new sounds of worship from minority peoples of china

background

In the last few decades China has become known for phenomenal church growth in spite of huge obstacles. Among speakers of the majority language, Mandarin, Christians have shown outstanding courage and passion to spread the Word of God, even in the face of persecution. Yet there are over 400 other languages and dialects representing the various cultures in China. Many of these have no translation of the Bible. When people become Christians in these cultures, they often struggle to understand how to worship the Lord and to share their faith with others. Many have not yet discovered the power of using their own music in worship and outreach.

opportunity

Imagine our joy when Heart Sounds International (HSI) was invited to send a team to one of these cultures. Early in 2007 a four-member team conducted a workshop to help the people create songs in their own heart music and to produce a professional recording. The traditional styles of these songs would be especially helpful in bringing the Gospel to the older people and in helping them worship.

The language situation in this culture is complex, since people speak many different dialects. In our song-writing workshop, there were eight people from four dialects, along with a few observers from other dialects. In general, these dialects are not mutually intelligible, so most communication was done in Mandarin.

Normally, HSI song-writing workshops require at least seven days—five or more days to prepare songs and at least two days to record them. In this workshop, the team had only three days to finish everything! Only two of the participants had much experience in song writing, but all of them wanted to craft songs that would help them worship and share their faith. Some participants had a special passion to see their people know the Lord, and they sensed the potential power of expressing the message through music.

outpouring

We began the workshop by looking closely at what God says about worship in the Bible. Then the participants went to work. Some set their lyrics to traditional melodies, while others wrote new tunes.

We were amazed at the enthusiasm and speed with which the participants wrote songs—and at the depth and power of the lyrics. One man had felt moved to write an epic song that encompassed the story of creation, Christ’s coming, and a Gospel invitation. He spent a whole night writing the extensive lyrics in Mandarin. Then the next day, the whole group worked together to learn and refine the ten verses of the song. The whole process was valuable on more than one level. This epic was the only song that the whole group worked on together, and it provided hands-on training for communicating a Bible story in poetic song. The song became a model that could be used in developing songs for other Bible stories in the multiple dialects.

When we realized that few of the participants had much background that could equip them to compose in their indigenous song styles, we began to emphasize general principles involved in the song-writing process, including crafting lyrics and checking the grammar and theology. Soon the process that had seemed so mysterious was demystified, and the participants were doing something they had never done before—writing their own songs to glorify the Lord!

By the third day we were ready to record the songs. All the songs were to be performed a cappella, so we concentrated on achieving good vocal quality. The poise and commitment of these new songwriters was exceptional. Twenty songs were recorded in just a few hours, and most songs were recorded in one or two takes.

As the participants thought about returning to their areas with these songs, we encouraged them to form song-writing fellowships that would meet regularly to compose new songs. We believe that the participants will pass on what they learned about song writing to their fellow believers and that the impact of this three-day workshop will be felt for many years to come.

expanding opportunity

During the workshop one girl captured our full attention when she mentioned that some older people in her village had already composed Christian songs. Over the past several years, she told us, they had been composing songs in traditional styles to be used for special events in the church year. They had also been sharing these songs in other villages. We immediately made arrangements to go to this village, hoping to meet the people, record some of the songs, and do further research.

A five-hour bus ride took us into spectacular mountain country, a vivid contrast to the city setting of the workshop. In the village, most people are subsistence farmers on the rugged terrain, and many also tend animals. It was a cold day when we arrived, but we were warmly greeted by the pastor, who introduced us to the singers, songwriters, and others.

Together we all decided that we would record in a traditional performance setting—the side of the mountain. We trudged uphill to reach a place that overlooked the village and the valley with its lush vegetation. Using battery-powered equipment, we recorded several songs that used either folk tunes or indigenous opera melodies. The lyrics were sung in their own language, but since the language did not have a standardized alphabet, the people used Mandarin characters when they wrote the lyrics on paper.

As we talked with the people, we learned much more about their music and the efforts they had made to share the Gospel with neighboring villages. This sparked some creative thinking about the future. We talked about distributing the recordings locally and made plans to contact missionary radio ministries to explore broadcasting the songs on radio.

purposeful prayer

These two opportunities represent the many ways the Lord himself is working to spread His kingdom throughout the earth before His coming. We pray that He will nurture the musical seed that is being sown now in these dialects in China and that He will empower His people to gather the harvest of precious lives still waiting in the mountains and valleys of China to hear of Him.