MERCY & JUSTICE PBC
DIVERSITY & WORSHIP
A Great Multitude from Every Nation
In Revelation 7 we see what God desires for us all in this diversity journey! A beautiful and diverse worship at His throne with all peoples, tribes, colours and nations represented! Let us consider this as we enter into this wonderful and exciting diversity journey.
A couple of weeks ago the worship team held a short conversation about how we express diversity in worship, with a focus on why we sing songs in a different language.
Here are some thoughts that may empower others to go deeper in Diversity and Worship:
1. Lets acknowledge that singing a song in another language can feel strange,
it is not easy and it certainly can make us feel uncomfortable. There is spiritual growth that happens in that discomfort and we shouldn’t fear it or shy away from it. When we do something that feels uncomfortable it challenges the subtle lie that “church is about what works for me and makes me feel comfortable” and it reminds us that church is in fact “not about me but all about God”. Staying in the discomfort is a spiritual discipline in the same way that bearing one’s cross is.
2. Singing in different languages makes us aware of who else is in the room.
We break the thinking that everyone at church is just like us and we start to become aware of the diversity around us. This is a vital first step in our diversity journey towards embracing and celebrating and including the God-given variety that is in our congregation.
3. Singing a song in a person’s language is another way of saying “we see you”.
It is communicating that we can learn from each other, that we all have something to offer, that we are all equally important in this place, and that we all belong.
4. When people from diverse backgrounds feel like they truly belong and are seen in a community, they will feel comfortable to invite their friends into this space. What started off step of obedience to honour the diversity in our community ends up increasing our ability to be missional.
5. Worshipping the Sovereign King in a language that has been trampled and oppressed by our forefathers is a prophetic act of justice.
6. Twisting our tongues around new words and feeling a little clueless is part of growing
"discomfort-tolerance muscles” and these muscles are key to help us push into new and diverse friendships that we may have avoided in the past due to the discomfort of difference.
7. We know that there is more to our diversity journey than singing a song.
We recognise that a song in itself can easily be seen as tokenism* if we are not opening our hearts, front doors and our meal tables to people who are very different to us. Let us never underestimate the transforming power of authentic friendship.
8. Lastly, let us acknowledge that there is not one way of pursuing diversity in worship,
there is no “recipe”. We know that we are likely to get it wrong at some point. There is a good chance we may offend or miss something. Constructive feedback and conversation is very helpful so we can learn from each other and find better ways. Let us remain gracious and humble as we do this diversity journey together, knowing that we are all trying our best.
“9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude
that no one could number,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples
and languages, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes,
with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to
our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!”
*Tokenism:
Making the least effort to appear to be aware of and active in a cause. In this case, simply doing songs in another language may be tokenism since we are merely targeting one area of church. This is instead of inclusion and appreciation in all spheres. I.e. we include a few songs of another language at PBC and we claim to be diverse/inclusive.
Recommended Book
The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World
by Sandra Maria van Opstal
Stephy’s reflections (Ch 1 – 5)
One thing that was helpful from the book so far: The book is easy to read, informative and heartfelt. The way Sandra writes is so helpful and rich—I come away with the sense that this woman has asked God to break her heart for what breaks His and that inspires me. Sandra offers an analogy for corporate worship: people gather around a table to share a meal, with a menu designed to be welcoming to all guests. This is a striking picture for me and helped me greatly understand my blindspots and bias for ‘what I know how to do’.
Watch a video on Diversity & Worship
‘Reimagining Worship that Mobilizes for Justice – Updated’
In March 2018, a workshop titled Worship & Justice was hosted at Beautiful Gate South Africa, in Lower Crossroads, Cape Town. This clip is made up of two sections: Sandra Maria Van Opstal, author of The Next Worship, Glorifying God in a Diverse World begins by sharing principles, theological reflection and practical tips to re-imagine worship oriented toward justice.
At 50min, Minah Koela, Langa Mbonambi and Mandla Mbushka Mbuyazi join in for a contextualized Q&A conversation about the role of worship in forming our justice-response in South Africa. We highly recommend you view both sections.
Have questions?
Did you find this information helpful?
If you have questions regarding this topic, or want to comment, please feel free to contact the music and M&J ministry leaders:
MUSIC MINISTRY PBC
Andrea@pbc.org.za
MERCY & JUSTICE PBC
jacquitooke@gmail.com (Jacqui)
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