Pentecost 2022: Encouragement for a more multilingual church June 4, 2022
Posted by Pete B in multilingualism, worship.add a comment
I’ve been blogging for a while about #multilingualchurch. Here’s why – A rich diversity of language and culture was God’s idea!
This is an idea explored a few times in a new book, “Language and the mission of God“. This is an ebook with a suggested price of $25 but a minimum price of “FREE” , that asks, amongst other things, “How does our perception of language influence our lives and ministries?”
If it’s the first time you’ve been asked that, ponder it yourself for a while while listening to this very multilingual compilation of “the Blessing”.
Long before the “World Blessing, the “UK Blessing”, the “The Blessing Zimbabwe” or before that particular 2020 worship chart topper was sung in over 214 languages in over 100 nations around the world, it was God’s idea to bless not just one chosen people but to bless all the nations.
At Pentecost three amazing things happen:
- The Holy Spirit comes on a waiting but hidden group of believers
- He gives them the gift of speaking other languages (and the hearers a gift of being spoken too)
- He launches the church as something that is not confined by language or culture.

It’s 30 years since I first really heard about Pentecost in a way that spoke to me and made me realise that the fragments of the Bible I’d heard many times before might fit together into something that was both attractive and true.
Pentecost definitely isn’t the first appearance of the Holy Spirit but it’s the start of something new. Jesus had said he was going back to the Father (I recently saw a facebook post where someone talked of Ascension day as the day Jesus started working from home), and he had told his disciples to wait. He’d said that he would send a new counsellor.
As with many other things Jesus had said, the disciples probably didn’t get what he meant at the time, but with a possible threat to their own lives they had good reason to be hiding away.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the tired believers new courage to proclaim good news to those around them. May that be our prayer and practice in the church today.
Bardcore Worship #2 Blending old and new September 27, 2020
Posted by Pete B in worship.add a comment
It’s now a few weeks since I discovered bardcore – faux medieval style versions of 20th and 21st century pop songs, shared on YouTube along with pictures that may (or look like like they may) have come from the Bayeux tapestry or books from somewhere between the 5th and 15th centuries.
For those looking for religious pictures there are no shortage of sources now online such as this 14th century picture digitised by the British Library. There are many interesting scenes, including this illustration of why Mary didn’t recognise Jesus after the resurrection until he took his hat off. Some of the illustrations take a little working out for 21st viewers, but these were once a bold attempt at telling an old story in a contemporary setting.

As you see, he actual mixing of old and new in interesting ways isn’t anything new in itself. The church has being doing it for centuries. Sometimes it is the updating of an old, but not forgotten hymn, such as “Be thou My Vision” so that the grammar and vocabulary in lines like “Naught be all else to me, save that thou art ” are a little less obscure for people for whom English isn’t their first language, and also for all those of us for whom English has moved on a bit since it first made sense.
If you know the hymn you might also know that it’s a really old one. What I didn’t know though was that although the lyrics were translated from a 6th or 8th century Irish poem, and the tune an Irish folk song, the two weren’t brought together until translated in 1912 by Mary Elizabeth Byrne.
Many other old hymns are still in use, either in something like their original form, or adapted, remixed, and otherwise modernised throughout the centuries. I love that we have access to so many historic books. I’ve got several CD’s of the ‘latest’ worship hits from last few years. Here’s an older equivalent… a collection of hymn tunes from the most modern and approv’d authors

and before ear buds, before smart phones, before ipods, even before ‘personal stereos’, or any way of recording songs, people walked around with items such as the, “Pocket hymn book, designed as a constant companion for the pious“

A little more exploring the archives may uncover more treasures. So following the bardcore trend, which modern worship songs would sound good in medieval style? Or which popular worship hits from past centuries have stood the test of time or or due a fresh remix?
Bardcore Christian Worship songs #1 September 9, 2020
Posted by Pete B in worship.add a comment
A new genre has emerged recently medieval style versions of 20th and 21st century pop songs, known by some as bardcore.

