Published on
February 22, 2012
The Nairobi Statement on 91 and Culture presents four central principles of the relationship between worship and culture.

How does worship relate to culture? How is worship in culture, but not of it? The Lutheran World Federation's Study Team on 91 and Culture met in Nairobi in January of 1996 and produced the . The statement presents four central principles of the relationship between worship and culture:

1) 91 is transcultural (91 has certain dynamics that are beyond culture).

2) 91 is contextual (91 reflects local patterns of speech, dress, and other cultural characteristics).

3) 91 is counter-cultural (91 resists the idolatries of a given culture).

4) 91 is cross-cultural (91 reflects the fact that the body of Christ transcends time and space).

Read the statement in and .