The team, from left, Dr. Michael Hawn, Rev. John Thornburg, and Debi Tyree, Bettsey Curtis, and Ellen Guenther.
Dr. Michael Hawn with Issac Broune, Cote d'Ivoire Annual Conference director of communications.
A dream to train a new generation of United Methodist musicians in Côte d’Ivoire is a little closer to reality after a recent two week training session in Abidjan, the west African nation’s largest city.
Thirty seven young Ivorians learned basic keyboard, choral conducting, music theory and worship leadership skills from a team of six Americans which included North Texans Revs. John Thornburg and Michael Hawn.
The team included leaders in the Global Praise program of the General Board of Global Ministries, as well as local church musicians and seminary music educators. They went at the invitation of Abraham Arpellet, national choral director for the United Methodist Church in Côte d’Ivoire (EMUCI).
The team quickly discovered that music is the heart and soul of worship in the Ivorian church. Several of the services they experienced, including those led by the students themselves, included 15 or more songs from a variety of styles and in several languages.
“The students have been taught well by their churches. They’ve really internalized the drama of the liturgy, and now they want to make that drama real for their generation,” said Rev. Thornburg. “The student-led worship basically blew us away. The use of drums and the variety of dancing was really sacramental.”
This training session was part of a larger strategy for connecting American and Ivorian musicians. In June, a choir of 44 from churches all over Côte d’Ivoire traveled to the Houston area to perform at the Texas Annual Conference. Among other highlights, the choir thrilled American audiences with their spirited rendering of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
During the time in Abidjan, Dr. Hawn, professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology, taught music theory and choral conducting skills and encouraged the students in their own song writing. A highlight of each day was seeing students stand before the whole group and teach songs they had written.
Rev. Thornburg worked alongside Jorge Lockward, head of the GBGM’s Global Praise program, in teaching improvisation on the keyboard. He also led a worship seminar each morning.
Rev. Thornburg also received the blessing of Bishop Benjamin Boni to move ahead with the printing of the first hymnal/worship book for the UM mission in Cameroon. That project began under the leadership of Dr. Wesley Magruder, former mission director of the work in Cameroon, and now associate pastor of First UMC, Rowlett.
Bishop Boni not only heads the 900 churches in Côte d’Ivoire, but also the 20 churches in the Cameroon mission.
For more information on the Global Prise program and Cameroon hymnal project, contact Dr. Thornburg at 214-341-6800 or e-mail: ethornbu@aol.com.
Rev. John Thornburg, left, received the blessing from
Bishop Benjamin Boni to print the Cameroon hymnal worship book.
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