Worship That Moves the Soul: A conversation with Roberta King

— by Russell G. Shubin for Mission Frontiers, U. S. Center for World Mission

Roberta King, Ph.D. came to Fuller Theological Seminary in January 2000 after serving 22 years in Africa with CB (Conservative Baptist) International. While in Africa, she was based at Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, where she facilitated the setting of Scripture to song in over 70 languages from peoples in 11 African and two Asian countries. At Fuller, King is now Associate Professor of Communication and Ethnomusicology. She also maintains her commitment to CBI, serving as an International Resource Specialist. Both positions allow her to expand her work in ethnomusicology beyond the African continent.

Shubin: Was there a particular defining moment when you recognized the peculiar power of worship in mission?

King: The defining moments are when you see people who are just "ho-hum" in worship, and then you provide an opportunity for them to worship in ways that are meaningful to them. One early experience was on a Sunday morning in Nairobi, Kenya. We sang "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" at half tempo. And then out came the Kenyan music with a kayamba (a Kenyan shaker-type instrument). Standing beside me was a Kenyan Presbyterian minister. All of a sudden he changed. He switched from being immobile to just being full of light and life and was worshiping wholeheartedly. That's when I started saying, "There's something going on here."

MF: How have recent efforts to foster indigenous worship contributed to the expansion of God's Kingdom?

King: I was working with a small group of Senufos in Côte d'Ivoire called the Nyarafolo. They are an oral people with little translation of the Scriptures. They now have the book of Mark translated into their language. There was a group of 12 believers who wanted to worship in Nyarafolo styles. I've worked with them off and on over the last 9 or 10 years. Two years ago we did a song translation of Genesis 1-4 on cassette. The goal was to answer the question that was on their hearts. They were asking, "What do our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters need to know about God in order to understand who He is?"

So we made two audio cassette tapes in the indigenous language and musical style. The tapes started going all over the villages-in an animistic, folk Islamic setting. This took place where believers had witnessed to their families for years. One young man, a translator, found his mother dancing and singing to the songs, a clear sign of listening and responding to the message, a response that he had long yearned for.

So, indigenous music opens up a willingness to listen. Also, in that group, we found that they were ripe for creating their own church. This means they can start to reach out to their own people. Indigenous worship gives them an identity.

I originally worked among the Cebaara Senufo. We thought Cebaara songs could work for Nyarafolo people as well. When I came, we had some workshops, and they had their first worship songs in Nyarafolo. When the Nyarafolo heard their own songs, the non-believing people said "You mean that God is for us? We thought He belonged to the Cebaara."

The critical factor is that we assume that if we use something from another close people, they will understand and accept it. Even though they are both Senufo, there are people groups-languages and dialects within that larger group-that, if you don't make a translation for them, then they think that God belongs to somebody else and is not for them. So, ethnic forms of worship music open them up to listen. There is an invisible barrier that we don't know about. I think music has a way of removing such barriers.

MF: Are you sensing this is true on a larger scale?

King: Yes. I'm still very fresh from Africa, so I think African. Everywhere I have gone, I have seen people responding to the music. Historically, we have not known how to draw out indigenous worship from people. Once people know that it is possible, then they open up.… There's a longing for ethno-worship. We have not yet released people to use their own style of worship nor facilitated the opportunity.

MF: You speak and write that God is "receptor-oriented." Would you describe this term?

King: God is receptor-oriented in that He is very concerned about using the language that a receptor knows or a people knows. So, when God comes to speak to me, He would speak to me in American English. He wouldn't speak to me in Arabic. God moves into our cultural milieu and works with us where we are. It is the message that's important. He uses the principle found in 1 Corinthians 9: "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." Thus, He uses what is within that cultural context to help people understand who He is so that people might come into a personal relationship with Him. That transfers into the area of ethno-worship and ethnomusicology in that God also knows about the music of a people's culture. He knows very well how to transform that music so that people can understand who He is.

MF: You write of commissioning the musical instruments. That practice might seem odd to Evangelicals here. Explain the significance of it in other cultures.

King: That comes out of my book, "A Time to Sing," which is written as a manual for the African church. In many of the cultures of the world, instruments are related to the work of spirits. Among the Senufo as they make their instruments there is dedication through a blood sacrifice to the spirits. The blood and the chicken feathers are actually found on the instrument. This is true with their 17-key balafon, which we call a xylophone. So there's allegiance to the spirits who give the balafons. You have to help people understand that God can still use their music while not condoning the spirits. Therefore, you commission a new instrument to bring new meaning to the instrument.

Some have put little stickers on them, claiming Jesus Christ as the master of the instrument. And then you see how it is used. It starts being played with Christian songs and the whole area hears it. We have examples of where it actually stopped pagan worship. So the instrument is becoming another voice of God through musical sound. The Senufo Christians want to be sure that people know that the master of the instrument is God. The commissioning makes it clear that it is no longer an instrument that is serving the things of this world and its satanic elements.

MF: Is there any resistance to change on the part of missionaries? If not, what are the new challenges?

King: We're not dealing with abstinence, we're dealing with lack of training and lack of information. I think there are a lot of people going out like early missionaries with the best of intentions, but do not recognize the implications of what they're doing.

There's a lack of understanding the culture and how to work relevantly within that culture. I just taught a course and had a number of very fine students. One fellow who has worked in India for years and had a vision of going around doing Christian rock, now says, "You know, it doesn't reach everyone." So, he's now going through a paradigm shift, realizing there's more to using music well.

MF: In regard to African Independent Churches, some would argue they are non-Christian, some would argue they're aberrant, some would argue they're just excessive. But many would argue they're more indigenous. How do you view them, especially in this context of worship?

King: Part of their reason for being is because worship wasn't relevant to them. So, they didn't wait for a missionary to find out that there might be ethno-worship. They went and developed means of worshiping that were closer to their traditions and their hearts.

Every group will have some sort of excess. They will be more obvious in their differences than missions from mainline churches, traditional mission churches or the different denominations. Some of them are clearly aberrant in terms of doctrine. … But, I see them as being quite relevant. In a very real sense, the reluctance of missionaries to embrace indigenous forms of music has fueled the growth of movements that are not theologically sound, though they are sincere in their desire to worship the living God.

I did a workshop with an African Independent Church in Kenya. We used it as an opportunity to get them looking at the Scriptures more directly, to get them not just singing songs with, say, "Alleluia" in them, but to get them actually interacting with the Scriptures. So, you're doing discipleship, helping them to grow theologically through the song-composing process.