At Harvest Bible Chapel in Austin, Texas we expect our congregation to sing in more than one language – the one you know best will do just fine. You may be singing in English and the person next to you may be singing in Spanish (the words to the song will be on the screen in both of those languages). If you have never experienced this before, you might wonder why we will do it. Here are a few reasons.
Our present world calls for it. In Austin, Texas (and many other cities around the globe) our world is multi-lingual. And here, to restrict your community to only one language is to shut off a large chunk of the city – to refuse community with brothers and sisters. But when we worship together, we speak to God in the language of our hearts. He is the God who makes us brothers. And it is worth the effort to worship Him side by side. Someone once said “Sunday morning is the most racially segregated time of the week in America.” But if the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 2) says Jews and Gentiles are no longer strangers but are, in Christ, all together members of the household of God – being joined together like stones in a building, then certainly this is true of us too regardless of our languages. Austin has many languages keeping her separated – but one Lord bringing her together.
Our glorious hope pictures it. We aren’t just thrown together by chance – or simply current circumstances. We are being placed together for the future. When the Bible (Revelation 5) portrays the culmination of the gospel, it shows us as men and women from every tribe and nation and language redeemed together – coronated together – by the death of Christ. If we have been redeemed together, and if we will reign together, how can we keep from raising our voices together? After all, if we will worship with one another for all eternity, shouldn’t we start practicing?
We can do it. Singing next to someone who is singing the same song in a different language isn’t that hard. I’ve done it several times – and always been overwhelmed by the power of it. My favorite recent experience was near Chicago at the Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, Illinois. We were led by a beautiful Romanian voice while most of us sung in English (at the top of our lungs). It was spectacular in its portrayal of the gospel. We knew the song; the words were displayed; it was natural.
Mars Hill, based in Seattle – is already doing this in their Albuquerque location. Spanish and English worshippers side by side. Check out the link to their site:
