Jesus’ Prayer for Unity

In John 17:21-23 (KJV) state: “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

Our worship response to Jesus’ prayer is to gather multi-culturally and inter-generationally in continuous Christian worship. This song is a continuous testimony to the majesty, character and eternal glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our songs are no longer heard as a piece of music in a worship set, but as a continuous unified song of the church, ever resounding and articulating the sound doctrine of unification and worship in spirit and in truth.

Is it necessary to embrace the idea of multi-ethnic worship?  Is there a greater sense of God’s presence in multi-ethnic gatherings? Is there a particular power that is present there too? The answer is No. The power is in the Word of God it forms and shapes our thinking and how we worship. Practicing various worship traditions, genres, styles, languages, preferences and fusing them together are formative to our character development in Christ.  How we worship should never drive doctrine. Doctrine must drive how we worship. Sound doctrine is about God and the sounds of our worship should be too.

Worship is about God and musical genre is about people.

If we are not careful genre, style and preference can easily become forms of idolatry. Our worship should focus on Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Whatever the worship musical genre might be, God is looking for the spirit and truth worshippers, those who have pure hearts and clean hands and whose intentions are righteous.

What is our worship response to HIS very nature and existence?

Our Worship response is a continuous song sung in many parts, various keys, from symphonic forms to simple binary song forms, to African and Asian sensibilities to artistic fusions of multi-languages and genres. This is an intentional multi-ethnic continuous song of the church.

This continuous song is sung in many time zones around the world, many languages, multiple layers of canonic renderings, juxtaposed in great counterpoint to the counter culture of Christ, orchestrated with a vast array of instruments that have ranges from highest pitches imagined to the lowest decibels unheard with human hearing. This continuous song is a response to the character of God. In order to participate in the manner of how God wants us to worship him, we must, first, remove ourselves from the equation. “We must take off our shoes in order to stand on His holy ground.”

As our worship gatherings become more multi-ethnic, the world will see that we are Christians because of the way we worship God and our love for one another.

Here are four ways a worship leaders can implement Multi-Ethnic worship expressions and participate intentionally with the Continuous Song of the Church.

1. Learn new musical styles and worship expressions from other ethnic groups by worshipping with them.  Have them teach their songs to your congregation.
2. Change your attitude and perspective about how to worship God. Move from desire to conviction and from conviction to being. Be the change you want to see and give God the glory for it!
3. Build a multi-ethnic, intergenerational worship team, by developing, in your personal life, cross-cultural relationships with others. Opposites do find each other attractive.
4. Take an ethnomusicology class at a community and learn different musical genres of other cultures.