Employing Ethnomusicology to Foster Multi-Ethnicity in the Local Church Context: A Case Study on the Hispanic Community of North Littleton

The United States is becoming increasingly more ethnically diverse. To minister in America today, it is imperative to respond to these social realities of ethnic diversity and globalization. In the following dissertation, I describe how the church I pastor, Bethany Evangelical Free Church in Littleton, Colorado changed course direction from being a mono-cultural attractional church to a multi-ethnic missional church. I openly share the challenges that came with this leadership move. But I also share the blessings that have been experienced. What is unique about this work is that I describe how I employed ethnomusicology to foster multi-ethnicity in the local church context. This required that I research the basal literature related to Latin American Music and Art, issues of immigration, ministering to the marginalized and multi-ethnic ecclesiology. In my methodology, I discuss how I utilized interviews, focus groups and participant observation along with referencing the theories of diffusionism, structural functionalism, socio-economics and phenomenology. The findings revealed the themes of community, migration and Latino interest in the supernatural. Finally, I offer recommendations for reaching a local community via ethnomusicology and for fostering multi-ethnicity in the local church. I will specifically address the leadership decisions that are needed to introduce multi-ethnicity into the local church context. Correlated with this, I am addressing why multi-ethnic churches are biblical and critical for reaching people in a globalized society. Mentor: Roberta R. Kin