Fusions of old and new, or of different cultural styles, or even of different languages are far from a new idea. If you’ve heard Summertime Sadness, Jolene, or Somebody that I used to know, but not heard them like this then I recommend them and others for a fun diversion.
Other housebound artists have produced a huge number of other renditions. Here’s an instrumental version of “Land down under” while you read more.
In addition to giving us the line “Here, taketh thine sandwich of vegemite, traveller.” YouTuber Mystic Zaru also gives a fun link “You can make an image like the one seen in the video here: https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/ “
In a later post I’ll point to a couple of other medieval manuscripts that might accompany more sacred sounding melodies.
I’ve yet to discover modern Christian worship songs given the same treatment but after a little research I found some “inverted bardcore”, medieval music in a modern setting.
Here’s a 14th century hymn that made it to number 4 in the UK singles charts in 1976
Some might consider it cultural appropriation, but there are many other songs of centuries past to be mined and modernised, or even appreciated in something approximating their original arrangements.
You can read more about the original “In Dulci Jubilo” on Wikipedia which states:
“In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages.”
This mixing Latin and the local vernacular language was common and something that perhaps fits well with some contemporary thinking on how multilingual worship can connect with people today.
More medieval worship favourites in another post soon. Meanwhile what are your favourite songs from the 5th-15th century?
The Blessing – how many languages will it be sung in? May 10, 2020
Posted by Pete B in multilingualism, worship.1 comment so far
Updated Aug 12, 2022
A new song based on an ancient blessing quickly became the anthem of 2020 for virtual choirs around the globe. I first heard the “UK Blessing” performed by a virtual choir from 65 churches and received almost 2 million views in it’s first week.
The UK Blessing wasn’t the first and definitely not the last attempt to bring churches together from a single country.
I like the song and love the significance of so many people coming together to sing (or sign) it. This same concept has been repeated in many different communities and countries so I went looking for how many different languages I could find it in and began adding them to a playlist.
To start with I found English (a few varieties), French, Spanish, Hebrew, Tagalog, Farsi, Italian, Malalayam, Hindi, (and another in both Malalayam and Hindi) Nepali, Romanian, Polish, Papiamentu, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Luganda, Mongolian, Lingala, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Nigerian Pidgin, Tamil, Amharic, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swahili. I then added Shona, Ndebele, Xhosa (each part of The Blessing – Zimbabwe), Rukiga, Haitian Creole, BSL, ASL, Makaton, and Filipino Sign Language (There are 380+ sign languages in the world). One artist sings in Portuguese, French, English, Lingala & Korean. The Malaysian Blessing includes singers from 80 churches and includes English, Tamil, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Dusun, Kelabit and Iban. Then came Ukranian, Fijian, Ekegussi, Afrikaans , Vietnamese, Burmese, Mauritian Kreol, and Hungarian , and the list kept growing. I almost stopped counting at 70 but then I heard the Nigerian and Ghanaian versions, soon followed by a version from India with 31 different languages.
By the start of June there were over versions in over 140 languages. If it wasn’t already the most translated song, it was probably the song that had been translated most quickly into so many languages.
New versions were still coming out and by of Sept 1st 2020 it had been sung and signed in at least 160 languages.

