‘An Intercultural Worship Handbook’ by Ian Collinge – a Review. # 202. 11/06/2025

Out of Many, One People

Welcome, and apologies for this blog going out a day late. Next week’s should come as usual on Tuesday evening, 17th June.

‘An Intercultural Worship Handbook’ by Ian Collinge – a Review.

This book is subtitled ‘Routes, Tools and Guideposts for the Journey’ and does what it says on the tin. The ‘tools’ are there in abundance in the last third of the book, with very specific advice and detail about how to implement intercultural worship, especially music, in the local context. It points to sources, both in print and on-line, that those planning and preparing worship can make use. The fact that some of the detail is over the head of we musically semi-literate readers is not a criticism but rather a tribute to the thoroughness and practicality of the author’s approach.

The ’guideposts’ are covered in the central, and for me most interesting sections of the book where Collinge brings his ethnomusicologist theoretical understanding to our experience of heart music (a key concept), and the way music not only impacts us but also stays with us through our lives. In particular, the music which connects most with us when we are 16-18 years will tend to stay with us and shape our preferences. (So, after all these years, doo-wop music still brings a smile to my face). Given the strongly rootedness and specificity of our musical tastes, Collinge’s pastoral and theological commitment to enabling churches to use, appreciate, vary, fuse and create diverse musical styles is the more impressive.

The book opens ‘routes’ – setting out the rationale for churches to not only fulfil the biblical mandate to be culturally diverse and inclusive, but how this may be implemented in their worship. The book makes much use of his own experience of churches in independent multi-ethnic churches in Oldham and Leeds, and whilst he has an eye on the much broader picture of churches with different histories and polities, the transfer to quite different contexts doesn’t always run easily. Case studies of the experience of widely varied churches over a period of years could be very illuminating, although slow and time consuming to chronicle. As it is the fleeting references he makes aren’t very secure. Given the levels of energy that have been focussed on the topic of intercultural worship, it is inevitable – but possibly also somewhat distorting – that many of his quotations and examples are from the USA.

What then are the important characteristics running through this book?

It is Christian. That is, Collinge has a healthy and clearly focussed commitment that intercultural worship calls upon central convictions and responses of followers of Jesus, notably to love one another. He prioritises ‘other affirming worship’ (p xxv). This requires laying aside personal preferences and seeking the good of all – an emphasis common to most writers on multi-cultural churches (see references in my Grove booklet on ‘Worship in a Multi-Ethnic Society’, p 11). I like the phrase of a minister from Minneapolis that he quotes: ‘We have become comfortable being uncomfortable’ (p 131). The countercultural challenge of accepting diversity in worship makes it ‘a very sacred place’ (p 67). The purpose of intercultural worship is not to be a performance but rather it is ‘first about genuine relationships’ (p 90).

It uses scripture. He uses Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezek 37:1) to create a schema: ‘God moves in us and speaks/the bones come together/flesh is added/the Holy Spirit brings it all to life’ to give an operating structure of ‘inspiration/dialogue/ collaboration/ transformation and newness’ as the shape of his vision. However, with this, as with several other instances, my impression is that scripture is being drafted in (sometimes rather unconvincingly) to buttress previously formed conclusions. Can the reunification of the divided kingdom envisaged by Ezekiel give a biblical mandate for people from very different nations to worship together? Whilst his argument that God’s diverse people are called to live together in harmony and are destined for a future of ethnically diverse worship is theologically sound, many of the points he make seem to be simply trying to use scripture as an afterthought to justify already formed judgements (for example the use of the ‘a time to’ in Ecclesiastes 3 as indicating the love for variety is natural). Speculations about intercultural worship in the New Testament churches are perhaps given more weight than the text justifies.

It is imaginatively written. The author’s long years of experience in teaching and enabling intercultural worship shows in the wide variety of charts, tables, questionnaires and participatory exercises that occur frequently throughout the book. Those of us who love lists and diagrams will love this enjoy them. We are being invited to sit in on his seminars. In that sense, it is indeed a ‘handbook’, constantly involving readers in participating in a range of exercises, which no doubt have stood the test of time in being used and developed in his training ministry. On p xv there is a list of nine ‘tools’ that are scattered through the book. For example, pp 84-89 are taken up with how you may present, use, and learn from a ‘Heart-Music Survey’. Each chapter also gives questions to ponder, and at various points readers are invited to write down their own responses. In particular, I found the ‘Grid of Cultural Preferences in a Worship Meeting’ (p 92) – along with the resultant ‘Profile’ of specific churches - illuminating and fascinating; and highly useful for any church regardless of how it is approaching intercultural worship.

It is practical. Collinge is aware of the limitations of resources that church may have, or the significance of attending to its traditions, and he is thoughtful in offering suggestions as to how to deal with restraints in implementing intercultural worship. Whilst his main eye is on music, he does offer advice on the use of other art forms, including the use of the building itself.

It is too concerned with classifications and labels. The fact that for me I enjoyed the book less in its early chapters was partly because of instances of forced exegesis but especially because of the focus on definitions and labels. Setting intercultural and multicultural against each other, to quote scripture, is ‘wrangling over words, which does no good’ (2 Tim 2:14). The church’s sacred calling to form congregations which exhibit unity amidst diversity is far too fluid, subtle and complex to be boiled down into a simple binary

It is socially aware. Worship never happens in a social vacuum. The book is aware that the way we develop intercultural worship is shaped by who holds power in the church, and its misuse can exclude minority voices, or that intercultural worship can simply be the imposition of a leader. He is aware of the unconscious bias that can distort a leaders’ preferences. His book lays a strong emphasis on listening as the means by which leaders take account of the needs and preferences of the marginalised. Such misuse will be partly countered if Collinge’s advice to move slowly and learn from mistakes and from experience is recognised.

‘An Intercultural Worship Handbook’ is a thorough and very practical resource for churches seeking to incorporate cultural and ethnic diversity into their regular worship. It offers too much to be used all at once, but churches of any sort that seek to see ethnic diversity reflected in their weekly gathering will find inspiration and help in these pages.

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A reminder that blog # 200 is an index to all the blogs from # 1 - #199.