One of the Diaspora Network's key values is prayer and fasting. We believe one of the most important and renewing gifts the immigrant church brings to North America is a deep commitment to prayer and fasting. We want to invite the broader Church to join in on what God is doing, and so each week as a network we pray with and for a specific group in diaspora. We often highlight a leader and church of specific diaspora group here on this blog and share how they have invited us to pray with and for them. All are invited to participate every Friday over Zoom (10-10:30 am CST). Click the link below to join us!
This week we are praying with and for the Q’eqchi diaspora! The Q’eqchi (pronounced Kek-Chee or Kek Chí) originate in Guatemala and are one of 22 Maya ethnolinguistic groups located in the Yucatán Peninsula that can trace their roots back to the pre-Spanish native communities . According to a news article from April 2024, estimates show around 1 million Q’eqchi speakers living in Guatemala and Belize.
Increasingly in recent years, many have migrated to the United States. A majority speak only Q’eqchi, or know both Q’eqchi and some Spanish, but Q’eqchi to English interpretations and translations prove difficult to find. Jace Norton, Founder and CEO of Maya Bridge Language Services — and who learned Q’eqhi because of his time as an LDS missionary — says it this way: “Really nobody learns (Q'eqchi') fluently unless they're missionaries.”
Many Q’eqchi who are coming to the U.S. enter by way of Texas or the Rio Grande Valley on foot. In Austin, the primarily immigrant St. John’s neighborhood boasts a rather sizable Q’eqchi population. When walking around the area, one might see a woman wearing a colorful huipil (like a blouse) and skirt combo. Meanwhile in Chicago, Iglesia Nueva Vida Kekchí (see below) is one of several growing and thriving Q’eqchi churches in the Chicagoland area. Services may be held in a combination of Q’eqchi and Spanish, with many young men and young families in attendance.
Back in Guatemala, the government historically overlook the majority of Mayan communities and do not provide them with basic services. And in the U.S., Q’eqchi and other Indigenous people waiting for their cases to be heard are struggling because of a severe lack of Mayan language interpreters. Please join us in praying with and for the following with our Q’eqchi brothers and sisters:
for the multiplication of disciples and of churches among Q’eqchi communities in the diaspora;
for the Lord to raise up members of the Q’eqchi communities in Guatemala and Belize to be righteous and just leaders among their people, as well as among the diaspora in the United States;
that Q’eqchi believers would continue to raise up their children in the wisdom and love for the Lord, and that their churches would support and equip them in this endeavor;
that there would be Spirit-filled peacemakers working among the Indigenous diaspora groups as they encounter one another in new (and sometimes stressful) environments
Share this post