3:16 gives us a good foundation, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing ing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18 is similarly challenging. Then from Zephaniah 3:17 we un derstand the Lord’s joy will be over us with singing. God sings about us. If He can find anything in us about which to sing, then we certainly ought to sing about Him. It was in 1955 that Overseas Cru sades invited me to join with a team of men on a missionary journey to the Far East. I was amazed to find so many people who really love mu sic. Most of the music I’d heard from the Orient was in a minor key, not very happy. The people of the Orient gave us an almost overwhelming ac ceptance. The Lord saw to it that the songs did communicate. I always try to learn a few songs in every language where I’ll be working. I also sing in English. So many people in these foreign lands are anxious to learn our language. Another unexpected delight had to do with the language used in the Philippines where our family had been stationed. There the people speak English. In fact, the Philip pines is the third largest English- speaking country in the world. They have their own national language, along with eight other major lan guages. There are also as many as 160 more dialects. Obviously there was no communication problem in this country. I was also fortunate in that people there like tenor voices best. Filipinos are generally very reli gious people. They really enjoy Gos pel music. My ministry includes be ing teamed with nationals such as Greg Tingson, a dynamic Filipino evangelist. This is the best way of getting to the people. By being a visiting American tenor, I could be
MUSIC AND MISSIONS
by Norman Nelson, repre sentative for Overseas Cru sades, Inc.
C hapter one I T HAS been fascinating to me to see how the field of music relates to missions. Over the past 13 years, I’ve been associated with Overseas Crusades and Dr. Dick Hillis, an alumnus of Biola, our Founder-Di rector. Our objective is to minister to pastors and churches in various countries so that these congregations in turn might more effectively evan gelize their own people. Our theme is, “Every heart without Christ a mission field, and every heart with Christ, a missionary.” Being a missionary is an exciting experience. Yet, too often, I’m afraid some people might think that sing ing is merely entertainment. This is not to say that music can’t be enter taining or interesting. Singing the Gospel is much more than this. It’s not merely the projection of an art form. It is communicating and shar ing oneself with others. Colossians 12
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