People crave authenticity. This is especially true in conversations regarding worship in the church. Worship magazines devote entire issues to the subject. We pursue authenticity as leaders and we require it of those we lead. However, it seems as though an essential piece of our authenticity is missing among some worship ministries in multicultural churches. This truth was glaringly obvious during a workshop that I recently taught, where roughly 90% of the multicultural worship pastors and leaders in the room admitted that their worship ministries were mono-cultural.

Can a mono-cultural worship ministry authentically communicate the vision of a multicultural church?

A lack of racial and cultural diversity in your worship ministry can undermine the larger value of diversity among your church or ministry as a whole.

Don’t underestimate the power of what people see. It is critical to what they experience. What people see when they walk into your church or ministry atmosphere speaks volumes to them as they go through the process of trying to find a home church. Imagine that you are visiting your church for the very first time. Coming in through the main entrance, you see a lovely array of diverse people waiting to greet you at the door: White people, Black people, Hispanic people, Indian people and Deaf people. You are encouraged by the church’s mission statement on the wall regarding its God-given mandate to represent the Body of Christ in its fullness. Walking into the gathering space, you notice the representation of different people groups who have all made the choice to come together and worship as a community.

Now, the service begins. The worship team comes out and is a lovely group of people, all of whom are Asian. What message would this send to you? How would what you see on the stage line up with what you had experienced up until this point? The worship team being mono-cultural might communicate that you’ve just walked into an Asian church, or maybe that only the Asian people in the church can minister through music. Do we believe this to be true – that only one racial group has the corner market on good music? Of course not!

However, as leaders of dynamic worship ministries, the opportunity for our ministries to reflect the already-existing diversity of the Body of Christ will be ever before us. Pursuing and growing a racially and culturally diverse worship ministry will a) give your ministry credibility among your church community, b) equip your ministry with multiple musical and cultural perspectives on worship in the church, and c) reinforce the vision of the Church as a whole. As worship leaders, we have a great opportunity to leverage the people-resources that God has given us to model the importance of diversity in music, culture, and relationship. Our role as leaders of being intentional with the people we invite to participate in our ministries is crucial to the health and diversity of the church as a whole.

How to diversify your worship ministries through race and culture

This can be challenging at times. For some of you, you look at the “pool” of people that you currently have and you wonder where the diversity will come from, especially when there is a need for people with instrumental or vocal ability. Here are some ideas for you to consider:

1. Conversations… Ask people what they are good at. You may be surprised that there are singers and musicians in your congregation who are gifted but may, due to the lack of diversity in your stage ministry, think that their gifts would be of no value. Take leadership by inviting them to be a part of the ministry.
2. Creativity… Remember that there are other ways to incorporate the beauty of diversity in your worship set and ministry through venues other than music. If you are having difficulty finding people of different ethnicities who are instrumentalists or vocalists, invite them to read scripture or perform a dramatic reading during the worship time. Who said that your worship sets can’t be filled with things other than music? There are many ways to worship God!

Right now, right where you are, conditions are perfect for you to lead your ministry to the place where people are able to see the authenticity of the multicultural church modeled through worship. Whether through music, reading, or speaking a native tongue, trust that God has brought specific people to your church for a specific reason… to more fully represent and authenticate the multicultural Body of Christ.