Diversity in Worship
If you are like me, the first image that comes to mind when someone mentions ‘diversity’ is an episode from The Office called “Diversity Day.” While Michael Scott’s well-meaning yet cringe-worthy version of Diversity Day is comical, too often, perhaps it mirrors our feeble attempts at introducing diversity in our lives and especially in our churches. Perhaps the issue is that diversity is often misunderstood as the primary goal. Professor Hector states that “Diversity should not be the goal but the result of the goal.” But what is the goal? The goal of a believer is best stated in Acts 1:8 where Jesus says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV) It is clear here that Jesus meant for the Gospel to be shared diversly with people of all nations, languages, and ethnicities, yet we struggle in our churches sometimes to represent the diversity we claim to want to reach. In this brief post, I want to recommend two ways we can explore introducing the practice of diversity in our churches.
Diversity in people-. “If Jesus saves sinners from every nation, tribe, tongue, gender, and socioeconomic class, the church should be a community of the diverse, representing each of these demographics in our communities where they live, move and have their being.”[1] In his book Intensional, D. A. Horton rightly states that “The local church should show no economic, ethnic or gender favoritism.”[2] The Gospel is for all people, and when we include all people in the leadership of the church and visible ministries of the church, such as worship ministry, we showcase the accessibility and power of the Gospel. So how do we introduce diversity in our worship ministry? It could be easy to hire out and find someone that fits the bill, but this would be a false attempt at diversity. Instead, may I recommend that we begin by actively pursuing relationships with our congregations, especially those that are perhaps not represented on stage? Prayerfully pursuing relationships in our congregation has allowed me to enjoy the diversity of age, ethnicity, and perspective represented in my church. Each person has a unique story, a unique lesson that God gives them, and they need to be heard. Sometimes if they are comfortable, perhaps even sharing a piece of their story from the stage when applicable can be a beginning to introduce diversity. Another practical way to introduce diversity is simply by actively working against unstated policies that seek to keep a particular demographic from participating in your worship teams. The current model of worship teams tends to sway heavily toward younger, trendy people, but a conscientious and intentional worship leader can actively include the older generation into the teams by gleaning from their wisdom and working to make their teams inclusive to people of all ages.
Diversity in Music and Liturgy- If you have been in churches as long as I have, you know there is a repertoire that each church proudly holds on to. If one church is pro hymns, another works to exclude hymns because they are “outdated.” My recommendation here is to get to know the breadth of your congregation. My church has older hymn-loving folks and young families that love anything on K-Love radio. Occasionally including a song from either camp has allowed our church to feel in community and represent the worship of all of its members. Having themed worship nights, such as ‘hymn night,’ is how we can bless the people in our church who love hymns and help teach those who may not have grown up around the richness of hymns. The same goes for the repetitive songs that my older folks call “7–11” songs. While repetition can be tedious, I often remind those folks that it took us more than a week’s worth of repetition to finally learn our A-B-Cs’ so repeating the truth of God’s Word is not such a bad idea. The point I am making is that diversity in music is essential, but helping each “side” learn the importance and beauty of the other is equally important and adds to their lives.
As far as the liturgy is concerned, a change in liturgy often helps congregants get out of their comfort zone and hear the truth of the Scriptures in a different light. An incredible way to begin the journey of exploration as far as the liturgy is concerned is by including the Creeds. They were designed to help us recall certain aspects of our faith, and speaking them together as a church affirms our beliefs. The inclusion of a public or corporate reading of a Scripture passage if your church does not already do this can be a faith-affirming action.
Diversity is a lifetime endeavor, and it gets easier as we pursue loving everyone as God loves us. God created diversity and includes diversity in His plan for eternity, and we would be wise to spend time getting to the heart of God by exploring and understanding the differences we see around us in people, cultures, and languages. We could have Diversity Day to do this, but why not enjoy diversity every day, through conversations with strangers or those outside of our community. Why not seek to understand a different perspective by listening to speakers from the other side of the argument.
[1] D. A Horton, Intensional Kingdom Ethnicity in ADivided World. (NavPress, Logos Bible Software, 2019), http://proxy.cm.umoncton.ca/login?url=https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umoncton-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6023315.
[2] Horton.
