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Participants of the “Music and Cultures” seminar in Trois-Rivières (Quebec, Canada).

Participants of the “Music and Cultures” seminar in Trois-Rivières (Quebec, Canada).

Music can be a key resource in building truly multicultural congregations and communities, found participants at a seminar, “Music and Cultures,” organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 30 October to 2 November in Quebec, Canada.

The seminar, hosted by United Church of Canada in the city of Trois-Rivières, drew clergy and ministry leaders from Canada and the United States.

Following up on the WCC Multicultural Ministry and Mission Intensive held in November 2015 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, the seminar focused on equipping clergy, church and ecumenical leaders for mission and ministry in the increasingly multicultural and diverse realities of the 21st century.

“With the current high profile of global migration and refugees on the socio-political landscape, this is one of the key areas in the life of the churches and in the work of the WCC where migrant churches play key roles in partnership with traditional mainline churches especially in the area of integration”, said Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, WCC programme executive for Mission and Evangelism.

Music in intercultural/multicultural worship needs a strong focus, and the clergy and ministry leaders and the congregations need to be equipped well for that, said participants. The seminar was specifically designed to equip participants for using music as a key resource in growing and building truly intercultural/multicultural congregations and communities in Canada particularly, and in North America as a region.

“Conducted in both English and French as two key languages in Canada, the seminar was a huge success”, said Tahaafe-Williams. “Communities in the 21st century are more multicultural than ever before and this is a reality both within the church and in the whole society. To equip church membership and leaders to live and witness adequately in that reality is urgent and necessary. This task is integral to the pilgrimage of justice and peace we have embarked on, embodying both theological and Biblical imperatives as well as the call to justice and peace”.

The participants of the “Music and Cultures” seminar were sent out with renewed vigour plus new tools and strategies for intercultural capacity-building in their own churches and communities at the grassroots. Additional contextual multicultural capacity building seminars in other WCC regions will be held in the coming months.

Read more about WCC work on inclusive communities, Mission from the margins