Ethnomusicology and Missions:An Understanding of the New Role of Music Missionary

“Musical expression is one of the most significant and characteristic expressions of the pattern of culture. An indigenous hymnody is one of the first signs that Christianity itself is truly indigenous.” – Dr. T.W. Hunt – Professor of Music in Missions, Southwestern Baptist Seminary.

It has been said that understanding ethnomusicology is the key to successful implementation of new directions in mission in the Christian Church, and one could contend reasonably that this is so. Music can be utilised as a pathway into a culture without decimating the indigenous ideas that already exist therein, and therefore can be one of the most effective ways of evangelisation in foreign contexts. The mission field in recent years has been blessed with so-called “music missionaries” as well as trained ethnomusicologists that have been able to make valuable inroads into cultures that perhaps are hostile to the gospel message or that are forbidden from hearing the gospel preached to them (Baldridge, accessed 24/5/05). With this knowledge, it would be folly to ignore the vital role that an ethnomusicologist, or their hybrid cousins the music missionaries, must play in the development and direction of modern missions.