Is multicultural worship another form of racial reconciliation?
This is a tough question, but I believe the answer is yes. But that “yes” answer comes along with a lot of expectations.
Play skillfully
(I’m going to primarily talk about music and multicultural worship in this case, but it’s certainly not limited to just music.)
A lot of work needs to go into doing multicultural worship. I don’t necessarily mean that the goal is to do multicultural “right“, but I do mean that hard work needs to honor the people where the music comes from, the people in the congregation, and God.
Needs means several things for the worship leader: digging in the Word, praying for intentional cross cultural relationships, doing research on the stories behind a song through the internet and with people, making sure the team is well prepared to pull off a new style/song, listening to different kinds of music, taking time to build your own skills in leadership and music, etc.
If I don’t put the hard work in those areas, then the music that we play and sing will seem fake, inauthentic, or patronizing. And that doesn’t glorify God.
Subcategory
I would also like to say that whether it’s multicultural worship or racial reconciliation it’s all part of God’s main purpose to bring the nations together to give Him glory. Reconciliation is something that God is encouraging and initiated Himself. When Christ died on the cross He reconciled us to Him, but He also reconciled us with one another.
Colossians 1:19-20 says:
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Questions for you
What kinds of things do you do to prepare well for a multicultural worship service? Is multicultural worship another form of reconciliation? Or is there a bigger overarching theme?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2012 – 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Related posts:
facebook comments:
Leave a comment