Adaptive Ad-Lib: Developing Disciples through Mozambican Music

by Megan Meyers

Why don’t you share some Christian songs in your language with me?” I asked some musicians on our way home from a worship event. As an ethnodoxologist, I thought the lack of enthusiasm during the event was due to the use of foreign songs. I naively assumed my friends would be thrilled to sing in their heart language. 

Photos courtesy Megan Meyers

Why don’t you share some Christian songs in your language with me?” I asked some musicians on our way home from a worship event. As an ethnodoxologist, I thought the lack of enthusiasm during the event was due to the use of foreign songs. I naively assumed my friends would be thrilled to sing in their heart language. 

Imagine my surprise when, with some embarrassment, they mumbled two short songs in Ndau, one of the two major languages in Beira, Mozambique. It was far less than the enthusiastic response I had anticipated. Upon pressing for more detail as to their hesitancy, they responded simply, “That music has no life!” It was clear that neither the foreign nor the local songs were effective means of discipleship for these believers.

The goal of missions, and indeed local churches, is to develop disciples—people who worship and serve God wholeheartedly. John Piper states, “Worship…is the fuel and goal in missions” (1993, 11). Worship arts can play a key role in church growth through evangelism, leadership training, and discipleship, yet it is underutilized in ministry and missions.  

These musicians’ responses convinced me of the necessity of developing contextualized worship arts within the local church, thus helping believers grow in their faith through song. I wanted to discover how contextually appropriate worship affected discipleship within and beyond the local church and how Mozambicans grew through music.  

I conducted an applied cross-case study in twelve evangelical churches from 2012-2014 in the city of Beira. Methods included interviews, participant observation, and summative content analysis of frequently-sung songs. Below I describe the results of my context research, the applied experiments to encourage adaptive change in worship arts, and an assessment of the results.  

What Does Worship Look Like in Beira?

Song-writing workshops are a methodological practice of ethnodoxology, successfully conducted in numerous settings around the globe (see King 2008; Higashi 2011; Scott 2009; Schrag 2013). One of the strengths of this particular method (allowing participants to lead in the creation of indigenous hymnody) is, in some cases, its weakness. This method assumes that local composers are qualified musicians and theologians and able to create songs that are biblically solid and culturally relevant, and that they have the relationships and authority to encourage the use of new songs in local church worship. 

My concern throughout the research was to make disciples through contextualized worship arts that, in turn, developed church ministry and mision. Therefore, the effectiveness of my primary change method—song-writing workshops—was paramount. I needed to discover how to ‘re-frame’ the method to fit the research context, and to modify the method in order to maximize sustainable adaptive change through worship praxis.  

I quickly learned that affecting transformation was far more complex than just getting people to beat on a batuque and sing in their mother tongue. After all, in a majority of my urban church contexts, traditional instruments weren’t used. Some younger congregants preferred Portuguese songs (a ‘foreign’ music style), while older congregants in mainline churches were deeply engaged in singing Western hymns.  

Participant observation at my twelve cases revealed ‘songs-in-use.’ I recorded not only the types of songs being sung from week to week at various churches, but how they were being sung. I observed levels of congregational participation and experienced the flow of worship and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I learned that worship as currently defined in practice is the songs sung during service.  

Interviews with pastors, worship leaders, and congregants revealed the generational challenges between youth and church leadership. Youth expressed frustration at being given the ministry task of leading worship, but not the authority to carry out the task. Pastors shared concern about the lifestyle of youth and their unwillingness to submit to older leaders. I learned of numerous accounts of moral failure and noted a paucity of training opportunities.    

Finally, content analysis of frequently-sung songs uncovered the challenge of a popular song form (nossa música) that, while musically ‘at home,’ was limited by its form (low text load) and function (proclamation and praise). People needed songs that engaged not just their hearts, but also their heads. Content analysis also revealed holes in lyric theology—only a limited amount of songs touched on the life of Christ, and what it means to be a disciple. Congregants were not singing the whole gospel.  

As I entered the applied phase of my research, I knew I needed to address these issues. How could I encourage the development of songs whose form and function allowed for greater exposure to a complete gospel? What would encourage pastors and worship leaders to work together to form a cohesive service that engendered greater learning? How could I break decades of cultural demoralization and inspire Mozambican praise?  

It was abundantly clear that I would have to do more than one song-writing workshop in each church context if I was going to hope to achieve adaptive change through worship praxis. It would require building relationships with pastors and attempting to bridge the divide between youth and church leadership by engaging the power brokers in the change process. Numerous training opportunities for worship leaders and musicians were also necessary—not just teaching new methods, but mentoring them and providing ‘worship labs’ for experimenting and trying new ways to worship. I needed to develop a multi-pronged expanded approach, tailored to each church’s felt needs and desires.  

