Culturally-Conscious Worship

Kathleen M. Black

• Éditeur: Chalice Press
• Année: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780827205987
• Sujet: Theology & Religion
• Sous-sujet: Christian Rituals & Practice

Black uses shared stories, blended music, and the arts to enliven worship in culturally and linguistically diverse congregations. She provides biblical and theological foundations and practical methods and models for creating culturally-conscious worship.

CHAPTER ONE

Motivations and Models

As we look toward designing worship in a multicultural context that is culturally conscious, it is important to ascertain why churches were motivated to become multicultural, why individuals have chosen to join a multicultural congregation, and what models currently exist for culturally-conscious worship.

Motivations for Churches

Multicultural congregations are becoming a reality in most cities and even small towns in this country. The reasons churches are multicultural are varied. Some congregations are strong, but they have a large building that is not fully utilized and welcome another congregation (e.g., a European American congregation welcomes a Korean congregation or an African American congregation welcomes a Hispanic congregation) to share their facilities. Others are smaller congregations who are struggling financially and rent space to another congregation to help pay the bills. During the year, however, the two congregations often worship together for special occasions.

There are other congregations that find themselves in a changing neighborhood. Most of the members have moved out of the immediate area. Fewer and fewer of the long-time members are willing or able to commute to church every Sunday, let alone participate in activities during the week. The leaders realize that if they don’t open their doors to persons of other cultures, the church may close. Some do this reluctantly, but others see this as a wonderful opportunity for evangelism and outreach to the surrounding community to bring people to Christ.

For many congregations, however, becoming multicultural just happened without a lot of thought or planning. One Filipino family started coming, and they invited their friends and extended family members, and after a while one fourth of the congregation was Filipino. Or in an African American congregation, an African family joined as did a family from Jamaica, and over time, several more African and Caribbean families joined the church.

In most of these congregations, the worship life of the congregation has not changed because the cultural makeup of the congregation has changed. It is assumed that the people come because they are comfortable in the worship service and receive meaning and grace from it. Since becoming multicultural was not an intentional plan by the pastor(s) or lay leaders, life went on as usual. However, when a new pastor is appointed or called to (what is now) a multicultural congregation, she or he may wonder what difference a multicultural context makes in the planning, design, content, structure, and leadership of worship.

There are a few congregations that have made intentional decisions to become multicultural because they believe God’s plan is for equality of all people and that the church should lead the way in showing the world how different cultures can live, work, and worship together. They struggle with what this means for the design, content, and style of worship. They know that the presence of diverse cultures has an impact on worship, but what changes that entails is often a continuing process of discernment.¹

Motivations for Individuals

Churches don’t always have the choice of whether or not to become multicultural. When individuals decide they want to join a particular church, the church can make it very clear that they are not welcome, but few churches barricade their doors anymore with signs saying “Whites only” or “Blacks only” or “Koreans only.” So it is important to understand why persons would choose to join a congregation that is predominantly of a culture other than their own or why persons choose to join a multicultural congregation. While the reasons are as numerous and different as the individuals involved, some common motivations can be identified.

1.Integration. The Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court decision for forced integration happened in 1954. The civil rights movement of Martin Luther King, Jr., was in full swing by the mid-’60s. After that, there were some African Americans who wanted to claim their right to full integration in this society in restaurants, on buses, in schools, and in churches.

At that time, integration meant assimilation. If you were welcome at all, you had to abide by the rules, style of worship, music choices, and channels of authority of the dominant culture. You could join if you didn’t make any demands and acted like “us.” And while there were some African Americans who chose to join all-white churches (for whatever reasons), other African Americans accused them of “running from their blackness,” of betraying their community, of being an “oreo”—black on the outside but white on the inside. Whatever their internal motivations were, African Americans pioneered the integration of some European American congregations in the 1960s and 1970s.

2.Assimilation. Some immigrant groups who came to this country chose to join European American congregations where they could polish their English skills and learn the cultural norms of their new country. As newcomers to the United States, they were trying to “fit in.” They basically assumed that they had no power in their new context (e.g., to ask the pastor to accommodate some of their worship needs) and made the necessary compromises and adaptations necessary for worshiping in a foreign environment. It was socially and economically helpful for them to make contacts with persons from the majority culture and to improve their English skills. Being in a Christian faith community gave them a sense of commonality and familiarity in a culture foreign to them.

