Ethno Christmas Worship

[MattB]

...I've been thinking that I'd like to incorporate/introduce some different cultural Christmas traditions and/or songs into our song services over the next few weeks. As of right now, I'm kinda leaning towards the Hispanic/Mexican traditions, but am still exploring.

My motivation in this is not just to throw in some "ethnic" diversity for the heck of it - I want to remind the church that Christmas - namely why we celebrate Christmas, Jesus Christ, His light, His coming, His salvation - is not just limited to the borders of America, but is a celebration of all nations.

So, I was wondering if any of you have explored this - "ethno" worship, and if so, what cultures, songs, etc have you used and with what results?

Thanks!

[LoriBiddle]

We have not tried this, but, I'll stay tuned to hear what others have done. Interesting idea, thanks for sharing.

[russhutto]

Just a thought. Do you have anyone in your congregation that can represent whatever culture you lean towards? I think it's beautiful when we step aside and allow that person to shine. Might even be a way to incorporate that more frequently? Like having them join in your team.

If there isn't anyone in your congregation, then I don't know. It might come off as manufactured if you don't do it well.

[mikeymo1741]

Being an inner-city church, we have a variety of ethnic backgrounds in our congregation, so we try to add them to the mix when we can. We are mostly Hispanic, so we do some Spanish music, but we do a lot of urban stuff, especially with our choir, and have done some Creole as well. And the kids did "Feliz Navidad" last year!


We've done things like "Silent Night" with a latin groove a few years back, and two years ago with a more urban feel mixed with traditional, complete with beat-boxing. (You can see a video of that here)

Russ (as usual) gives good advice. Seek out those in your congregation who might be able to give input. Even if they don't want to perform, they can help you make it more authentic.

[betnich]

Finding people in the congregation that can consult/help is a good idea - lends some authenticity and breaks us out of that "us four and no more" mentality that we can fall prone to in ministry.

We try to do a variety of musical worship styles in our church. On one song with a Spanish lyric we do it on the Chorus, calling out "Alabemos al Señor!" (Praise the Lord!) before singing it...

[yod1948]

I like celebrating in the "ethnos" of Yeshua so I have a Hanukah song about Him called "Festival of Lights" if you want to hear it?

[Chris Fry]

Hey There.

At the churches I've been serving in, we've mostly done some African and West Indian carols ("See Him Lying on a bed of Straw", with some steel drums...Marvelous).

Your main point is good though, that Christmas is to be celebrated for what it really is, not the commercial phenomenon it has become.

My favourite one, though, is, "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" when it's 35 degrees Celius (Around 90 Fahrenheit) down on this side of the world!

I've heard of singing in faith, but that's a bit ridiculous!!!!