Song-writing Workshop Method Expanded & Applied in Beira

The applied phase of my research was designed to initiate adaptive change in worship. I was committed to mentoring people through the change, developing strategies that would allow for collaborative leadership and aiding pastors and worship leaders to ‘get on the balcony’ (Heifetz 2002, 771) to see what was really happening in their church contexts. I also sought to “orchestrate the conflict” (Heifetz 2002, 1544-1889) by initiating focus group interviews and creating ‘holding environments’ where participants could creatively consider changing current worship praxis through genuine dialogue and ‘case-in-point’ learning.  

Focus group interviews. I initiated this phase of my research with a focus group discussion of church leaders in each participating church context. My goal in using this method was to build on effective ‘group think,’ bridging the divide between generational factions. Focus groups of mixed ages recognized the authoritarian and highly communal cultural context. By respecting older leadership, the focus groups helped engage them as ‘change agents,’ thus increasing the likelihood of lasting sustainable change in each church context.  

A video compilation of one of their church services served as a concrete discussion aid, giving participants a chance to ‘auto-critique.’ Participants deliberated about the pros and cons of their current worship practice, and articulated the challenges they were facing. They then determined an action plan for change in worship. These concrete next steps helped to focus efforts and to gauge the transformative progress. The focus groups served to not only build trust, but also to galvanize the church leadership to action.  

Training opportunities in holding environments. As training was a major need, expressed by all pastors of participating churches, I employed multiple ‘holding environments’ to orchestrate adaptive change through training. These experimental training opportunities allowed for social cohesion and cross-fertilization of ideas across denominational lines and engendered freedom to experiment and gain capacity in new practices.  

The holding environments included a twelve-week voice technique course, weekly jam sessions, monthly composers clubs at Família Vitoriosa (VFC), and monthly worship leaders’ meetings at Instituto Bíblico de Sofala (IBS). Although each experimental environment had a different focus, and engaged different groups of people, each session focused on facilitating adaptive change and empowering participants as a group to lead the change in their own church context.  

Monthly composer’s clubs. Monthly composer’s clubs (like the jam sessions, voice classes, and small group) were also training opportunities in a holding environment. Preliminary research gave me an understanding of the ‘thick description’ of the context in which the songwriting workshops occurred and allowed me to build strong relationships with pastors and worship leaders. This circumvented the ‘shot-in-the-dark’ song-writing workshop approach and revealed numerous factors (mentioned previously) that compelled me to alter the change process strategy.  

I also discovered that I needed to modify the workshop method itself, increasing the frequency of workshops, enriching the events with teaching components, and expanding the potential influence through open invitations. Although the creation of new songs was a goal of the workshops, I was more interested in developing composers who could continue to make contextually-relevant worship music beyond the workshop itself. This applied experimental phase of the research expanded the song-writing workshop model and made it contextualized for adaptive and sustainable change. 

I now move to chronicle what happened as a result of these applied activities, answering the question, “How did contextualized worship arts affect church ministry and mission?”    

Increased Use of Contextual Worship Arts 

“I’ve realized I need to change, to be more contextual in my music. 
My music was Western. I’m learning to create Mozambican music now.”
—Composer’s club participant

One Saturday in July of 2014, approximately five hundred people from over thirty denominations came to Beira for a gospel concert held at an old movie theater. Many pastors cancelled their other Saturday events, encouraging their congregants to participate in the concert.  The band, dressed in African clothes, played only locally composed songs. Manuel Mário, the concert producer, stated: 

This concert wouldn’t have existed without the composer’s clubs, worship leaders’ small group and jam sessions. These other groups provided a network of people with similar vision and training from which to draw upon to organize the concert. I’ve organized other events like this in Beira before, but this time it was different, it was easier.

Numerous conversations with Manuel, trusting relationships with pastors built over the time, and multiple events where musicians were challenged to create local music all helped to ‘ripen’ the Christian community. There is a groundswell of developing Christian artists who are producing concerts, CDs, and videos in Beira. Youth are embracing Mozambican culture, realizing the value of cultural traditions, but re-appropriating them for themselves.  

An example of this is a monthly open-mike event, in which new artists can share their art with peers in a non-threatening environment. These concerts, usually drawing a crowd of up to two hundred youth from numerous city churches, “are a direct result of this study’s efforts,” according to a worship leader at VFC. The weight of a non-contextualized mission history is lifting. Mozambicans in Beira are praising God in new forms that are contextually relevant, but biblically solid.  

Engaged Pastors, Empowered Worship Leaders 

“We’re talking about worship at our general conference. There’s a
motivation to change among leadership…it’s not just me.”
—Pastor Adriano 

Pastor João of Família Vitoriosa (VFC) is probably one of the best examples of an engaged pastor, one who has caught the vision of this research and has really moved his church in a new direction. The day after the focus group discussion at VFC, he completely disbanded the worship team, realizing that there were deep issues that needed addressing before the team would be ready to minister. He now attends each worship rehearsal and is intimately involved in training worship leaders, analyzing song lyrics, and composing new songs.  

