WHAT IS MULTIETHNIC WORSHIP?
Multiethnic worship can be defined as worship to God, who alone is worthy of worship, offered to Him by as many of the multiple people groups that He has made; and whose worship to Him reflects the ethnic/racial cultures that He has also created.
- Of course, on this earth it is unlikely that any one worship team can ever reflect all of these nations of the world. Yet it is possible to mirror the hope and heart of God as His Spirit leads us when we are attempting to live out Rev.7: 9 in our worshipping communities.
WHAT DOES MULTIETHNIC WORSHIP DO?
A. Gives us a fuller worship of God
(1) It isn’t any one culture that posses complete knowledge of God perfectly. Because cultures are
human, they express sin, and as a result none adequately celebrate God’s glory.
(2) As pieces of the puzzle we need different cultures to complete the mosaic that God intended
our earthly worship to be. Each has parts of the truth that others can miss. So we need to be open
to being taught and blessed by different parts of the Ecclesia and then share that with those that
we lead in worship.
B. Challenges and grows our community in ways that we can’t if we are too monocultural or monoethnic in our approach of God.
C. MULTIETHNIC WORSHIP IS INHERENTLY MISSIONAL WORSHIP. If people who experience our communities begin to see a fuller picture of who God is and a more complete and beautiful representation of his kingdom and his people, they will want to know more about him. Plain and simple.
HOW DO WE LEARN TO DO THIS?
(1) Examine your own culture (what do we/I value, what’s my/our view of God, what do you like
about your own cultural expression?)
(2)Get to know people from different cultures (listen to their music, watch how they lead, notice how
they interact with the group, develop partnerships)
(3) Ask questions (process what you see/hear/do, if you don’t know something take the risk and ask),
(4) Welcome all people (create space in your style of worship, in your set, in your structure, be
willing to do things differently, change how you speak to cast your net wide)
(5) Prepare your own heart (be honest with what’s hard and confusing and take that to God in prayer,
share it with your brothers and sisters from different cultures)
(6) Each culture has unique characteristics that reflect the image of God. Each culture has a unique
experience with God, a unique way of seeing him, a unique way to respond to him, and unique
creativity that worships him and carries out his will. Recognize this and be ok with your own
uniqueness and others' as well. You do not have to give up who you are. There is a difference
between incarnation and assimilation. We were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-16)
(7) Know that together we are to fulfill the Great Commission. We want to worship Yahweh in spirit
and in truth, rejoicing and taking delight in a variety of expression. Not just one way that's
comfortable.
(8) True worship is both culturally specific (God to you personally) and multicultural (God to
everyone around you)
(9) Remember that worship should be a place in which people learn the character of God. Doing it
multiethnically is just teaching a wider vision of who our God is.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT OUR COMMUNITIES?
Understand the different cultures and ethnicities that you’re representing or reaching. (The following a VERY loose generalizations of some different worship characteristics specific of certain ethnicities. They are by no means rules and should not supplant your own personal search to know your brothers and sisters more fully in who they are and how they express their love to God.)
• Hispanic Culture:
Celebration and expectation, power of the Holy Spirit, Second Coming, Freedom and Joy, Forget your problems, not preparation but an experience, place to be trained
• Asian American:
Relationships (Father), Korean expressiveness and earnestness, Chinese scriptural focus, sense of duty to worship God, permission, corporate mindset, silence and contemplation in the Japanese culture
• African American:
Worship is a breakthrough from our trials, God is the answer to all our struggles and the freedom from bondage, physical as much as aural and vocal, directive and exhortative, free flowing.
• Native American:
Harmony through God, Jesus is the one who returns our harmony, Unity, being with one another, fellowship, couples lead, families lead, we are the people of God in the Now.
• Anglo-American:
Doctrinal truth, explanation, traditions, story.
HOW CAN BEING THOUGHTFUL ABOUT MISSIONAL WORSHIP EXHORT OUR COMMUNITIES TO CHANGE?
Sometimes our communities need something different to wake us up, to pull us out of a funk or to move us forward.
What if your community is struggling with truth? What if there is rampant sin or just a lack of focus on Jesus and what he did on the cross? You might want to sing a few hymns, they are the gospel in a nutshell.
What if your community is struggling with sadness, with despair, with being weighed down by expectations? Maybe you need to do some Hispanic music or some gospel music to lift people up and remind them they are the children of god who delights in them, who celebrates in them and who sets them free.
What if your community is struggling with discord, with broken relationships and distance from God? Maybe you need to sing some Native American songs- they’ll lead you to think about a God who is a unifier, who loves harmony and who restores the broken.
What if your community is struggling with chaos- just too many voices saying different things, too much focus on the people who are in charge? Maybe you need to sing some Asian songs and have moments of silence to be reminded that God is a God of peace, that he is the Father who is ultimately in charge.
Above all, know this: This is not easy- it’s comfortable for each of us to worship as we’ve been raised, to worship with people who hold the same values in worship. And the devil HATES this- song and dance done unto God in any cultural style threatens Satan's plan to destroy humanity and helps fulfill the Great Commission. He will do everything he can to keep us separated in the church, to keep our worship focused more on ourselves than God and to keep his plans moving forward. We have to commit to doing this- commit to being on a journey that will be hard, but will teach us so much about this God we serve and ourselves along the way.
