THE CONTEXTUALIZATION of “WORSHIP” in ECUADOR

2. THE CONTEXTUALIZATION of “WORSHIP” in ECUADOR

3. PART 1INTRODUCTION

4. IMPORTANCE • A church that is not relevant to its context will be ineffective in its ministry. • Worship that is not contextualized will be meaningless to the people of that context. • Every culture has a distinct way of expressing its faith in worship. • (The exception is when people adapt to a foreign context and leave behind their original identity.)

5. Divine Revelation • God´s manifestations have always been within a specific context. • God has always accommodated himself to a specific context in order to communicate with humans. • We must follow his example.

6. QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT: • How did the Thessalonians worship God? • How does a people group develop their own style of worship? • My missionary context: How can the indigenous Ecuadorian church develop their own style of worship?

7. INTRODUCTION TO “CONTEXTUALIZATION: • In what language did God speak to Abram? (Gen 12:1) • In what language did God speak to Peter? (Acts 10:13,15) • In what language did God speak to Cornelius? (Acts 10:3-6) • If God wants to communicate with us, what language will He use? • What is God’s “mother tongue” or “natural language”?

8. PRINCIPLE OF DIVINE ACCOMMODATION God will “accommodate” to a people’s language, mentality, and traditions in order to communicate with them. He will speak to them through their culture. PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP God expects us to worship Him through our own culture.

9. The History of Missions • Missions in the 1800s and the 1900s was part of Western colonization. • Western culture was considered “Christian.” • Other cultures were considered pagan. • New converts had to become “Western” in order to be “Christian.” • Ecuador has been no exception.

10. Ecuador • The gospel came to Ecuador through foreign missionaries. • The resulting evangelical church is a foreign implant. • And has not yet been contextualized. • This is especially true in the “pueblos.”

11. We need to create an “indigenous” church in the “pueblos” of the Andes of Ecuador so that Christianity will be seen by the nationals as relevant to them • This study focuses on the contextualization of the music-worship-ritual, which is the principal expression of religious belief in the “pueblos.”

12. Part I – TheTheoretical Framework WorshipiscommunicationwithGod. Godspeaks and acts. Werespond. Worshipexpressionis cultural. In cross-culturemissions, worshipmustbecontextualizedtotheforeignculture in ordertofacilitatecommunicationwithGod. Historically, in South America, this has notbeenthe case. Worshipisstill “Western.” In ordertofacilitatecommunication, thecommunicatormustaccomodatetothe receptor. Godisourexample. Themissionaryis NOT thecommunicator, butthefacilitator. Theworshipeventistheplatformforthatcommunication, and thereforethemissionaryneedstoconstruct a worshipeventthatallowsthereceptorstocommunicatewithGod THEIR way, notthemissionary´sway. Themissionarycannotsimplyadaptworshiptoanotherculturewithoutreallyunderstandingtheculture. Themissionaryneedstobeaware of hisorherculture so as NOT toimposeitonthereceptors. Alsothemissionaryneedstohave a goodunderstanding of thereceptors so as tohelpthemconstruct a worshipevent in whichtheyfeel “natural.” Thegoal of thisinvestigationistogain a better UNDERSTANDING of theEcuadorianAndeanIndian so as tobeabletocreate a worshipeventthatfacilitatescommunicationbetweenthem and God. Onewaytobegintounderstand a peopleis THROUGH their pagan worship ritual. Onewaytobegintounderstandourselvesis THROUGH our Christian worship. Participantobservation, filming and discussion, and comparingthetwo.

13. Part II – A BriefHistoricalAnalysis of Missions TheHistory of Contextualization ColonizationbySpain and Portugal THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA – MIXED RELIGION WITH COLONIZATION TheHistory of theEcuadorianIndian Thesetwo are closelyrelated. TheHistory of Missions in Ecuador – TOTAL LACK OF CONTEXTUALIZATION Christianitywasimposed. Paganismwassupressed. Syncretismresulted. Part III – TheInvestigation Context - Chillo Valley and El Tingo Thethreestages of research

14. PART 2THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

15. Mission Mentality • In the past 40 years, mission terminology (and strategy) has been changing: • From “Indigenization” • To “Contextualization” • And recently to “Appropriate Christianity.”

16. The Theory of “Contextualization” • Models of Contextualization • The process of contextualization

17. Letusnow combine contextualizationwithcommunicationtheory, emphasizingrelevancetheorybecauseitemphasizestheneedforaccomodation. Codetheoryis more interested in themessage and itstransmission.