Not all pastors are as excited about worship as João. However, they are now aware of the importance of worship and the need for further training and development and are asking for more support. My 2014 worship class at Instituto Bíblico de Sofala (IBS) doubled in size from 2013, many students being financially supported by their churches. Although the generational rift still exists, it is clear that the change components contributed in engaging pastors and leadership in transformation through worship.  

Intentional Use of Worship for Teaching 

“During our conference, we chose songs that were related to
the conference themes, or connected to the sermon topic. This really
helped learning; people left singing the songs and taking the ideas home.”
—Pastor João 

A more concerted effort to intentionally plan services is evident. First Baptist Church has developed a rotation between the women’s choir and the praise team. Last year, the two groups would vary leading throughout the service. As the groups were not planning worship together, the results were a fragmented music event. Now the groups take turns leading the entire service, allowing for a more unified thematic performance.  

Família Vitoriosa (VCF) has also taken the notion of teaching through music seriously. Each song must go through a rigorous analysis and ask, “Is it biblical? Culturally relevant? Consistent with church doctrine?” If a song does not pass muster, it is not performed during the worship service. Pastor João is committed to making sure that there is no conflict between the spoken and the sung word.  

The intentional use of music to teach theological principles is a growth edge for the Mozambican church. Some pastors specifically mentioned this point as an area of weakness. Yet there is a hunger for more instruction in how to select and place songs. Concerted efforts to create a cohesive thematic music performance can contribute in clarifying biblical principles and cementing them in the minds and hearts of believers.    

Growing Corpus of Indigenous Hymnody 

“If you stop (doing composer’s clubs) VFC will continue. 
We are already seeing the fruits; songs are more biblical and 
more connected to this cultural context.” 
—Pastor João 

Three pastors expressed grave concern that their congregations were singing songs that aren’t appropriate: “We are singing songs that have superficial content,” one articulating the presence of lyric syncretism, calling both God and Satan. Three other pastors, however, have intentionally eliminated all songs from the church repertoire that have unbiblical or confusing content.  

In the case of Família Vitoriosa (VFC), composing new songs is now a mandatory part of each rehearsal. Their goal is to sing ninety percent locally-composed songs within a year’s time. They are well on their way to reaching this goal. On September 28, 2014, out of a five-song set, three new VFC songs were sung. This is a remarkable achievement.

Missioning in a Musical Context

“I’m an artist and a Christian. What is my responsibility?
To be a light, to show people what God’s done in my life through my music
—to shine the values, the transformation, the liberty from sin,
and to show God’s love to my neighbors.”
—Ibraimo, worship leader at VFC

Adaptive change through contextualized worship arts has developed disciples. Worship leaders like Ibraimo are empowered and passionate about mobilizing music in mission. In this article, I described my initial findings about worship practices in twelve church contexts in Beira. I discovered the burdens of a non-contextualized mission history in music, the challenges of a social hierarchy that rob worship leaders of authority, the practice of a fragmented worship event, and the lack of theological training through the use of the popular music style, nossa música.  

These discoveries led to the creation of an expanded song-writing workshop model—a multi-pronged experimental approach to adaptive change through worship. The change process was initiated by critically reflexive focus group interviews at each church. Monthly composer’s clubs, rather than a one-time workshop, were conducted. Additional training events and holding environments boosted capacity for enhancing culturally-appropriate worship in the local church.  

Research data shows that there is now an increased use of ‘local’ hymnody, and a greater mission momentum through music. Pastors are engaged, and worship leaders are empowered. Believing musicians are cooperating across denominational lines, worshiping together, and sharing their faith in song. Finally, churches are beginning to intentionally use music to teach, designing cohesive worship events that foster spiritual formation. Contextualized worship arts are a critical component of church development, encouraging personal discipleship, growing ministry, and empowering for mission.  

References

Heifetz, Ronald A.; and Marty Linsky. 2002. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Higashi, Guy and Scott Shigemi. 2011. “Musical Communitas: Gathering around the Ukulele in Hawai’i and the Foursquare Church.” Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary.

King, Roberta R. 2008. Music in the Life of the African Church. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press.

Piper, John. 1993. Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Schrag, Brian and James R. Krabill. 2013. Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach Their Kingdom Goals. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library.

Scott, Joyce. 2009. Moving into African Music. Claremont, South Africa: PreText.

. . . .

Megan Meyers is an ethnodoxologist who has been working with WorldVenture Mozambique since 2009. Her work focuses on the development of disciples, church ministry, and mission through the use of contextualized worship arts. She is a lecturer of worship arts, communication, and contextualization at the Bible Institute of Sofala and the Baptist Bible Institute in Beira, Mozambique.  

EMQ, Vol. 52, No. 3 pp. 238-246. Copyright  © 2016 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.

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