Global Night of Worship showcases cultural dance and worship songs

On Tuesday night, Feb. 19, people gathered inside the Liberty University School of Music for One Voice, an annual event with the purpose of creating a platform for ensembles of musicians at Liberty that come from diverse cultural backgrounds in a “Global Night of Worship.” 

“The way that we worship God greatly determines how we see him,” Christopher Hill, host of the event, said. “If you were to come to my synagogue you would be surrounded by Jewish (people) that have accepted Christ, who blow trumpets and jump up and down. You see that in a lot of different cultures, the way that they express joy.”

The event started with LU Praise, who led a song in Spanish that was performed by Laura Gil, an international student from Colombia, who said that being part of the event made her feel more united with the community. 

“Being able to worship in your native language with your native music genre is valid and profound,” Gil said. “I think they wanted to bring that to people who don’t get to go to other countries so they could experience it.”

And the fact that Gil describes her experience in that way illustrates what Katherine Morehouse, director of the Department of Multiethnic Music Studies, said is the heart behind One Voice. 

“One Voice is really about giving a platform to international students and to other languages.” Morehouse said. “By recognizing the multiple languages, musics, cultures, and artistic expressions of God’s people we are showing that his plan is global (Ephesians 3:6-12), so to be able to participate in worship with the nations is really creating the culture of heaven on earth
(Revelation 7:9-17).” 

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The event featured dances and songs from cultures and languages around the world, showing the diversity in the body of Christ, according to Morehouse.

 “We are painting a picture of who we are whenever we lead worship,” Morehouse said. “We are saying, ‘This is our identity.’ When we only sing in one language or in one musical style it makes us look very homogeneous. But if we ask, what does the body of Christ look like? The body of Christ is global.” 

Even after the event was technically over, about 150 students stayed, prayed, and worshiped with an acoustic set of instruments led by people from around the world. 

“For me this is one of the most genuine worship nights that I have been able to go to here at Liberty,” Gil said. “It has a lot of value to be able to feel more connected to other people who are going through the same things as me and getting to know cultures other than my own.” 

Liberty’s Global Worship Community, who organized the event with the support of the School of Music, gets together on most Mondays throughout the semester. They said that the goal is to open a space where people from every nation can worship through all the arts freely, whether that is music, dance, theater, spoken word, visual arts, or arts and trauma healing in the community. Their goal is all nations, all arts, all welcome. You can follow them on Facebook at “Global Worship Community” or on Instagram at globalworship_lu. For dates and location information, email Lindsay Coleman at lhcoleman@liberty.edu with the subject line “Add Me.” 

“God is fluent in all of the languages,” Morehouse said. “Nothing is foreign to him, so if we are really trying to portray that kind of global assembly, it is going to feel multicultural, look multiracial, and sound multilingual. This can feel uncomfortable the first time we try it, but then we realize that this is the reality and the beauty of the unified global bride of Christ. Worshiping in diversity actually makes a way for us to worship him in One Voice.”