By the end of 2020 this was one curve that was flattening out. By Feb 2021 there were 130 videos in the play list comprising of both single language and multilingual versions brought the total to 175 languages, and by December 2021 I had found another 20 and yet more from 2021 found later in 2022.
The most recent update to the list comes with twelve videos from Cameroon as part of a national competition Heal the Land in which groups made original covers of the song in four local languages or dialects from the over 250 spoken across Cameroon.
Other additions included a five language version from Australia, an eight language version from South Sudan, and a compilation World Blessing that has well over 100 languages. Here is the full alphabetical list of what I’ve found so far:
Albanian, Afrikaans, Ambon, American Sign Language (ASL), Amharic, Ao Naga, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Australian sign language, Bafamg, Bagangte, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Bakossi, Batak Pakpak, Batak Simalungun, Balanda, Bali, Bamoun, Banen, Bassa, Batak Karo, Batak Toba, Bayangi, Bengali, Benin, Bhojpuri, Birom, Bisaya, Bodo, British Sign Language (BSL), Bulgarian, Bulu, Bundeli, Burmese, Camaroon Pigin, Cebuano, Chatino, Chhattisgarhi, Chichewa, Chinese (Mandarin), Chinese (Cantonese), Cilacap, Comores, Damara Nama, Dari, Dayak, Duala, Dusun, Dutch, Ekegussi, Ende, English, Esan, Eton, Ewe, Ewondo, Farsi, Fijian, Filipino Sign Language, French, French Sign Language, Fulfulde, Ga, Garhwali, German, Greek, Gurene, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hakha Chin, Hausa, Haryanavi, Havakinau, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Iban, Ibibio, Igbo, Igede, Ijaw, Ilocano, Italian, Japanese, Jarai, Jawa, Kabyle, Kalabari, Kankanaey, Kannada, Kaonde, Karenni (Kayah), Karina, Karo, Kashmiri, Kelabit, Khasia, Khmer, Kikuyu, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Kokborok, Konkani, Korean, Krio, Kutai, Kwassio, Kyrgyz, Ladakhi, Lahauli, Lamnso, Lampung, Lingala, Lua, Luganda, Maban, Macedonian, Makaton, Maithili, Malagasy, Malayalam, Malaysian Sign Language (BMI), Maltese, Manado, Manguissa, Manipuri, Marathi, Mauritian Kreol (Morisyen), Mexican sign language, Mewari, Mixteco, Mizo, Mongolian, Mungaka, Nagamese, Ndebele, Ndogo, Nepali, New Zealand Sign Language, Ngadju, Nias, Nigerian Pidgin, Nishi, Noongar, Norwegian, Nuer, Nyiyaparli, Nzema, Odia, Okrika, Oshiwambo, Otjiherero, Padang, Pangasinan, Papiamentu, Papua, Pitjantjara, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Rukiga, Russian, Sadri, Samoan, Sawa, Scottish Gaelic, Shilluk, Shona, Sinhala, Slovak, Spanish, Suomi (Finnish), Sunda, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Ternate, Te Reo Māori, Tetun, Thai, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Toraja, Tupuri, Turkish, Ukranian, Ukrainian sign language, Urhobo, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Waray, Welsh, Wimbum, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zapotec, Zomi and Zulu.
This also included versions in 13 sign languages (so far) from UK, Singapore, Mexico, Philippines, USA, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Columbia, Japan. The final one in my playlist being Makaton, a sign language developed for children and adults with communication and learning difficulties.
Inspired by the global impact of the song, and aided by the playlist, one person has now pulled together over 500 clips into one amazing eight minute video. I’m not sure yet how he counts 257 languages but it does includes 57 ways of writing Amen in different languages and scripts.
According to Billboard.com, “The Blessing”, was written by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes on Feb 27th and first recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 1st. The lyrics are much older, based on Numbers 6:24-26
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
(NIV)
These verses have been translated into at least the 724 languages that have full Bibles, of which at least 4-500 are available via bible.com, bible.is global.bible, find.bible and scriptureearth.org .(Over 75% of the 3500 languages in which some scripture has been translated now have at least part of the Bible online in some form)
Since I first posted about this I’ve added many updates, each ending with the same question:
In how many languages could be it be sung by the people connecting online to your church?
This final video is from one congregation in London, UK, in a city where well over 300 languages are known to be used (and others are yet to be counted). If you like it, share it. The Blessing in over 200 Languages playlist has passed 10,000 views in June 2022, but the goal is not to see how many hits that can get, the goal is simply to join the prayer and celebration and celebrate as part of the #multilingualchurch.
Global(ised) Worship June 3, 2019
Posted by Pete B in multilingualism, worship.2 comments
83 widely translated Worship Songs
Each of the songs below have been translated into at least 10 languages and are available via www.weareworship.com .
To find exactly which languages you now have to be logged in as a member but can set up a free account.
Sometimes using the translated song title or first line may find a recording on YouTube and one song may lead you to a whole playlist of songs you already love, and songs that you’ve never heard.
These 83 songs represent contributions from 54 different songwriters most writing in English and having global reach. While it is good that these songs can be sung in many languages it is also good to recognise that around the world songs are sung in hundreds and one day thousands of languages each with its own distinct style and unique expression.
Over 1300 of the nearly 8000 songs listed have been translated into at least one other language (not counting UK and USA English as separate). with 360 being available in 4 or more languages.
2020 update: Several of the songs are available in many more languages than mentioned below and since researching this in 2019 one new song, “The Blessing” has already been sung (and signed) into over 160 languages (only English and German currently on WeAreWorship).
(There are a wide range of other sites and tools for Multilingual worship which I’ll add to in the #multilingualchurch tab)

