612 Cuming St. This is the world’s largest social services agency under one roof, serving more than 100,000 people each year. (402) 898-5900
Jewish Community Center, 333 South 132nd St. This center has programs, classes and exhibits on everything Jewish. The Center for Jewish Education has an extensive library of Judaica, including music DVDs. The center sponsors an annual film festival, plays and art exhibits. (402) 334-8200
Hindu Temple, 13010 Arbor St. This ornate building, completed in 2004, contains statues and artwork from throughout India. The Indian Association of Omaha sponsors yoga classes, speakers, musical events and festivals. (402) 697-8546
Islamic Center of Omaha, 3511 N. 73rd St. This Sunni mosque serves Muslims from throughout the metro area and beyond. Imam Ahmad al-Zaree gives talks on Muslim beliefs and practices. He will lead a major Eid-ul-Adha observance Jan. 10 at Omaha Westside High School. (402) 573-0720
Nebraska Zen Center, 3625 Lafayette Ave. This Soto Zen Buddhist Temple offers a regular meditation schedule, group instruction and Dharma talks by the Rev. Nonin Chowaney, abbot. Omaha also has a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, a center for Soka Gakkai Buddhism, and Jewel Heart, a Tibetan Buddhist study group. Zen Center, (402) 551-9035
Soul Desires Bookstore, 1026 Jackson St. This store in Omaha’s Old Market offers books from all the world’s religions, plus cappuccino and tea and “holy hardware” items such as beads, crosses and drums. (402) 898-7600 or (800) 264-4249
Omaha Healing Arts Center, 1216 Howard St. Classes range from Qigong and yoga to meditation and natural foods. Acupuncture, hypnotherapy and the world’s only Tibetan sand painting tea bar are featured in the Old Market center. (402) 345-5078
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