18. Code Theory Noise Receiver Sender Channel Message Encodes Decodes Feedback

19. Relevance Theory Cognitive Environment COMMUNICATOR Cognitive Environment RECEIVER Context Evidence Context Context Context Intent Meaning Context Conversion Context Cross-cultural communication: the communicator must adapt/convert to a new context in order to communicate effectively.

20. I propose that understanding must precede contextualization. • This comes from Relevance Theory as developed by Shaw and VanEngen • Unless a missionary understands a people, the missionary cannot help them contextualize their Christianity. Instead the missionary will unconsciously impose his or her culture on them.

21. Our missionary biases: 1. God has spoken. 2. God accommodates to culture. 3. The biblical writers did the same. 4. We too must follow the pattern. God Goal: a people to know God from their perspective. Bible Writers Missionary U S U A L R O U T E People Error: to see God from the missionary’s perspective. Missionary’s task: to facilitate from what God spoke to the Biblical writers, accommodate it through universals to the people’s perspective. P R E F E R R E D R O U T E Universal Experience

22. CONTEXTUALIZATION THEORY Evangelical worship Traditional route Indigenous festivals Change the form of our music ritual to theirs Proposed route Adopt their cognitive environment Leave our cognitive environment Change our understanding to that of their music ritual

23. Letusnow combine contextualization and communicationtheorywithworship. Looking at worshipfromanethnomusicologicalpoint of view as a musical event.

24. The Starting Point for this dissertation is the following proposed model: WORSHIP AS A CULTURAL, DIVINE COMMUNICATION EVENT

25. The missionary tends to impose their worship style on the nationals. The nationals see worship as something foreign. My Theoretical Framework of Worship God Missionary God’s Revelation (Word and Works) Musical Worship Response National Believers The Musical Worship Event

29. I also propose that a people can be understood through their worship. • This comes from anthropological theory combined with ethnomusicological theory. • A missionary can better understand the spirituality of a people through their worship.

30. Ethnomusicological and Anthropological Theory 1 Music-Ritual Tradition 2 Beliefs Beliefs Extract Music ritual is one way to discover deep-level beliefs.

31. Wenownotonlyhavecombinedcontextualizationtheory and communicationtheorywithworship, butaddedethnomusicological and anthropologicaltheory. Allfour of theseplay a role in thetheoreticalframework and methodologyusedforthisinvestigation.

32. Research Biases Every research project is based on a chosen theoretical framework which shapes the conclusions. Data is crucial, but secondary. The study is exploratory, subjective and based on the researcher´s experience and reflection. This investigation uses “phenomenology” as its principal way of knowing. Knowledge is progressively created during the investigation by both the researcher and the subjects. Ecuadorians in the Andes will not give you a straight answer. They have a built-in hypocrisy. Therefore traditional methods of questionnaires and interviews are invalid.

33. DEFINITIONS Worship is a “Music-worship-ritual” “Pueblo” “Contextualization” “Cognitive environment” “Folk-Catholic”

34. PART 3THE INVESTIGATION

35. Ecuador: the Chillo Valley • Is filled with small towns (“pueblos”), which are traditionally “folk-Catholic.” • Every town has a evangelical church. • But not one town has been influenced by the Gospel. • Because the church has not yet contextualized its “faith-expression.”

36. The Research Process • CRI: to understand the spirituality of the “pueblos” through their worship. • This investigation took place over a three year period. Each year was a different phase of the research. • 2006 - The initial general investigation • 2007 - Case study in El-Tingo • 2008 – “On-site” reflection

37. Methodology 2006 • Participant observation in various festivals in various towns. • Film the worship service and hold workshops in five evangelical churches.

38. DATA 2006 Describe each festival and eachworkshop.

40. Results 2006 • Evangelical worship and folk worship are TOTALLY different! (No contextualization has taken place.) • Neither evangelicals nor folk-Catholics can clearly verbalize the meaning of their worship. • Evangelicals see the folk-rituals as “pagan.”

41. Comparison of Events (Differences)

42. Methodology 2007 • Focus on the Corpus Christi festival in El-Tingo. • Historical research of the town. • Workshop with town leaders lead by the local priest.

43. DATA 2007 Describe Corpus Christi Thehistoricalresearch of El-Tingo Thetownmeetingledbythepriest.

46. Results 2007 • Town folk are more concerned about “how” to celebrate the Corpus Christi festival than about “why” they celebrate it. • Decisions are made when everyone is present. • The history of the town is very important to the people, but is disappearing with the older generation.

47. Methodology 2008 • Participant observation in the Corpus Christi Festival in El-Tingo, focus on the “pingullero.” • Personal reflection and interaction with the literature.

48. DATA 2008 Describe thepingullero. Gothrough my process of reflection.