Some of the translated versions are available on songselect.ccli.com (serch by title or ccli number), but in a much smaller range of languages.
CCLI | Title | Written By | Languages |
4847027 | HAPPY DAY | Written by: Ben Cantelon, Tim Hughes | 18 |
5340815 | ALL TO YOU | Written by: Neil Bennetts, Eoghan Heaslip | 11 |
5376377 | YOU ALONE CAN RESCUE | Written by: Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman | 12 |
5557062 | OUR HEARTS ARE BREATHING IN (THE MORE WE SEE) | Written by: Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin | 11 |
5120176 | HALLELUJAH | Written by: Ben Cantelon | 11 |
5109647 | THERE IS A HOPE | Written by: Mark Edwards, Stuart Townend | 11 |
5003372 | BEHOLD THE LAMB (COMMUNION HYMN) | Written by: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend | 11 |
5469291 | BY FAITH | Written by: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend | 11 |
4779872 | HOLY SPIRIT LIVING BREATHE OF GOD | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 12 |
2646732 | WE’RE GOING TO SING LIKE THE SAVED (SING LIKE THE SAVED) | Written by: Matt Redman | 11 |
4706948 | GLORY AND HONOUR TO YOU WE BRING | Written by: Doug Horley | 11 |
4674166 | YOU NEVER LET GO | Written by: Beth Redman, Matt Redman | 15 |
5828478 | WORTHY | Written by: Ben Cantelon, Becky Drake, Nick J Drake | 11 |
5677416 | OUR GOD | Written by: Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin | 18 |
6016351 | 10,000 REASONS | Written by: Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin | 27 |
6186078 | BUILD YOUR KINGDOM HERE | Written by: Rend Collective | 13 |
5942543 | AT YOUR NAME | Written by: Tim Hughes, Phil Wickham | 12 |
3111376 | AMAZING GRACE | Written by: Nathan Fellingham, John Newton | 11 |
4642105 | EVERY PROMISE | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 11 |
4685258 | EVERYTHING | Written by: Tim Hughes | 13 |
4556538 | EVERLASTING GOD | Written by: Brenton Brown, Ken Riley | 23 |
4615235 | SPEAK O LORD | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 15 |
4610917 | BENEATH THE CROSS | Written by: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty | 11 |
4611992 | O CHURCH ARISE (PUT YOUR ARMOUR ON) | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 12 |
4506980 | BENEDICTION | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 12 |
4490766 | THE POWER OF THE CROSS | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 18 |
4329411 | NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD | Written by: Matt Redman | 14 |
78275 | YOU LAID ASIDE YOUR MAJESTY | Written by: Noel Richards | 13 |
3915912 | BEAUTIFUL ONE | Written by: Tim Hughes | 19 |
2296522 | THE HEART OF WORSHIP | Written by: Matt Redman | 21 |
1033408 | WE WANT TO SEE JESUS LIFTED HIGH | Written by: Doug Horley | 15 |
2106499 | WE BOW DOWN | Written by: Viola Grafstrom | 12 |
3818569 | CONSUMING FIRE | Written by: Tim Hughes | 14 |
1585970 | PSALM 23 | Written by: Stuart Townend | 13 |
1108735 | LORD YOU HAVE MY HEART | Written by: Martin Smith | 16 |
3266032 | HERE I AM TO WORSHIP | Written by: Tim Hughes | 29 |
1545484 | JESUS LOVER OF MY SOUL (IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU) | Written by: Paul Oakley | 11 |
48119 | JESUS PUT THIS SONG INTO OUR HEARTS | Written by: Graham Kendrick | 12 |
1564362 | ONCE AGAIN | Written by: Matt Redman | 16 |
1083764 | I WILL OFFER UP MY LIFE | Written by: Matt Redman | 15 |
2430979 | LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH | Written by: Matt Redman | 11 |
37845 | LORD JESUS WE ENTHRONE YOU | Written by: Paul Kyle | 13 |
1097451 | BETTER IS ONE DAY | Written by: Matt Redman | 14 |
1558110 | HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US | Written by: Stuart Townend | 24 |
1540719 | HOLY HOLY (LIFT UP HIS NAME) | Written by: Nathan Fellingham | 11 |
78897 | THE SERVANT KING | Written by: Graham Kendrick | 12 |
58202 | FATHER GOD I WONDER (I WILL SING YOUR PRAISES) | Written by: Ian Smale | 13 |
3798438 | BLESSED BE YOUR NAME | Written by: Beth Redman, Matt Redman | 23 |
120824 | BE STILL | Written by: David J Evans | 13 |
2492216 | BEAUTIFUL SAVIOUR | Written by: Stuart Townend | 14 |
120556 | ALL HEAVEN DECLARES | Written by: Noel Richards, Tricia Richards | 15 |
38686 | ABBA FATHER | Written by: Dave Bilbrough | 11 |
4108797 | RESURRECTION HYMN (SEE WHAT A MORNING) | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 13 |
5232617 | COME PEOPLE OF THE RISEN KING | Written by: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend | 15 |
5146473 | AND CAN IT BE | Written by: Chris Eaton, John Hartley, Gareth Robinson | 11 |
5925663 | WAITING HERE FOR YOU | Written by: Jesse Reeves, Martin Smith, Chris Tomlin | 12 |
7002032 | MY LIGHTHOUSE | Written by: Rend Collective | 12 |
5037070 | GOD OF THIS CITY | Written by: Richard Bleakley, Aaron Boyd, Peter Comfort, Ian Jordan, Peter Kernoghan, Andrew McCann | 12 |
4662491 | HOSANNA (PRAISE IS RISING) | Written by: Brenton Brown, Paul Baloche | 15 |
7038281 | THE LION AND THE LAMB | Written by: Brenton Brown, Leeland Mooring, Brian Johnson | 12 |
3350395 | IN CHRIST ALONE | Written by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend | 26 |
2298355 | OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART | Written by: Paul Baloche | 17 |
20285 | GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART | Written by: Henry Smith | 17 |
798108 | BLESSING AND HONOUR (ANCIENT OF DAYS) | Written by: Jamie Harvill, Gary Sadler | 11 |
674545 | THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU | Written by: Lenny LeBlanc | 13 |
190579 | ONLY BY GRACE | Written by: Gerrit Gustafson | 14 |
16347 | WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR HOLINESS | Written by: Cathy Perrin, Wayne Perrin | 11 |
6460220 | GREAT ARE YOU LORD | Written by: Leslie Jordan, David Leonard, Jason Ingram | 13 |
4447960 | REVELATION SONG | Written by: Jennie Lee Riddle | 16 |
3540703 | JESUS HOPE OF THE NATIONS (HOPE OF THE NATIONS) | Written by: Brian Doerksen | 11 |
4219071 | HERE I AM (MAJESTY) | Written by: Stuart Garrard, Martin Smith | 14 |
2672885 | ABOVE ALL | Written by: Lenny LeBlanc, Paul Baloche | 19 |
879168 | JESUS ALL FOR JESUS | Written by: Jennifer Atkinson, Robin Mark | 12 |
4403076 | INDESCRIBABLE | Written by: Jesse Reeves, Laura Story | 16 |
4348399 | HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD | Written by: Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin | 21 |
2456623 | YOU ARE MY KING (AMAZING LOVE) | Written by: Billy J Foote | 11 |
3148428 | FOREVER | Written by: Chris Tomlin | 19 |
4158039 | HOLY IS THE LORD | Written by: Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin | 11 |
6454621 | VICTOR’S CROWN | Written by: Israel Houghton, Kari Jobe, Darlene Zschech | 11 |
6367165 | WE BELIEVE | Written by: Richie Fike, Matthew Hooper, Travis Ryan | 12 |
14181 | HOW GREAT THOU ART | Written by: Stuart K Hine | 22 |
1043199 | I COULD SING OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER | Written by: Martin Smith | 11 |
6115180 | JESUS AT THE CENTRE | Written by: Israel Houghton, Adam Ranney, Micah Massey | 11 |
*Counts of languages from early 2019.
Five ways to use other languages (a bit) in your church June 1, 2019
Posted by Pete B in multilingualism, worship.1 comment so far
How many languages will be heard in and from your church this Pentecost?
Do you know how many languages are spoken by the members of your church? (it could be a good time to find out)
Do you know how many languages are spoken in your local community? (it may be more than you think)
And even if everyone can understand English (or the language used most in your church) is that their only or their preferred language? Would people welcome hearing and using the other languages they speak on a daily basis at home and in their community?
That’s part of what I am currently looking at for my MA dissertation and for a paper I will present in July as part of the London School of Theology’s one day conference “Sounds of Heaven and Earth“.

