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Cross Cultural Worship -- Back to the Basics
Have you ever asked yourself the question, "What does worship sound like in other parts of the world?"
We often tend to think that all worship sounds relatively the same. In the English speaking world it generally does: however, worship has a different sound in places where the American culture has not penetrated or where people have just recently heard the Gospel. They have never heard of hymns, and praise songs are just as strange and unfamiliar. You won't hear discussions that favor contemporary or conservative music styles.
Instead there is a raw focus on the Creator God, the One who has redeemed them. There are many interruptions and distractions from babies crying to animals that run around, but there still remains one focus: the true and living God.
Reflecting on this has brought me to this conclusion. It is not about how good the worship teams sounds, or even how well the organist has played the offertory, although they have their place.
What really matters is this: what do we focus on as we worship? I have asked myself these questions lately, as a worship leader have I allowed things to get in the way of true adoration of God? As a worshipper does it have to be designed just right for me to "feel" like worshipping? Am I influenced by how others worship around me?
As Matt Redman the song writer so aptly penned:
When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come, Longing just to bring something that's of worth, that will bless your heart
I'll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself, Is not what you have required, You search much deeper within, Through the way things appear, You're looking into my heart
© 1997 Kingsway's Thank you Music (Admin by Integrity Music, Inc.)
I have learned many things just from the cross cultural model that I have seen. It has led me to wonder if God would be just as pleased with pure and simple. May we certainly consider what it is that God desires in our worship as we seek to honor Him.
-- J.P. Marr
Director of Worship, Jackson Campus
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