UNITED continues to grow

Just got back in town last week from almost a month of slightly hectic travel and it's good to be back home. I wanted to update you all on some of the recent developments with UNITED, the worship ministry within InterVarsity that I am working on. The college branch (that I am in charge of) is growing rapidly, expanding to 6 campus ministries at five different college campuses: Washington University, MO; Drake, IA; William Penn, IA; Coe College, IA; St. Louis University, MO. The most recent project is planning a worship workshop for ACF - please keep it in your prayers as I work with their worship leader to put this out.

We're also working on a FAQ publication that allows younger leaders to seek help from more experienced worship leaders. I thought I'd share one of the questions with you:



How do I learn new songs that are multicultural / multiethnic?

We have a lot of diversity at my college, and I want to be able to do new stuff, but not just the stuff I know. I want our worship to be very diverse…but I don’t know how to learn new songs and be effective at leading them.

(Leah Doolan - William Penn University, IA)



SOLUTION
The challenge with multiethnic worship is that it often comes across as inauthentic and poor-quality which, especially if you are trying to bridge racial & ethnic gaps in worship, is often received poorly and results in insulting or distancing yourself from the very people group you are trying to reach out to. This is because that multiethnic worship is not just about learning new music and songs, but learning how to minister to people of a different cultural background than your self.
To do this you should focus on the following:

1. GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH – spend time with them, go to church with them, seek to learn what worship looks like in their cultural context by immersing yourself in it.
2. SEEK OUT A MUSICAL ADVISER – especially if you are not proficient at your instrument or a certain singing style, look for someone who leads worship in the culture you are trying to reach and learn from them (church is a great place to find these people).
3. TAKE THE TIME TO PRACTICE – create a practice schedule for your self and spend at least 30 min a day going over one or two songs that you are trying to adapt for your worship community. Only after you have mastered these songs and have a basic fundamental understanding of what makes worship work for the culture you are trying to reach should you try to teach it to your team. The only exception is if you have someone from that culture in your team, then you should have them help you learn and teach the song to the rest of your team.