I’m exploring a lot of the ways churches are or could be using languages other than English as part of their services and outreach. Here are just five very simple ideas.
- A multilingual welcome sign, plus other signs and posters.
With text projected on the screen, used into printed notices, and used on the walls in various parts of the church buildings it is easy to add content in a few more languages. (Translations of Bible verses easily available using Bible.com but verse numbers are sometimes mid sentence and in some translations verse numbers vary. You can double check with speakers of the language or for languages covered by Google you can translate the verse back into English for confirmation) - Saying “the grace” or a blessing in other languages
Saying ‘the grace’ to one another’ seems to be the only bit of liturgy my own church uses but there are many other options of single verse greeting.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Cor 13:14 NIV
You can put a few others on the screen or just invite people to say it in their own language. - Playing familiar worship songs in other languages.
Many of the songs you sing are already available in other languages. Whether or not you sing (or play them) in other languages you can add the lyrics on the screen in another language.
I’ve compiled a list of 83 worship songs that are each available in 10 or more languages . Over 1300 of the nearly 8000 songs listed at https://www.weareworship.com/ have been translated into at least one other language with 360 being available in 4 or more languages.
Be aware that versions in other languages are often not direct translations. (Update 2020 probably the most widely translated song to emerge this year, or in the last few centuries is “The Blessing” now in over 160 languages) - Introduce songs with a verse of scripture in the languages spoken in your community.
Simply display translations of a Bible verse that introduces the theme or is directly quoted in a song. eg 10,000 Reasons starts with and takes several phrases from Psalm 103 . - Introduce worship songs from another language and culture
Newcomers may appreciate songs that are not only in their preferred languages but also in their preferred musical styles. If you want a mostly English congregation to join in singing in a language they don’t speak pick something simple or just teach one line of the chorus. Sing the song, explain the significance.
Some songs available at worshipleaderapp.com and https://songs2serve.nl, http://hmworship.com has songs in Latvian, English, Ukranian, Russian, Turkish, and Estonian. Also see twonineteen.org.uk/multicultural-worship-top-tips/
I could add other ideas but so can you. Add comments here or on the accompanying Facebook post. What has worked well in your church or what ideas would you like to see tried?
Other Pentecost post coming soon.
Not just “the Church of English” March 4, 2019
Posted by Pete B in Bible Translation, worship.add a comment
” whilst she loved worshipping with her sisters and brothers in her faltering English she always longed to worship in her own language. We had no resources then to help.” – a fragment from the sermon by the Bishop of Durham at the launch of a new Farsi Communion service.
The Bishop was relating an incident in 1994 at a point when Farsi resources existed and had long been used by the church in Iran but would not have easy to find in the UK.
Since 1994 the number of languages with a complete Bible have doubled to 692 and the number of languages with some portion of scripture has gone from 2100 to 3352. Many of these are available on Bible apps already installed on peoples phones across the world.
Official and unofficial translations of liturgy have also been part of the mission of the church for centuries. Portions of the Church if England’s Book of Common Prayer were translated into at least 200 languages. Many of these have been made available online in recent years.
How many clergy and church members know how to find and share these and other resources?
How much do we see language as a barrier to overcome without also recognising that language is also expression of identity? Even when the English is no longer “faltering” there is something special about connecting with God using the language of your childhood, especially if it is still the language you use most at home.
There are over 300 languages spoken by people living in our country. I believe more should be spoken and sung in praise of God in our churches and am beginning to collect and compile resources and ideas for simple steps in using languages other than English within churches in the UK.
The Worlds Favourite Worship Songs? January 31, 2019
Posted by Pete B in multilingualism, worship.1 comment so far
This is no longer a new CD, so many of the songs might already be among your favourites, but are they really the World’s favourites?
“Possibly the best worship collection ever made featuring over 50 of the finest modern worship songs sung the world over.
With songs that cross the nations and span the generations The World’s Favourite Worship Songs showcases what the world’s churches are singing today.”
Really?
I like lots of the songs on here (as do many people around the world) but watching the video you’d think the church only sang in English.