3.Denominational Loyalty. While denominational loyalty is decreasing in the United States, it can still be found among persons who immigrate to this country. This is especially true of Episcopalians/Anglicans and Roman Catholics, although it is present in nonliturgical denominations as well. Jamaicans may seek out the closest Disciples of Christ church, even though it is an all-white congregation, because they were Disciples of Christ in Jamaica. Or persons from Vietnam or Laos or Cambodia may seek out a Christian Missionary Alliance Church because that denomination had the strongest missionary influence in Southeast Asia. Persons from Ghana may seek out a United Methodist congregation because they were Methodists in Ghana.

Denominational loyalty may also be influenced by a particular “characteristic” of the denomination. In Pentecostal churches, speaking in tongues is an important characteristic. This “gift of the spirit” has the power to unite persons from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

4.Linguistic or Racial Bonds. Persons from various cultures may choose a particular congregation because of the language that is used in worship (Puerto Ricans and Guatemalans worshiping together in Spanish, or deaf persons from various cultures worshiping together in sign language).

Or the congregation may be multicultural because of racial (though not ethnic or cultural) commonality: Africans joining an African American congregation or Navajo, Creek, and Sioux worshiping together.

5.Acceptance. For a variety of reasons, some people don’t feel accepted in the churches of their own culture. This is especially true of many gay and lesbian persons, but it may also be true of persons who are divorced, persons with disabilities, ex-prisoners, and so on. For gays and lesbians, there are few churches that accept them as active participants in the life of the congregation if they are open about their sexual orientation. The churches that welcome them with open arms may be of a different culture than their own.

6.Making a Difference. Multicultural congregations are seldom without needs of one sort or another, and some persons are drawn to this type of community. They feel their presence can make a difference. They are needed in this body of Christ, and the congregation is open and welcoming of the contributions they have to offer.

7.Multicultural Environment. Many middle-aged and young adults today have been raised in multiethnic public schools and colleges; they work in multiethnic environments, exercise together in multiethnic gyms, and participate in numerous social and recreational clubs that are multiethnic in their makeup. They choose a multiethnic, multicultural environment in which to worship as well. Parents may choose to raise their children in a multicultural spiritual environment so that their children can handle the conflicts that inevitably arise in the classroom or on the playground between persons of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

There are also persons whose core family or core being is multicultural: those in “mixed marriages,” adult children born to a mixed couple, and those parents who have adopted children from other cultures. A multicultural faith community allows biracial or multiracial individuals, both spouses of a mixed marriage, or parents with adopted children to feel as if they fully belong. No one stands out as “different.”

8.Justice Oriented. There are people from a wide variety of cultures who are convinced that the biblical mandate to strive for justice and peace on this earth requires people to cross boundaries, to negotiate differences, and to work toward a sense of well-being for all. They do not support the assimilation model but rather want both the richness and the challenge of sharing their faith journeys with persons whose spiritual paths are rooted in languages and soils, rituals and prayers of a different land or culture. They want to be changed by the interchange, to be reformed by new insights, to be inspired by new rhythms and songs.

As our society becomes more multicultural, there is a sense of urgency. If we cannot learn how to be truly multicultural in the church—each shaping the other and creating a common culture from the mix—we cannot expect peace across ethnicities and justice across cultures for our society, let alone the world. Persons join congregations expecting that their presence will make a difference, that their cultural affinities will challenge some of the status quo, that their racial heritage will affect some of the power dynamics in the church, and that their “liturgical homeland” and expressions of spirituality will influence the form and content of worship.

9.Geographical Proximity. Particularly in Roman Catholic parishes, people (of whatever ethnicity) attend the parish closest to them. Others choose the closest neighborhood church (regardless of predominant ethnicity) because they don’t own a car and can walk or take public transportation to the church.

This list is not exhaustive of why persons choose a multicultural congregation, but it is representative of the historical and contemporary factors that have created multicultural faith communities today. While worship may be one’s initial contact with any given congregation (although in immigrant communities it may be English as a Second Language [ESL] classes), it is not necessarily the reason why persons stay. There are numerous factors that contribute to a person’s deciding to join a multicultural congregation.

Those who in the past sought integration, those in the past and present who seek assimilation into this country, those who cherish the acceptance they receive, and those who join because of linguistic or racial bonds may not care greatly whether the worship style best expresses the rhythms, prayer forms, moods, and proclamations of their “liturgical homeland.” Their spiritual and social fulfillment comes in other ways, through other avenues of the church’s life and ministry. And over time they often grow into this new worship style in the same way that we all have adapted to and grown into liturgical reform over the years.

