![English (United Kingdom) [Beta]](https://d16pzigze5um2c.cloudfront.net/modern-ministry-theme/images/spacer.png "English (United Kingdom) [Beta]")
Empowering indigenous people to worship through the arts
Filipino Christians find unique cultural avenues for expressing their faith
By Maria,
Philippines
in
Asie de l'Est
"This is the first time I have felt that I can be a Christian and an indigenous person at the same time. Before I felt like I was a Christian on Sundays and a Bla'an from Monday to Saturday. Now I feel like I can be a Christian and a Bla'an from Monday to Sunday!"
-Workshop participant from the Bla'an people group
These are the kinds of comments we receive after we run ethnoarts workshops for indigenous Christians in the Philippines. Our goal is to encourage indigenous believing communities to consider using their own languages and art forms to worship and teach others about God.
Sometimes church planters here copy the church culture they are familiar with in new locations. This approach can lead indigenous people to struggle to see how Christianity relates to their everyday lives.
In our workshops, participants think through their own creative art forms, including music, dance, drama, verbal arts and visual arts. They consider which ones might be appropriate to use in worship and to communicate the gospel. Although our aim is to spread God's word, an unexpected outcome has been seeing people understand how their Christian identity intersects with their ethnic identity.
We are working in a country where certain ethnic groups have been labelled Christian, others Muslim and others animistic. What does it mean for a person to follow Jesus if he or she isn’t from a 'Christian' background?
As our participants' art forms are deeply connected to their ethnic identities, it is encouraging to see them energized by what it means to follow Jesus within their people group and cultural setting. Many have learnt they can be themselves in the community that God has placed them and still follow Jesus.
COME WITH US
Do you have a passion for the arts? Are you interested in serving in arts ministry, empowering others to worship God through the arts? Go here for more information.
Related Stories
From the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro
I awoke to the sound of the wind howling through camp. The walls of my tent shook violently as I glanced at my watch. It was just after midnight; in about an hour, our team would make the final push for Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania—Africa’s tallest mountain.
Longing to breathe free
Pastor Shravan has been in a terrible place of bondage to drug addiction. And now his life mission is to prevent anyone he can from staying in that dark, destructive place. Along with workers from the Urban Development Project (UDP), which helps connect and train slum churches to meet the needs of their communities, Pastor Shravan hopes to help others break free from drug and substance abuse in his city.
"Can I ask you a question about Jesus Christ?"
“Can I ask you a question about Jesus Christ?” That's what Ken asked me as we sat down in our living room, where I keep a Bible in the local language on display.