I am pleased to see that the team at weareworship.com , recognises that and are inviting subscribers to submit translations of many popular songs. (eg there are 29 translations of “Here I am to Worship” and scroll to the bottom of the list and it gives you a link to provide a translation if there isn’t one in your language).
Sadly they don’t (yet) have the built in ability to search by language, but it is possible to use Google to do that for you. eg

polski site:https://www.weareworship.com
My hope however is that in addition to the globalisation of worship where everyone sings to the same tunes we will have truely global worship where we get to hear more songs from other cultures and musical styles both traditional and modern. WeAreWorship are contributing to that too with a platform called SongShare and there is another emerging community at proskuneo.org.
Meanwhile if you look for it there is a lot of worship happening in different languages, some of which is shared on YouTube. Here’s 70,000 people singing in Arabic
And another Arabic Christian song that seems quite popular
How many languages are actually being used to worship God? Heaven knows.

I know that there are over 3350 languages into which some part of the Bible has been translated and would hope (but don’t know) that songs are being sung to God in each of these and perhaps even more.
I also know that there are well over 300 languages spoken by people living in my home country of the UK but suspect that far fewer are used in our churches. So I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the singing. Here’s some worship leaders and theologians talking in 2015 about their hopes for the future of worship in the UK.
…and a plug for a Multicultural Worship day on Feb 23 at All Nations