Indigenous Worship

About 150 years ago, a couple of missionaries to China revolutionized the way missions took place. Their concept was that in order for the Christian faith to take root in a community, it should be reflective of the community they were trying to reach. This applied to self-government, self-support, and self-propogation. In more recent history, this has also been applied by missionaries in reference to musical style.

That explains why, when my friend Steve Gray and I went to Tanzania (east Africa), we experienced worship songs, instruments, and dances--both free and storytelling--that were a part of east African culture. By the way, they also sang "How Great Thou Art" and it was dynamic!

I am convinced one of the reasons the church is failing to reach those far from God in this country is because we have ignored this "indigenous" kind of thinking in our own culture. Or perhaps we've been stuck in a time, rather than a place. (So we worship more like we did in 1945, when World War 2 ended... and before color television was around than we do like is it 2015, the age of Twitter, Netflix and Apple TV.)

The world in your town--2015 is quite different from the world in your town--1945. The culture is very, very different.

And our worship gatherings should be different.

At least if we hope to reach the people who are missing out on abundant life and have no assurance of eternal life, worship has to be different.

The things we see, the sounds we hear, the stories we use, the illustrations we choose, all should rise from the culture we are trying to reach. (Seems like Paul did this brilliantly in Acts 17.)

I'm excited to speak more about this subject to a group of pastors on Monday.

Through my "Worship Coach" consulting, I can help you and your church think through this. You may not want/need any help, but if you haven't thought of worship in this way, please do. At least consider it. Take it to a staff or leadership meeting. Ask some hard questions. And if you decide you'd like me to help out, give me a call (502.229.0114) or shoot me a message (on Facebook or at RodEEllis@gmail.com).