1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
An Open and Discerning Approach to Culture: #5 in a series on the "10 Core Convictions about Worship" from Calvin Worship Institute on Vimeo.
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).
We have found that the most meaningful worship - and the wisest worshiping community - does not just choose one of these four as its defining principle, but instead is invigorated by the truth of all four.
Note how this statement nuances the model of being "in but not of" culture, and calls us to a more sophisticated understanding of worship's relationship to culture.
The complete text of the Nairobi Statement is posted at the Lutheran World Federation website. It was also published in Christian Worship: Unity in Cultural Diversity, ed. S. Anita Stauffer (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1996).
We encourage worshipers and worship leaders to reflect on it as they consider the context and challenges of their culture, and answer God's call to worship within it and minister to it.
Related Resources
Jared Ortiz, professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, describes the Nicene Creed as a dramatic and powerful statement where every word is like a declaration of war, saying yes to the truth and no to many falsehoods.
Jane Williams, professor of theology at St. Mellitus College in London, England, sees the Nicene Creed, crafted 1700 years ago, as an extraordinary creative and exciting description of who God is and therefore what we trust in as Christians in God's world.
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts serve on a planning team for an October worship event in Egypt to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the ecumenical creed that emerged in the year 325 and remains firmly embedded in the worship practices of the church today.
Jared Ortiz, professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, describes the Nicene Creed as a dramatic and powerful statement where every word is like a declaration of war, saying yes to the truth and no to many falsehoods.
Jane Williams, professor of theology at St. Mellitus College in London, England, sees the Nicene Creed, crafted 1700 years ago, as an extraordinary creative and exciting description of who God is and therefore what we trust in as Christians in God's world.
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts serve on a planning team for an October worship event in Egypt to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the ecumenical creed that emerged in the year 325 and remains firmly embedded in the worship practices of the church today.
This expression of Psalm 148 was submitted by Ed Willmington, who wrote it with Clayton J. Schmit. The nature of Psalm 148 is total exuberance as all of nature offers praise to God.
