Churches that Fit

It is our conviction that the church in any culture should fit the culture. Christians in every age and culture have the responsibility to discern what is right and good about their own culture, to reject what is not according to God's will, and to develop a style of worship that suits them.

We were excited to find out that some missionary friends who also work with the Kuy have been encouraging a group of believers to produce worship songs in Kuy language. These are not simply Christian songs translated from English. They are written using their own familiar tunes or style of music. They have 33 songs already! They are also working with the local church to come up with ideas about how to perform a funeral that is Christian and yet still Kuy. This involves thinking about what is traditionally done when someone dies in the Kuy village. Then they can decide which things are still ok for believers to do, come up with ways to transform aspects which are related to Buddhism or ancestor worship and also add Christian elements, such as specific songs for a funeral. They plan to begin looking at the wedding ceremony as well.

Pray:

• for continued development of truly Kuy ways of worshiping,
• that we could facilitate the translation and adaptation of the songs and funeral ideas from the Kuy Ntua dialect to the Kuy Ntra and/or encourage the same kinds of things to happen in this other Kuy dialect, and
• that all those working with Kuy people would be sensitive to cultural issues and seek to help the new believers develop their own style of "church".