Published on
February 22, 2012
The Nairobi Statement on Worship and Culture presents four central principles of the relationship between worship and culture.

How does worship relate to culture? How is worship in culture, but not of it? The Lutheran World Federation's Study Team on Worship and Culture met in Nairobi in January of 1996 and produced the Nairobi Statement on Worship and Culture. The statement presents four central principles of the relationship between worship and culture:

1) Worship is transcultural (Worship has certain dynamics that are beyond culture).

2) Worship is contextual (Worship reflects local patterns of speech, dress, and other cultural characteristics).

3) Worship is counter-cultural (Worship resists the idolatries of a given culture).

4) Worship is cross-cultural (Worship reflects the fact that the body of Christ transcends time and space).

Read the full statement.

Read the statement in Spanish and Korean.