Liturgy as a Vehicle of Inclusive and Welcoming Worship at Pretoria City Mission Methodist Church

Abstract

The aim of this research study, Liturgy as a Vehicle of Inclusive and Welcoming Worship at Pretoria City Mission Methodist Church, is to investigate factors related to liturgy, which has resulted in the white section of the congregation leaving when a multi-lingual service was introduced to accommodate both English and vernacular congregants. The rationale behind this study was to ascertain how the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) can develop a liturgical worship style that will make both black and white congregants feel welcome and part of one congregation. There is a sense that if the service is not conducted wholly in English, the white congregants feel excluded and unwelcome. The same is true for the black congregants in the English dominated service. Hence, the need to find a middle ground that will accommodate both sides and also be hospitable for everyone. The objectives of this study are: how liturgy can be a vehicle towards an inclusive and welcoming worship at Pretoria City Mission; to examine the liturgical issues that make these groups feel unwelcome in Sunday worship services and to suggest ways of adapting the liturgical orders of both the English and vernacular services in order for all to feel welcome and included in Sunday worship. This is a theoretical study which focused on the literature study of liturgy. No formal interviews were carried out only informal conversations that the researcher had with some active and retired ministers in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. The structure of the research is based on the four questions by Osmer (2001:4), What’s going on? Why it is going on? What ought to be going on? and How might we respond? The findings of the study has demonstrated, amongst other things, that there is no formal texted liturgy for blended services and that congregations have their own localised liturgies. Whilst this initiative by local churches is welcomed however, there is a need for a standard texted liturgy for the whole MCSA Connexion. The lack of a defined texted liturgy leads to inconsistent application and also to congregants not knowing what to expect. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa has to develop a standard texted liturgy for blended services as a guideline for such services. This will assist in both standardisation of liturgical style, consistency and the elimination of confusion for congregants.