Those who join because of denominational loyalty, or who want a multicultural environment, or who seek a justice community may easily adapt to whatever worship style is currently practiced at a particular church. Many persons of minority cultures are accustomed to feeling powerless to change the status quo and are accustomed to adjusting and compromising their needs and preferences to the dominant culture’s preexisting patterns (in this case, worship patterns). The basic pattern of worship of the particular denomination, the multicultural environment, or a congregation’s commitment to justice and peace in other aspects of its mission and ministry may be sufficient to sustain them spiritually.

However, it is also possible that persons who join for these reasons want to feel a familiar beat. They may want to receive communion in a certain posture and feel the Spirit’s energy moving throughout the congregation in the way that they experienced in their own culture and faith. And just as European Americans were inspired to share the message of Christ through their cultural style of worship with people around the world (sometimes in destructive ways), persons from other cultures want to share their knowledge of Christ in their lives. They want to share their worship styles, their inspirations, their testimonies, and their rhythms with their multicultural congregations.

Models of Culturally-Conscious Worship

My goal was to identify the various processes that went into designing culturally-conscious worship. I suspected that the “end product”—the worship service itself—would be unique to each congregation and hence not transferable. There were too many factors to take into consideration, such as the cultures present in the congregation, the pastoral and lay leadership, and the denominational background(s) of the pastor and lay members. Therefore, I was more interested in what decisions were made, how they were made, and by whom, that led to the culturally-conscious worship experience.

One assumption that proved false was that the worship life of the congregation was the important critical factor in establishing and maintaining a strong multicultural congregation, since worship is often a person’s first entry into a congregation. But, as I have noted above, worship may not be the determining factor as to whether a person comes to a multicultural church, joins the church, or stays active in the church. Pastoral care, fellowship, education (religious education and ESL classes) for themselves and their children, commitment to global issues, commitment to justice issues, theology, hospitality, and commitment to a multicultural community may all be strong contributing factors to a person’s decision.

Nonetheless, worship is an important weekly event in every congregation. Many come to worship who do not attend any other regular activity that the church offers. And worship has the power not only to attract people and to keep them as regular participants, but also to shape the lives of individuals as well as the faith community on their spiritual journey together. And shaping a multicultural community is not an easy task.

So, what processes go into making decisions about the final form and content of culturally-conscious worship? In many churches, these processes emerged over time and are still emerging. Initially, as persons from other cultures join a particular congregation, the worship usually stays the same. The basic assumption is that “they” (those of another culture) like what they see and experience in worship and therefore keep coming. This may be a false assumption, as I have noted above.

Over time, however, there may be sufficient numbers of the “minority”² culture to have not only a voice but also a vote in the decision-making processes about the daily operations of the life of the church, including its worship. Or a new pastor may be called or appointed to the church who was not a part of the congregation when it slowly became multicultural. She or he may want to take seriously the cultural makeup of the congregation and make changes in the form, content, or “feel” of the liturgy to be more representative of the various cultures present in the congregation. Or, for theological and justice reasons, a congregation may make intentional decisions about changing or adapting their worship in a way that is representative of the spiritualities, ritual practices, rhythms, and prayer forms found in the faith journeys of the people of various cultures in the congregation.

The process of decision making and the final design and content of the worship service varies from congregation to congregation, but there are some “models” that can be identified.

Inherited Liturgy Provides the Design. In some denominations the basis of the liturgy is predetermined by some sort of liturgical resource: Book of Common Prayer, Book of Worship, Missal, and so on. In these denominations, the form of the liturgy and often the content of many of the prayers and responses are set. The scripture texts are usually taken from a lectionary, which provides the readings for every liturgical occasion. The choice of music, the instruments used to accompany the music, the visual images present in the environment, and the pastor’s sermon provide the degree to which the multicultural makeup of the church is expressed. In some churches, the various racial and cultural constituencies within the congregation seem to have little influence on these “changeable” aspects of worship. In other churches, however, these aspects of the liturgy express the rhythms and spirituality of the diverse people present.

Pastor Designs. This model can be found in a variety of settings. The pastor is basically responsible for the design and leadership of worship so she or he decides the structure, content, and style of worship. This model is often found in congregations where the worship committees are either nonexistent or function more as altar guilds (and occasionally as advisors) than as worship committees.

Historically, this model fostered total assimilation by anyone who wa...